1. Our Gift to You: Small Poems of Some Delight
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Bugs
I am very fond of bugs.
I kiss them
And I give them hugs.
Karla Kuskin |
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From “I Can Read” Poetry Anthology “Small Poems of Some Delight”
©1993 (See
online bookstore) |
We encourage you to give children the most beautiful language we speak – poetry. Letter the words on language charts for shared reading. Invite children to memorize, recite, perform, and read the words; give them time to
illustrate individual poetry pages. Gather the pages into individual “I Can Read” notebooks. This is a powerful tool for building oral language and reading fluency.
Our poetry gift to you: All year we have added small poems, songs, and rhymes to our free monthly, themed collections. We now have over 200 copyright-secured (or public domain) 8.5" x 11", enlarged print,
poetry, and song pages. They are ready for you to view, download, and use in celebrating language and accelerating literacy.
See December Poetry Collection.
The well-loved copyrighted poems that we are not able to legally give you, are available from our online collection of poetry at our
online bookstore. (We pay royalties on these poems so you can legally make copies year after year!)
Poetry Notebooks: Small investment, big benefits!
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Memorizing short poems provides powerful support for English Language Development, phonemic awareness, reading fluency and high-frequency words – and parents love them!
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Personal “I Can Read” Poetry Notebooks are children’s choice for “read to self” time.
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Poetry and songs invite the use of imagery, drama, movement, and Sign Language to enhance and extend comprehension and vocabulary.
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When poetry notebooks go home for weekly sharing, parents become partners in the literacy process.
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Children’s art personalizes the rhyme and creates pride and ownership of the reading selections.
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The Poetry Notebook is an ongoing literacy collection; by the end of the year it becomes a treasured book to reread and recite over the summer with fluency and delight. (Some teachers choose to send home several smaller
seasonal collections of songs and poems instead of one large notebook.)
Photo Essay: How to Develop Poetry ("I Can Read") Notebooks
Kindergarten Poetry "I Can Read" Notebooks— Sample Parent Letter
“Pretty things, well said, it’s nice to have them in your head.” – Robert Frost |
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2. For Your Winter Language Celebration: Perform Songs in American Sign Language |
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A performance of songs about love and friendship provide a wonderful parent evening any time of the year. You Are My Sunshine; May There Always Be Sunshine; L-O-V-E Spells Love; Magic Penny (Love is something if you give it
away…); I Love the Mountains; Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star; See Me Beautiful; and What a Wonderful World have been performed with singing and American Sign Language (ASL) to appreciative parent audiences –
even earning standing ovations for the young performers. Here you see Kathy Bridges’ kindergartners singing and signing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
 See ASL instructional videos and literacy extensions:
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
The Pledge of Allegiance
I Love the Mountains
“What a Wonderful World”, “See Me Beautiful”, “You Are My Sunshine”, and other copyrighted performance songs are only available from The Magic of Signing Songs Seminar Manuals,
DVDs, ASL Guides, and Anthology Sets.
(See
online bookstore.)
Our next Magic of Signing Songs Seminars are scheduled
for June 28-29, 2010, in Salem, Oregon.
No previous sign language experience is necessary. We limit the two-day seminar to 75 participants. Registration details will be available on our website in January, 2010. Come and join us in Oregon next
summer! |
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3. Parents as Partners: Literacy Gift Ideas |
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Families often appreciate simple, inexpensive gift ideas
that provide
“scope for the imagination”*
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Old dress-up clothes (ask Auntie’s and Grandparents to help gather)
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Recycled paper, old cards, envelopes, and pens gathered into a writing tote
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Colored balls of Playdough (see recipe) packaged together on a tray with popsicle sticks, plastic animals or kitchen utensils
For more information see:
Literacy Gift Ideas
Colored Playdough Picture Recipe
Tips on Using Playdough
From Parents as Partners in Kindergarten and Early Literacy: Family Connections that Multiply our Teaching Effectiveness (See
online bookstore.)
*Anne of Green Gables fans will recognize this phrase...
Encourage Families to Sing Together
We often tell parents, “learning many songs ‘by heart’ is the most joyful way to develop the language foundation necessary for successful reading and writing.” We have attached our choice of children’s CD you
may want to add to and share. Notice that most of these are traditional folk songs and delightful new “classics” that are sung at a comfortable pace, so children can more easily internalize the sounds and rhythms of the
English or Spanish language.
Recommended Children’s CDs for Language Learning and Family Singing |
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4. The Giving Tree: Let Families Know How to Thank You |
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Throughout the year Parents, Grandparents, and even appreciative Aunties and Uncles, love to contribute to a joyful kindergarten classroom. All we need to do is find a gracious way of letting them know what our needs and wishes
are. Innovative teachers have displayed drawings of trees with detachable leaves, apples, or hearts with a need/classroom item written on each. Think about what you wish you had to enhance your program and be very specific
about where parents can purchase them or how to make them:
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Bird Nests and photos of birds
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Teaching Peace CD by Red Grammer (see amazon.com)
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Four white Bounty Paper Towels (Costco)
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Please make us a set of 50 blank folded books (We have the 12" X 17" paper and a folded book pattern for you) See
How to Make Folded Books
For more information see:
The Kindergarten Giving Tree |
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5. Bookstore: I Can Read. Listen to Me. |
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We are pleased to once again have our “I Can Read. Listen to Me.” stamp available. You may recognize the image from the last page of our best-selling Read and Sing Big Book, I Can Read Colors.
This belief statement is our goal for children and they love stamping it on the last page of our Read and Sing Little Books, or their own illustrated little books.
These stamps are not mass-produced overseas; they are made by our friend, Mike Collins, ten at a time, in his sign shop in Michigan. Our “designer stamp” is an expensive but precious affirmation for children in joyful
writing-to-read classrooms.
As a gift to you: there is no mark-up on this item; we offer it to you at our direct cost from the producer. Happy Stamping! N.E.
Remember the offer of free shipping on orders of $70.00 or more through December 4, 2009!! Enter discount code: heart |
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6. Salem Kindergarten Cadre News
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Kindergarten-Friendly Handwriting, Small Motor Development and Multisensory ABC and Phonics Immersion
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
4:30 - 6:00 p.m.
Pringle Elementary School, 5500 Reed Lane SE, Salem, Oregon.
School phone number is (503) 399-3178.
Kathie Bridges will share research on fine and large motor development and how that relates to success in handwriting and learning to read. We will have literacy centers set up. Come early and use them. (Bring your camera!) Nellie Edge
will highlight songs and chants and her action-research on Kindergarten-Friendly Handwriting.
Thank you for being teachers who honor childhood and reach for excellence in early literacy.
Smiles!
Nellie Edge
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