Teacher Tip Tuesday--Get Your Lips Ready!!

Happy Tuesday!!  

We have been doing LOTS of reading in Kindergarten, and I think everyone has become a master of using their Eagle Eyes to help them read pictures.  

Now it is time for us to attend more closely to letters and sounds in the words we read.  The first step to successfully reading new words is to increase letter sound fluency.  Using flash cards and/or alphabet magnets is a great way to practice letter sounds.  

Once your child is confident with letters and sounds they are ready to read more words more independently using the Lips the Fish Strategy!

When you come to an unknown word, stop and get your lips ready to make the beginning sound.  Once you have made the appropriate beginning sound, check the picture for words and/or actions that begin with that sound.  Make sure the word you pick makes sense in your sentence, and continue to read!

So, next time you read with your child, practice getting your lips ready to make a sound like Lips the Fish.  Have your child help you scan the pictures to determine unknown words.

Don't forget to record your reading on your Reading Log and/or photocircle.  

Happy Reading!

Happy Dot Day!

We had a great week exploring the works of author Peter H. Reynolds last week in honor of Dot Day-an international celebration of creativity and "can do" attitudes. 

From The Dot to -ish to Happy Dreamer we enjoyed stories about children who learned to believe in themselves and their work--even if it wasn't perfect or look exactly like someone else's.  We learned that we all have something special share--so we stepped out on faith, made our mark, and created some really great work!!  

We started with one of the most special things about us--our names!  We had great fun using dots to practice identifying letters and add a little pizzazz to our names. 

 

Then we used a few dots and our imaginations to create a picture on paper.  We had everything from Bulldog snowmen to pigs on skateboards! #KindergartenCreativity

Next, we made dots--with dots!

 

  

We even used some spheres (marbles) to create some "not dot dot art." #paintfordays #nohands

 

We had a great time creating with dots--but we also spent time connecting the ideas found in these inspiring books to our reading and writing as well. 

If you and your family are not familiar with Peter H. Reynolds be sure to look him up--or let some of our favorite Mustangs read to you!

The Dot

-ish

Sky Color

Rose's Garden

Happy Dreamer

You can also check out our Dot Day kick off car pool karaoke here.  

Work hard, have faith, and make your mark! 

Mud and Tubs and Cows: Oh my!

We continued our Farm Unit by reading all about Joy Cowley's, Mrs. Wishy Washy.

Mrs. Wishy Washy has her own farm with a cow, a pig, and a duck who LOVE mud!  But, Mrs. Wishy Washy loves to give her animals a good scrub in her old tin tub!

We decided to take a look at this mud/tub issue from both sides of the debate.  First, we made some lovely (chocolatey) mud of our own.  We let our little pink pigs, made from shapes we have been studying in math, get in on the action too!

Then we worked with aluminum foil to create a tub of our own that could hold enough water for a good scrub.

You can enjoy Mrs. Wishy Washy at home by listening here, here, or here.  Or, you can sing and dance with the Wishy Washy Washer Woman here.  

After enjoying the silly antics of all the animals on Mrs. Wishy Washy's farm, we began reading about Doreen Cronin's Farmer Brown and his cows that can type!

If you have not read any of Doreen Cronin's silly farm books, you should!  These are some of my favorite books to share in the classroom--they have enough humor to satisfy your little one and put a smile on your face too!

                

We also learned about some real cows this week!  You can check out some more information about cows here.  (user name:  colham   password:  ferry)

We learned all about how cows make milk and about many of the different products that come from milk, and just to make the learning seem a little more real we gave it a try.  

We milked our cow.

Then we shook, shook, shook our way to some fresh butter--that was delicious on our crackers for snack!

                                                 

It has been a MOO-velous couple of weeks in Kindergarten!