1. Invite Children to Memorize and Recite Spring Poems:
Build Fluency and Delight

It’s almost “just spring… when the world is puddle—wonderful…” (Enjoy In Just, by E.E. Cummings.) I wonder if your children have brought you the first pussy willows and “rubbed spring across your cheek?”  We love to make connections with nature through the metaphors and images of poetry. The sounds of language—“smooth as satin, soft and sleek…”—build vocabulary in such a satisfying way.

When children memorize, recite and perform poems, songs, and rhymes (with dramatic flair), they internalize the rhythm, rhyme, and syntax of language.  This provides the vital foundation for fluency in speaking, reading, and writing.  Enjoy our spring collection of poetry and song pages:

It’s Spring, and the World is Filled with Pussy Willows, Daffodils, and Leprechauns

We are very systematic and intentional with our use of poetry— the most exquisite language we speak. We savor the words and images. We give children poetry for shared, guided, and independent reading, because research shows that repetition develops fluency. We encourage memorization, for….“Pretty things well said, it’s nice to have them in your head.” —Robert Frost

See photo essay: Celebrate Language and Accelerate Literacy
See photo essay: How to Organize Poetry (“I Can Read”) Notebooks

Celebrating language through poetry and song and systematically connecting oral language to print is one of the “Best Practices” we have observed in Joyful Accelerated Literacy Classrooms.

See new complimentary e-Book: Ten Best Practices in Joyful Accelerated Kindergarten Literacy: Proven Strategies that Produce Exceptional Gains. These forty-three pages of practical strategies will be demonstrated at my next seminar on August 1, 2009, in Portland, Oregon. See Seminars for details.

2. With Happy Hearts We Dance, Sing, Sign, and Perform Language: Plan Now for Your Year-End Celebration of Language!

Language acquisition research consistently highlights the childhood value of dancing and moving to the rhythms of sound and rehearsing language over and over again. Children love to perform language, to turn print into sound and the pleasures of sound over to an appreciative audience. Repetition builds fluency, and fluency builds confidence. Practicing for a performance increases motivation. Singing and dancing enhances literacy joyfully and is simply a great way to engage our youngest learners!

•   See video clip: Kindergarten Year-End Rap, with Kathie Bridges

On Saturday, April 18, 2009 as a part of the Literacy Through Literature, Dance, and Songs: Developing Skills Within a Love of Language seminar, Kathie Bridges will share strategies in dancing, singing, and using sign language for language celebrations and literature studies.

This seminar may be sponsored by the Salem-Keizer schools in cooperation with our Kindergarten (Professional Development) Cadre. Details will be coming by March 15 in a separate announcement to our newsletter subscribers.

For additional Year-End Celebration ideas:

• See Celeste Star’s photo essay: The Kinder Stars Year-End Celebration
•  See video clip: The Pledge of Allegiance in ASL

3. The Magic of Signing Songs: New e-Book, Video Clips, and Summer Seminar

We are pleased to share another complimentary e-Book with our newsletter subscribers: Discover The Magic of Signing Songs: Enhancing All Children’s Language, Literacy, Engagement, and Joy! Perhaps these thirty-six pages and our ASL instructional video clips will provide the motivation and support you need to begin using American Sign Language with the children you teach.

Consider including Songs in Sign Language as one of your multisensory literacy tools this year.  Some of the most innovative and powerful work we have done in early literacy is in demonstrating how the combined art forms of singing and signing build literacy foundations by deeply engaging children.

Every year, amazing teachers travel from across the country to study “The Magic of Signing Songs” with us. Many of them write literacy and art grants to experience this memorable language learning and bring it back to their school communities. View Wendy's site and enjoy children signing.

To develop a repertoire of children’s songs in American Sign Language (ASL) and experience joyful literacy connections, join us this summer for one or both days of The Magic of Signing Songs seminar: June 29 and 30 in Portland, Oregon, at the Airport Sheraton. We will share memorable songs that have brought audiences to tears and earned standing ovations for the young language learners—and that’s pretty powerful motivation! Many of these songs have provided a gentle, joyful entry into reading success for hard-to-accelerate learners.

For more information, visit http://www.nellieedge.com/seminars.htm

For articles on the research and benefits of signing songs, see:

Photo essay: Discover the Magic of Signing Songs
Article: Children’s Confidence and Fluency Using Language are Enhanced by Performing Signed Songs

4. Tips and New Links for Spring Kindergarten Registration

New registration for kindergarten is a day to begin building caring relationships with families.  We create anticipation for an exciting year and begin engaging parents in an important literacy partnership that will have long-term benefits for their child.

“We have a covenant that says we jointly share responsibility for teaching your child.” —Ernest Boyer

What do parents most want to know?

I care about your child. I love teaching young children.
Your child will love coming to kindergarten.

• Make kindergarten registration a joyful and informative time.  Consider showing a slide or video presentation of last year’s students engaged in celebrating learning and building friendships.
• Share your personal list of fun family activities that build a love of learning.  You are welcomed to use or adapt ours: Fun Family Activities That Build a Love of Learning.
• Give parents copies of the nursery rhymes you will be using—or, better yet, a recording of the rhymes “well said.”  Help parents understand the value of memorizing nursery rhymes.  (See Make Friends with Mother Goose for rhymes, articles, and parent letters.)
• Share skills list with parents. See,  Early Indicators for Successful Kindergartners
• Provide parents with booklists of quality picture books and information about your public library.  Provide information about the local library storytelling hours, special summer reading programs, and how to get a library card.  Include your favorite predictable book list and “books that sing and rhyme.”  (See Favorite Books that Sing and Rhyme.)
• Share samples of your school’s K-1 art and writing continuum and give children a blank journal to draw and write in over the summer.
• Share articles on activities to build small muscle skills. Parents: How to Help your Child Develop the Small Muscles for Writing Control 
• Give each parent a name card showing how their child will be expected to print their name every day at school.  Encourage daily at-home practice.
  See Teaching Your Child to Print Their Name Efficiently.
• Invite parents to volunteer. See Parents as Partners Volunteer Information and Parent Volunteer Guidelines Letter.

For complete article and links, see Tips For Spring Kindergarten Registration Time.

The 208-page updated literacy manual, Parents as Partners in Kindergarten and Early Literacy: Family Connections That Multiply Our Teaching Effectiveness will be available again in May 2009.

5. Spring Curriculum Links and Full-Color “Here is a Bunny” Little Book

Enjoy the images and magic of each new season with the children whose lives you touch. Go for an observation  walk, and remember to remind each young naturalist to bring their clipboard and pen to log their discoveries! Take a field trip to the daffodil field so every child can experience “a host of golden daffodils.” Pussy willows, daffodils, bunnies, and even leprechauns are all part of the real and imaginary drama of spring.

Optimal curriculum experiences for young children are meaningful, multisensory, and simply must engage the imagination!  Children love creative dramatics and are naturally curious. What delight it brings to become a bunny, wiggling your funny nose, and miming actions…“perks up his ears… jumps in the hole…”

Here is a Bunny is one of our favorite finger plays and co-active rhymes for building language and delight. It is now available on our website as a black and white Little Book or as a full-color download. (Consider asking parents to mount, laminate and tape a set of six of these Little Books for your guided reading collection.) Once children have “experienced the language” through drama or mime, they will happily choose the rhyme as a Little Book for their independent reading box, and they will read with fluency, confidence, and comprehension—and with a smile on their face!

Give children real experiences in nature this spring for meaningful, in-depth study, and don’t forget to also nurture the imagination. Dramatic encounters with imaginary language can be the most memorable of learning experiences!

Here are some meaningful and imaginative learning links from our literacy award sites:

• Laura Flocker - President’s Day (“Wow! That's all I can say.”)
• Little Giraffes St. Patrick’s Day Fun (Check out the leprechaun traps!)
• Kinder by Kim – March Ideas
• Diane Bonica’s Whisper Room - Creation Station

6. Summer Seminars Announcement: West and East Coast

Writing to Read in Kindergarten: Explore the Power of “Kid Writing”

July 2, 2009 - Portland, OR
July 23, 2009 - Newark, NJ
July 25, 2009- Raleigh Hills, NC

• For details and registration form, see: http://www.nellieedge.com/seminars.htm
• Download free e-Book: Writing to Read in Kindergarten Seminar Sampler
• See Reformatted Kid Writing Video Clips

The Magic of Signing Songs: Enhancing All Children’s Language and Literacy Development

June 29 and 30, 2009—Portland, OR (Airport Sheraton)

For details and registration form, see http://www.nellieedge.com/seminars.htm

Download complimentaray e-Book : Discover the Magic of Singing Songs: Enhancing All Children’s Language, Literacy, Engagement, and Joy!

Ten Best Practices in Joyful Accelerated Kindergarten Literacy: Proven Strategies that Produce Exceptional Gains

August 1, 2009 –Portland, OR (Airport Sheraton)

For details and registration form, see http://www.nellieedge.com/seminars.htm

Download new e-Book , Ten Best Practices in Joyful Accelerated Kindergarten Literacy: Proven Strategies that Produce Exceptional Gains

7. Salem Kindergarten Cadre Meeting March 9th

March 9, 2009 - 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.

Celebrate English and Spanish Language Learning: Joyful Oral Language Development is still the Foundation for Literacy Success, with Monica Takata and Nellie Edge

Hoover Elementary, 1104 Savage Road NE, Salem, Oregon 97301
(503) 399-3157 held in Sharon Anderson’s engaging kindergarten.

We will dramatize some delightful English rhymes, sing and sign memorable songs, and use movement, dance, and mime to enhance English language skills. You will receive a complimentary set of Little Books and Anthology pages to create celebrations of spring with your young learners. We are all joyful teachers of English language learners...

Smiles in almost spring!

Nellie Edge