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Oregon Summer Seminars
Joyful Accelerated Literacy!
Read below. |
Summer Newsletter & Announcements
To receive our summer newsletters and announcements, please
add your home email to our newsletter subscription. |
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1. Poetry and Nature Connections |
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Lesson by Harry Behn from Nellie Edge Poetry Anthology, Volume II, Nellie Edge Resources, Inc., 1993.
(See:
online bookstore) |
We hope many children will enjoy poetry and lessons in nature this summer. Planting seeds and watching them grow is a special childhood experience. In the words of poet Harry Behn, “To plant a seed and see it
grow… is something every child should do…”
What do Kindergarten Poetry I Can Read” Notebooks look like? See: “
Children Illustrate Their Own Poetry Notebooks.
Download over 200 complimentary large-print, full-page,
copyright-secured poems and songs for non-commercial use only. These include:
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Apples, Peaches, Pears, and Plums, traditional
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Sunflower Children, anonymous
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Leaves are Falling by Nellie Edge
(used with permission)
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I Like Stars by Pamela Johnson
(used with permission)
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Fuzzy Wuzzy, traditional
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Leaves Fall Down by Margaret Wise Brown
(public domain)
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Weather, traditional
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Clouds by Christina Rosetti (public domain)
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See You Later, Alligator, adapted by Nellie Edge
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Reading is Fun by Nellie Edge
(used with permission)
Children deserve only the most beautiful and memorable poetry we can give them!
For favorite copyrighted poems that children delight in (which we cannot provide copies of), see: Nellie Edge Poetry Anthologies: Small Poems of Some Delight, Poetry Anthology Volume I, and Poetry Anthology Volume II. Royalties are paid on
these collections, so you can legally make copies of some of the best children's poetry year after year. See:
online bookstore to get your copy of these fine and useful collections.
For more details about giving children the gift of poetry, refer to Chapter Five in Celebrate Language and Accelerate Literacy: High Expectations • Joyful Learning • Proven Strategies by Nellie Edge,
2010. (See
online bookstore for our Literacy Manuals.)
Professional Development Credits
For those of you who are pursuing professional development credits from our literacy seminars or kindergarten cadre meetings, consider organizing your Teacher Poetry Notebook and making Language Charts or Pocket Chart Poem Packets as a
practicum project. (Tip: Invite parent volunteers to help you over the summer! See Parent Volunteer Letter:
Help with Summer Projects.)
See photo essay:
Language Charts for Reading and Delight |
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2. Memorable End-of-Year Kindergarten Performances: Video |
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What a thrill it is to watch memorable end-of-year kindergarten performances—truly celebrations of language! I am reminded again that children who learn to sing, dance, sign, and perform language with rhythm, expression, and delight
have a lifelong advantage in developing strong verbal communication skills. As children see parents moved to tears by their ASL performance of "See Me Beautiful" by Red Grammer or "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong, they get a
taste of the power of beautiful language. Especially memorable is "I Pledge Allegiance," performed in ASL to the song version by Lee Greenwood. (These songs are from the
Magic of Signing Songs Seminar and Distance Learning DVD package.)
See our newest video of Kindergartners Performing “
ABC Phonics: Sing, Sign, and Read!”
To Discover the Magic of Sign Songs in your classroom:
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3. Enjoy Browsing Our Annotated Kindergarten Literacy Award Websites |
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For easy summer browsing on some amazing early literacy websites, we have updated annotations with some direct links to the most engaging features within our favorite and award-winning websites. Here are just a few
examples to get you started:
Visit all of our favorite annotated websites this summer!
Happy browsing! |
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4. Summer Seminars: Joyful Accelerated Literacy! |
The Magic of Signing Songs: Enhancing All Children’s Language, Literacy, Engagement, and Joy!
presented by Diane Larson and Nellie Edge
June 28 and 29, 2010
See seminar announcement
(includes two DVD’s, ASL Guide books, literacy manuals, and anthologies.)
Writing to Read in Kindergarten: Explore the Power of “Kid Writing”
presented by Julie Lay
(Seminar 1) July 21, 2010
See seminar announcement
Organizational Model for Writing to Read in Kindergarten
presented by Julie Lay and Nellie Edge
(Seminar 2) July 22, 2010
See seminar announcement
Begin the Year with “Best Practices” in Joyful Accelerated Kindergarten Literacy: Proven Strategies that Produce Exceptional Gains.
presented by Nellie Edge
August 2, 2010
See seminar announcement
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5. Kindergarten Teachers Implement “The Daily Five” |
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We love The Daily Five: Fostering Literacy Independence in the Elementary Grades, (book and DVD) and The Café Book: Engaging All Students in Daily Literacy Assessment
and Instruction by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser (Stenhouse, 2009).
See
www.thedailycafe.com to learn more about The Daily 5 and The Café Book. This professional site is so useful and of such high quality
that it really is worth subscribing to. The video clips are excellent!
Here is a photo essay of how one “Kid Writing” instructor and national kindergarten presenter, Julie Lay, has adapted The Daily Five:
How to Combine “Kid Writing” and “The Daily 5” Literary Framework. |
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6. Your input needed on creating a Membership Site |
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Dear Newsletter friends from Perth to Toronto and Boston to Seattle:
We need your input! Please email us at
info@nellieedge.com
Over fifteen years ago, we launched our “Excellence in Kindergarten Literacy” Website with a goal and dream of showcasing joyful literacy practices for the world to see. We want to continue adding more quality
e-books, a new series of video clips on "best literacy practices", photo essays, and to be able to invest in our web-seminars, but funding is an issue that we cannot deny.
Is it feasible to charge a yearly membership fee of $39 for website users who want more depth of information, so we can provide additional content for "members only" with:
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A series of new video clips documenting our best accelerated literacy practices including Name Ticket, ABC Brain Exercises for Fluency, “The O Dance”, Kindergarten-Friendly Handwriting, and more.
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New e-books including, “Writing to Read Templates”, “Parents as Partners: Letters and Strategies”, and Kindergarten Handwriting that works!
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20 additional free little book masters
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Poetry pod casts
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Photo essays of our favorite /Independent Writing Centers
The other alternative is for us to simply pause for a while and not add any new content until we can locate a funding source. (And whatever we decide to do, our monthly newsletter and most of the existing content will remain open
to everyone because we love to share!)
We are passionate about promoting Excellence in Kindergarten and Early Literacy and providing ongoing support and inspiration for teachers who have participated in our seminars and those who value our joyful and positive
approach to accelerating literacy. We refuse to clutter our site with banner ads or compromise our vision of excellence, so please let us hear from you with suggestions and feedback about a potential membership fee or
other funding methods.
Thank you for taking a moment to
email us your feedback.
Smiles from Oregon!
Nellie Edge |
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7. Thank You Salem Kindergarten Cadre! |
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What an awesome year we had exploring best literacy practices in some of Salem’s joyful, engaging kindergartens. Thank you for helping us develop a model kindergarten mentor program and Professional Learning Community!
We look forward to seeing you at our summer seminars as we continue building a framework for Excellence in Kindergarten Literacy.
Smiles for satisfying summer days!
Nellie Edge |
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