1. What About Kindergarten Names, Mascots, and Rich
Learning Environments?
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Emotional engagement is the key to all powerful learning. So why not invite kindergartners into an imaginative five-year-old environment, complete with real animals, 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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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 draped over the door frame to let everyone know who they were. Giving children ownership for the learning community builds a sense
of belonging.
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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 the 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 and 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 and
We Can Write Nonsense Words.
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Laura Flocker’s children discover a real bunny named Bugsy happily hopping around their “home-away-from-home” in this all-day kindergarten. A stuffed animal mascot named Rascal is the traveling book buddy
who shares adventures with a different family each week. His journal stories help build the home-school community. See:
Rascal and His Journal Comes Home for a Visit and
Rascal’s and Bugsy’s Favorite Bunny Books. See also
Laura’s literacy award winning website, and study with her August 18, 2009, in Salem, Oregon!
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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 essays
“Writing to Read in Kindergarten” Part I and
“Writing to Read in Kindergarten” Part II and
complimentary e-Books. (Next Writing-to-Read seminar is October 11, 2009 in Salem, Oregon.)
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Becky Leber’s children are “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. Becky will be teaching first grade at a new school this fall.
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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 and 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 moved 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.) How fun is that?
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, right from the very first day of school.
Kindergarten children are capable of learning to efficiently print their first names (and later, their last) 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 complimentary 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 right from the start.
Again… the most effective handwriting programs start with the child’s name and movement and dancing chants that develop key handwriting motions.
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, so our goal must be 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 of 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 the “heart” word “I” and phrases
such as “I love you.”
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 developing an e-Book, video clips, and web
seminar available for you soon. 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.”
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 year-long 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 someone 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 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. (Heinemann, 2007)
This is still my favorite book on how our carefully chosen words affect children:
Our thoughtful teacher colleague, Kate Anderson (who is also a parent), shares her guidelines for respectful and positive discipline. Kate says, “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. We Love Adapting “The Daily 5” in Kindergarten |
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I am amazed at how many of our best kindergarten literacy practices are made even more effective within the literacy framework and management strategies described in the book and DVD The Daily 5: Fostering Literacy Independence in the
Elementary Grades by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser (Stenhouse, 2006.) Our kindergarten cadre members are excited to continue building a culture of kindergartners who are building reading stamina and independence with this as one of our
Valued Kindergarten Resource Books (see 2009/2010 update).
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 simultaneously build language and reading fluency at the beginning of the year?
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How do we encourage parents to help us build a collection of quality fiction and nonfiction books for our kindergarten libraries?
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How does “The Daily 5” framework fit into a two-and-a-half-hour program where we are still committed to building language and social-emotional skills through rich experiences is music, dance, Sign Language, art, and literacy
play?
We continue to thank the “the sisters” for adding to our knowledge base in such a wise and practical way. We are delighted they will present another “Daily 5” Kindergarten seminar in Portland,
Oregon this spring (and Boston and Ohio next summer, 2010.)
“The Sisters” have a subscription-based website called
The Daily Café that features some great video clips, resources, articles, and downloads.
Many of you email us with specific “Daily 5” questions. Please consider joining the Yahoo kindergarten group:
The Daily Five to interact with other teachers and the authors who 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 adapting “The Daily 5” in Kindergarten?
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Model every new strategy over and over again.
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Kindergartners are incredibly eager to become independent readers.
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Kindergarten classrooms need to have wonderful libraries.
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The importance of choice of reading material in children’s motivation to become voracious readers.
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The necessity for “Read to Self” time in building reading independence: Every child instantly develops the self-concept of being a reader.
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A joyful writing-to-read approach strongly accelerates the child’s reading development.
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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 by reading every day!”
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Joyful learning supports a culture of kindergarten readers and writers.
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5. Welcome Letter to New Kindergarten Children |
August 2009
Dear Josh,
Soon it will be time for school to start. We will laugh and play and talk and dance together…
So begins a letter that you are invited to use as a springboard in creating your own “Welcome to Kindergarten” letter or postcard.
Our kindergarten colleague, Cathy Albrecht, shared this great idea after our Magic of Signing Songs seminar. She was delighted to see how many of her new kinders came in the first day of
kindergarten already proudly knowing how to fingerspell their name as a result of her welcome letter.
See full-size letter. (pdf)
(Just in case you were wondering, I purchased this colorful paper at Office Depot.) |
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6. Art Workshop August 18th and Salem Kindergarten Cadre News
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Art Workshop
We will begin the year studying Art, Literacy, and the Kindergarten Child with Laura Flocker and Nellie Edge
August 18th at Candalaria Elementary School. 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Salem Kindergarten Cadre News
We are beginning plans for our monthly Fall Salem Kindergarten Cadre meetings. Email us at
info@nellieedge.com if you are not already signed up and would like to receive announcements at your home email (sometimes school emails block our cadre notices and kindergarten newsletters). Join us for discussion,
camaraderie, and action-research with a focus on Best Practices in Joyful Accelerated Kindergarten Literacy.
Eugene, Portland, Albany, and Stayton area teachers: If you have studied with us in the past and share our beliefs about children and learning, you are welcome to join us for these meetings.
Our Valued Kindergarten Resource Books are:
See Our Complete List of Valued Kindergarten Resource Books
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.
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.
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7. Online Bookstore is Open!
ABC/Phonics and Sign Language DVD is Online |
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We are delighted to announce that our
online bookstore is now open for business with an easy-to-use PayPal payment option for our big books, CDs, high-frequency word stamps, DVDs, and seminar literacy manuals. (PayPal accepts all major credit cards.) We
thank our web designer, Patti Sohn, for the first phase of this new resource. Spanish Read and Sing Big Books™ and many more curriculum links are coming.
Our books are quickly printed in small quantities (five to ten books at a time) from a local Copy Max store. Our intent is to be able to ship out books every Thursday; however occasionally if our stamps or CDs are on backorder, there may
be a slight delay of a few weeks.
Obviously, we are not a superstore or a huge .com, but we are a small service organization with a passion for excellence in kindergarten and early literacy. Your support of our online bookstore facilitates our continued work in researching
Best Practices in kindergarten literacy.
My newest book and CD, ABC Phonics: Sing, Sign, and Read, should be available before September from our publisher, along with the free instructional video download, which will be available online at
www.sign2me.com.
For those of you who are anxious to begin practicing our ABC and Phonics Song, here is a link to our original
ABC and Phonics Sign Language instructional video. The only changes in the upcoming book, CD, and video are H is now hat, N is now nest, and V is now volcano. The new ending is “I can read. Listen and see. Come sing, sign, and
read with me.” We will replace this video with the new ABC and Phonics Sign Language instructional video.
Please know that we will send out a special announcement to all of our newsletter friends the moment the book has received its final edit and is ready to ship. This elegantly simple ABC and Phonics Immersion concept underwent
many years of development before we teamed up with Sign2Me Publishers to produce a professional children's book. We think you and your children will love it!
Thank you for being educators who honor childhood with joyful learning experiences. 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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