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Click here to read this issue online, if you are not able to access links in your email version.
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1. What About Kindergarten Names and Mascots?
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Emotional engagement is the key to all powerful learning. So why not invite kindergartners into an imaginative 5-year-old environment, complete with a class name, a mascot, puppets who watch out for them, and photos of
their lives?
Playful rituals and traditions help build the learning community, engage the imagination and take advantage of how the brain learns best!
It’s a lot easier to build a classroom of independent and responsible learners when children can’t wait to come to school each day!
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Celeste Starr’s five-year-olds become “Kinder Stars” the moment they enter her classroom. They soon internalize her high social and academic expectations. For pictures of how Celeste builds memories
around this theme, see photo essay:
Kinder Stars End-of-Year Performance. (Celeste is now a stay-at-home mom, and may be available for some literacy coaching later on.)
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Diane Bonica’s children enter the “Chicka Boom Classroom” with a menagerie of giraffe mascots. To get a glimpse inside this joyful classroom, reflect on and enjoy Diane’s poetic parent newsletters,
see “
Diane Bonica’s Kindergarten” website—one of our literacy award sites. Diane is a strong advocate for celebrating childhood. See
 video clips of her creative, engaging literacy strategies on our site.
Silent “E” Man
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Julie Lay’s kindergartners enter “Hedgie Haven” and discover soft, friendly stuffed hedgehogs throughout the room. They even have a live hedgehog called “Hedgie,” as a class pet. For a
glimpse into “Hedgie Haven” see photo essay “
Writing to Read in Kindergarten” Part I and II.
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Becky Leber’s children are the “Kindergarten Friends”. Photos of the children and their changing art adorn the wall and door outside the classroom. You’ll often hear Becky saying,
“How can we help our friends?” For glimpses into Becky Leber’s Reggio Emelia-inspired classroom, see photo essay:
Becky Leber’s Literacy Centers. Be looking this fall for video clips of Becky Leber’s amazing work with children.
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When Bobbi Fisher was teaching, her children brainstormed and came up with a new name for their kindergarten every year. They might call themselves “The Reading and Writing Kindergarten” or “The
Singing Kindergarten”. The children collaborated on a large, decorated butcher paper sign that was draped over the door frame to let everyone know who they were. Giving children ownership for the learning community builds
motivation.
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Kathie Bridges named her classroom “The Kindergarten Super Stars” and also used that phrase as a key point in her management system. When she needs the children’s attention, she stands in her
“teacher spot” and slowly and expectantly chants “Kin-der-gar-ten”… at which point the children all stop their activities, raise both hands in an ASL applause gesture, while exclaiming “Super
Stars!” (They have practiced this until it is an automatic response.) What a great way to gain attention from active, young learners.
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A delightful Colorado kindergarten teacher told us about her classroom of “Busy Bees” who often move through the school softly singing
 “Everywhere we go, people want to know, who we are, so we tell them, “We are the busy bees, mighty, mighty busy bees.”(Tune:
School Fight Song). They sing their kindergarten team song with gusto or, “with no voice at all” (just mimicking the actions while hearing the language internally.) I wish this joyful teacher would contact me…
info@nellieedge.com.
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Thank you to the generous teachers who continue to share their teaching stories and songs with all of us at my literacy seminars. Your stories add layers of delight and depth to our work.
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2. Thoughts and Research on Kindergarten Handwriting |
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Kindergartners love to write, and daily “kid writing” teaches reading. So what then, is the role of handwriting? Our action-research shows it is important to be intentional, and have high expectations for efficient
handwriting practices—beginning with the child’s name. The “name ticket strategy” is how we systematically teach for fluency—from the very first day of school.
Kindergarten children are capable of learning to print their first name (and later—their last name) efficiently if we create a sense of “urgency” around name writing and provide many authentic uses for the well
written, “name ticket” in the classroom. See our free E-Book:
Joyful Writing to Read Kindergartens for examples. We develop kid writers who have much more joy and skill by the end of the year if we start building this handwriting fluency from the beginning. Again—the
most effective handwriting programs start with the child’s name!
Teachers who focus on handwriting fluency with a joyful, multisensory approach, using real words and short multisensory “brain exercises”, are seeing amazing results.
Incorrect muscle memories are hard to unlearn later: our goal is to expect that the child’s name writing will be a source of pride and handwriting accomplishment. Parents are partners with us for nightly practice
and review until fluency is achieved (fluency = accuracy and speed). Our high expectations (we expect the child to make daily improvement) are driven by careful daily assessment. Teachers, children and parents deserve to
know which letters are already mastered. Once each letter in the child’s first name is printed accurately and effortlessly, the last name is practiced. Then we build fluency with “by heart” words and phrases such as
“I love you.”
See:
Suzie Haas Name Ticket Strategy
Parents:
Teaching your Child to Print their Name Efficiently
Many teachers have requested more details on how we build handwriting fluency without a commercial handwriting program. We will be documenting the process this year and anticipate making an E-Book and video clips
available to you. Thank you for your interest and patience!
Which handwriting system is best for kindergarten? A summary of independent research from the Eric Clearing House concludes “The vertical alphabet is more developmentally appropriate, easier to read, and
easier to write for young children.” Consider sharing the following article with district curriculum leaders:
View:
Research from the Eric Clearing House (PDF)
The alphabet system that children use to learn to read and write needs to be visually consistent. If you are using italic (D’Nealian) manuscript for handwriting, you are actually expecting young
children to learn two different visual alphabet systems: one for reading and one for writing. This makes learning much harder.
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3. We Practice "Kindergarten Kindness": Building Emotional Literacy |
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Kindergarten Kindness is a banner that stays up all year in Kathie Bridges class because kindness is a yearlong theme. Children practice “Kindergarten Kindness” when they…
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Pick up papers on the floor to help the custodian
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Put materials away so others can use them
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Clean up after themselves
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Help someone tie their shoes
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Listen politely when someone is speaking
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Include others in their play (“You can’t say, you can’t play!”)
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Remember to say “Please” and “Thank You”
Kathie’s children expect “Kindergarten Kindness” from themselves and each other. They become quite indignant if some one is inconsiderate—“That’s NOT Kindergarten Kindness!”
An atmosphere of positive discipline and careful use of choice encouraging words help build a child’s emotional literacy and help create a caring classroom. (When the teacher models respectful and caring language
to the children, it’s easier for them to internalize examples of kind language.) Here are some articles and thoughts from wise, caring kindergarten teachers:
We have also enjoyed reading about the emotional climate described in The Literate Kindergarten: Where Wonder and Discovery Thrive, by Susan Kempton. She writes:
“The roots of learning begin in a social milieu; it’s up to teachers to provide stimulating contexts where those roots can become living plants that grow and flower. Weaving together the cognitive, creative,
and emotional domains gives depth and breadth to a classroom…”
“My students regularly hear me asking questions like “What are you wondering?” (cognitive domain), or as with Kasmira, “What did you discover?” (creative domain), or
“What are you feeling?” (emotional domain). The repetition encourages them to use the same language...”
See Excerpts from The Literate Kindergarten: Where Wonder and Discovery Thrive by Susan Kempton. 2007, Heinemann.
Also see:
Our thoughtful teacher colleague, Kate Anderson (who is also a parent), shared her guidelines for respectful and positive discipline: When correcting or redirecting a student, I ask myself, “Would this feel good if I (as a
parent) was in the room and that was my child? |
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4. Ready to Start a New Year? Reread The Daily 5 |
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I am amazed at how many of our best kindergarten literacy practices are made more effective within the literacy framework and management strategies described in
The Daily Five: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, (Stenhouse, 2006.) I had great fun this month demonstrating the strategies for “Choose a Partner!” and
“Read to Self” at my recent kindergarten living room seminar. Our kindergarten cadre members are excited to use “The Daily 5” model to build a culture of kindergartners who choose to read and write because
they love to read and write.
We are teacher-researchers and will seek avenues to share our success and challenges with you as the year progresses. These are some of our questions:
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What are the best “Just Right: I Can Read!” books to begin the year with?
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How do we quickly build a repertoire of books that children can read with confidence and joy?
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How does “The Daily 5” framework fit into a 2 ½ hour program?
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How do we accelerate reading growth without compromising the joy?
I thank the “2 Sisters” for adding to our knowledge base in such a wise and practical way. We hope they will present a one-day training next summer for kindergarten teachers in Oregon.
I do believe their best-selling book and amazing DVD, The Daily 5, is a “must read and study” resource for all teachers and administrators committed to closing the achievement gap.
“The Sisters” have launched a new subscription based website called
The Daily Café featuring some great video clips, resources, articles and downloads.
See:
the free 5-minute video, launching Read to Self—“I chart” part 1
Many of you email us with specific “Daily 5” questions. Please consider joining the yahoo kindergarten group:
The Daily 5 to interact with other teachers and the authors who themselves contribute to these blogs.
There is also some great “Daily 5” dialog on the
Mentor Kindergarten Teacher Chatboard.
What have we learned so far from The Daily 5?
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Model every new strategy over and over again.
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How incredibly eager kindergartners are at becoming independent readers.
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Kindergarten classrooms need to have wonderful libraries.
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How important choice of reading material is in children’s motivation to become voracious readers.
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How vital “Read to Self” time is in building reading independence: Every child instantly is a part of the reading club.
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How strongly a joyful writing-to-read approach accelerates the child’s reading development. (
Download Free E-book)
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If you ask kindergartners, “What helped you the most in learning to read?” They’ll tell you, “I just built up my stamina as a reader everyday!”
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5. Salem Kindergarten Cadre News and How to Start A Support Group |
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Thank you to the awesome kindergarten teachers who joined us for our July living room workshop: How to Begin the Year. I sincerely appreciate your gracious feedback.
We are beginning plans for our Fall Salem Kindergarten Cadre meetings. E-mail us at
info@nellieedge.com if you are not already signed up and would like to receive announcements at your home e-mail (sometimes school e-mails block our cadre notices and kindergarten newsletters). Join us for discussion,
camaraderie, and action-research with a focus on Best Practices to build a Joyful Kindergarten Culture of Independent Readers and Writers.
Eugene, Portland, Albany, Stayton area teachers: If you have studied with us in the past and are using “Joyful Acceleratd Literacy Strategies” and “The Daily
5”, you are welcome to join us for these meetings.
Our resource books are:
Other books that we highly recommend are:
These professional development sessions are free. You will be encouraged to pursue a kindergarten research topic this year. Semester credits are available through the University of the Pacific. We
will have registration details at our first meeting. Many of Salem’s mentor kindergarten teachers will host these monthly meetings in their beautiful classrooms. I will also host a few “living-room”
workshops.
See last year’s schedule for more information:
Salem Kindergarten Cadre
How To Start a Kindergarten Support Group? (a.k.a. Professional Learning Community)
Several educators have requested information on starting their own Kindergarten Support Group. I have written an article that may be of interest:
How to Start a Kindergarten Cadre.
It is always a pleasure to connect with teachers who share our vision for joyful and meaning-centered learning.
Smiles!
Nellie Edge |
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