\u201cOh my dog is so sad, look at it has tears!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kindergarten writers and readers this week played word games and wrote and illustrated single sentence stories in their differentiated literacy groups. Foundational literacy in Kinder emphasizes understanding the main sound each letter makes, recognizing upper and lower case letters in many settings, letter formation, and \u201ctapping out\u201d the first of six syllable types. CVC (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant) words create a predictable and successful place to start for early readers, who \u201ctap out,\u201d then blend the three sounds to read, and also substitute sounds to make new words. Students at this stage work to tap out words they see in print, but also use this strategy to go the other way, taking a word they hear and matching its parts to letters they know so they can write it in best-guess spelling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In their three literacy groups, students get the \u201cjust right\u201d practice they need to finish the year with a strong foundation. This week, I joined a group as they took turns swapping out letters from a word using letter magnets to make a new word, and identifying and reading \u201ctrick words\u201d (a set of grade-level words that are common but can\u2019t yet be decoded with the phonics rules students have learned). Then they wrote, following teacher dictation, and illustrated a story about a dog. Students laughed as they added flair to their sad, wet dog drawing, and invented backstories. \u201cLook at this huge puddle! I want to write \u2018puddle\u2019 over here.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nLook at this huge puddle! I want to write \u2018puddle\u2019 over here.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Throughout these early years, students learn reading, writing, and spelling in the context of purposeful communication. They make signs for our playground and to \u201csave\u201d and label creations they have drawn or built during Explorations. They experience success and build confidence in whatever place they are on their reading journey, alongside caring adults who love word play and imagination as much as they do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cOh my dog is so sad, look at it has tears!\u201d Kindergarten writers and readers this week played word games and wrote and illustrated single …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","content-type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[242,134,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-curriculum-connections","category-english","category-lower-school"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/tap-it-out-tap-it-in.png?fit=1224%2C920","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2627"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2630,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2627\/revisions\/2630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hillbrook.us\/voices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}