December - February Literacy Events

Most recent listed first.

February

Focus: Shadows, Hibernation, Heart, Valentine's, Friendship

Oral Language

  • Discussion about animals that hibernate or sleep in the winter

  •  Winter dance visualization from Edmonton Catholic schools religion program

  • After reading factual information about groundhogs, children shared what facts they had learned with me and we listed these on an enlarged picture of a groundhog

  • Retelling of beginning, middle, end of groundhog story

  • Heart presentation by one of the parents and her friend, discussion about how to keep your heart healthy, where the heart is in the body, what size it is and how it works.

  • Discussion of "prickly gifts"

  • Discussions about feelings and making of a class book

Comprehension activities

  • Categorizing of animals that sleep in the day and animals that sleep at night
  • Rainbow Heart activity for following directions (In the pocket chart a list of instructions with heart tracers and color words. Smallest heart red, then next size orange, then yellow, green, pink, blue and purple. Hearts glued on top of one another to make a rainbow heart.)
  • Retelling of beginning, middle, end of groundhog story
  • Story props for retelling of Mr. Wolf's Pancakes and If You Give a Pig a Pancake

Writing

  • students labeled pictures in their calendar book of themselves and the people they love
  • Pattern story - Goodnight Owl, (Goodnight mom, Goodnight dad, etc.)
  • Share what they learned about the heart in their journal
  • Weekly journal writing
  • Round as a Pancake pattern book

Stories
  • Read-Alouds
    • Winter Magic
    • Groundhog Day by Betsy Lewin
    • It's Groundhog Day by Steven Kroll
    • Garden for a Groundhog by Lorna Balian
    • Goodnight Owl
    • Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
    • The Sleepy Owl - Marcus Pfister
    • Little Mouse's Valentine by Dave Ross
    • One Zillion Valentine's by Steven Kroll
    • Franklin's Valentine's by Paulette Bourgeois
    • Today I Feel Silly - Jamie Lee Curtis
    •  Feelings by Aliki
    • Will You Be My Valentine? By Steven Kroll
    • Mr. Wolf's Pancakes
    • 4 Valentine's in a Rainstorm
    • Love is a Handful of Honey
    • No Moon, No Milk
    • More Than One (math book about pairs)
    • A Pair of Socks
    • Do You Ever Feel Like This?
    • If You Give a Pig a Pancake
    • Round as a Pancake
    • Pancakes, Pancakes by Eric Carle
  • Independent books
    • Hearts on the Mailbox
    • How to make a Valentine
  • Big Book
    • If You're Happy and You Know It

Poems/Songs

  • Groundhog songs
  • Hey Diddle, Diddle
  • Frère Jacque/Twinkle, Twinkle
  • 4 Hugs a Day -Charlotte Diamond
  • Do I Love You -Vera Trembach
  • Pulsate, Pulsate Constellation to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle
  • If You're Happy and You Know It

Word Study

  • Labeling of their painted pictures of animals that hibernate or sleep
  •  letter g (to go with groundhog activities)
  •  letter v (to go with Valentine's Day)
  • Labeled illustrations of their "h" and "v" words
  • Letter m, (moon, milk)
  • Brainstorming "m" things
  • Word family for moon

     

January 31 , 2001

Focus: 

  • Oral Language – Brainstorm list of where we would find snow

  • Writing – Pattern Book, Snow on the …

  • Stories

    • Frosty the Snowmen

    • independent books Snow on the …

  • Poems

    • 5 Little Snowmen

    • Frosty the Snowmen

  • Word Study – Alphabet bingo

 

January 30, 2001

Focus: 

  • Oral Language – Discussion about hibernation

  • Writing – Finish penguin patterned book

  • Stories – 

    • Snowman story, 

    • Frog and Toad All Year (Down the Hill)

  • Poems –

    • 5 Little Snowmen

      •

    • Vera Trembach's Winter poem

  • Word Study – 

    • Alphabet sort by letter characteristics

    • t take home message

      •

    •  

Tuesday, January 23 , 2001

Focus: 

  • Oral Language – Brainstorm list of white things

  • Writing – Added to Black and White book (A _________ is white.)

  • Stories – The Hungry Snowman by Brimax (publisher)

  • Poems – 5 Little Snowmen

  • Word Study – Identifying sounds in words for take home message.

 

Monday, January 22, 2001

Focus:

  •  Oral Language – Complete whole group story started on Friday

  • Writing – Sharing of the pen in the writing of our own stories as sequels to The Black Snowman

  •  Stories – The Black Snowman by Phil Mendez

  • Poems 

    • Chicken Soup with Rice

    • 5 Little Penguins

  • Word Study – brainstorming of words beginning with the letter b to add to an enlarged letter B

Friday, January 19 , 2001

Oral Language

  • Discussion throughout the story of The Black Snowman

  • Sharing of ideas of what we learned throughout this week to share with parents in our “Story of the Week” newsletter.

  • A child came for a short visit that has been away all week and in the hospital. Discussion followed about hand washing and covering our mouths when we cough to help prevent the spreading of germs.

Writing

  • Interactive story group writing as a follow-up to the Black Snowman. At the end of the story a magic scarf that brought the snowman to life is now found by someone else.  What will happen now with the “kente” is the motivator for our sequel to this story. The children were divided into two groups. My parent helper was with one group and I was with the other – sometimes we acted as the scribe and at other times the children used the pen.

Stories

  • The Black Snowman by Phil Mendez

Poems

  • Five Little Penguins song

  • First month of the song Chicken Soup with Rice

Word Study

  • identifying sounds in words when writing our group stories

Guided Reading

  • finished first experience of guided reading with the three children I had remaining to work with

 

Thursday, January 18 , 2001

Focus: 

Listening

  • To information on different folk dances, instruments and music from Europe, Ukraine and Canada (Quebec)

Writing

  • Journal reflection on the performance of the Vinok dancers and what they liked the most was scripted for them by an adult

Word study

  • as a whole group identifying the letters for the sounds in Vinok Dancers to print in their journals.

Wednesday, January 17, 2001

Focus:  Penguins

Oral Language

  • riddles about black and white things

Writing

  • Pattern story about a ________is black.

Stories

  • The Black Snowman by Phil Mendez

Poems

  • January verse from Chicken Soup With Rice (by Maurice Sendak) to go with Calendar Activities

  • Penguin (first line, Five little penguins I once knew. . .)

Tuesday, January 16, 2001

Focus:  Penguins

Oral Language

  • discussion about how penguins move (slide, splash, swim, etc.)

Writing

  • pattern book with letter p words students added two of their own ideas. (i.e. The pig can run. The __________ can run.)

Stories

  • Non-fiction books:

    • This Bird Can’t Fly by Susan Canizares/Daniel Moreton

  • Individual student book 

    • Go, Penguins, Go.

    • My Pp Book (pattern – The ______ can run.)

  • Penguin Pete Ahoy by Marcus Pfister

Poem s

  • January verse from Chicken Soup With Rice (by Maurice Sendak) to go with Calendar Activities

  • Penguin (first line, Five little penguins I once knew. . .)

Word Study

  • Sounding out of sounds for letters in words for take home message (to wear black and white)

Monday, January 15, 2001

Focus:  Penguins

Oral Language

  •  focused around discussion of what penguins look like (made playdough penguins)

  • discussion of proper hand washing and the importance of having clean hands to prevent the spread of illness

Stories

  • Non-fiction books:  

    • Penguins, by Bobbie Kalman

    • Penguins by Gail Gibbons

  • Individual student book of Go, Penguins, Go.

  • Penguin Pete’s New Friend by Marcus Pfister

Poems

  • January verse from Chicken Soup With Rice (by Maurice Sendak) to go with Calendar Activities

  • Penguin (first line, I know a bird . . .)

Friday, January 12, 2001

Focus:  Penguins

Oral Language

  • Brainstormed all the tools/supplies needed to make Chicken Soup with Rice

Stories

  • Go, Penguins, Go.

Poems

  • Chicken Soup With Rice (by Maurice Sendak) to go with Calendar Activities and Kindercooking today

Word Study

  • Elkonin method (Early Literacy strategy) to work with the word family for “ice”

Guided Reading

  • Book – School from Scholastic High Frequency Readers

Children were not grouped according to any level and the session was around identifying what children already know about reading, i.e.. book knowledge, letter knowledge, using picture clues, etc. I continued to make notes on the awareness level of each child.

Thursday, January 11, 2001

Focus:  Gifts

Writing

  • Finished flipbooks that we started yesterday. After the penguin presentation we did a journal entry. Adults scripted for the children into their journal something they learned about the penguin.

Stories

  • Individual student books of Bows on the ______, pattern story 

  • introduced Go, Penguins, Go.

Poems

  • January verse from Chicken Soup With Rice (by Maurice Sendak) to go with Calendar Activities

Word Study

  • Practiced identifying letter names of sounds by working together to spell the penguins name to write in their journals.

Guided Reading

  • Book – School from Scholastic High Frequency Readers

Children were not grouped according to any level and the session was around identifying what children already know about reading, i.e. book knowledge, letter knowledge, using picture clues, etc. I continued to make notes on the awareness level of each child.

 

Wednesday, January 10, 2001

Focus:  Gifts

Writing

  • Flipbooks where children draw what gifts they found under their tree. Pattern is I found a (flip pages with pictures/words of what they found) under the tree. Children encouraged to put beginning sounds, higher level children expected to put all the sounds they can hear in their writing.

Stories

  • Under the Tree by Vera Trembach

  • Individual student books of Bows on the ______, pattern story.

Poems

  • January verse from Chicken Soup With Rice (by Maurice Sendak) to go with Calendar Activities

Word Study

  • Surprise bag full of things that started with the letter p (i.e. present, pop, popcorn, pinecone, pretzel, pencil, etc.) Children had to determine how all the items are the same.

Guided Reading

  • Book – School from Scholastic High Frequency Readers

Children were not grouped according to any level and the session was around identifying what children already know about reading, i.e.. book knowledge, letter knowledge, using picture clues, etc. I made notes on the awareness level of each child.

 

Tuesday, January 9, 2001 

Focus:  Gifts

  • Identified what gift(s) God gave them and illustrated this on a paper that had a picture of a present on it. 

    • An adult scripted their idea.

  • Stories

    • The Story of the Special Gifts by Peter Grosz

  • Poems 

    • January verse from Chicken Soup With Rice (by Maurice Sendak) to go with Calendar Activities

    • Listened to entire song on tape and followed along in the big book version.

  • Word Study

    • Listened to the story of The Visit of the Wise Men

    • And identified rhyming words

Monday, January 8, 2001

Focus:  Gifts

  •  Journal writing about their favorite gift
    • picture with labels
    • children encouraged to put beginning sounds, higher level children expected to put all the sounds they  could hear in their writing
  • Stories
    • The Story of the Wise Kings (Tomie de Paola)
    • The Twelve Gifts of Birth (Part of a child’s birthday celebration)
  • Poems
    • January verse from Chicken Soup With Rice (by Maurice Sendak) to go with Calendar Activities
  • Word Study
    • Surprise bag full of things that started with the letter s (i.e. soup can, straw, star gift box, etc.)
    • Children had to determine how all the items were the same.

December Language Learning

Focus: Christmas

Writing Activities

  • journal writing after the Grinch Who Loved Christmas in school presentation

Stories

  • Owl at Home

  • Hansel and Gretel

Big book story 

  • the Christmas story

Independent books

  •  the Christmas story (Miniature version of big book)

Poems

  • Vera Trembach Christmas poems

  • Reader's Theatre called, "I'll Give Myself to You"

Songs

  • Come Lord Jesus

  • Light the Advent Candle

  • Jesus Let Me Be

  • Take a Walk to Christmas

Oral Language

  • Guests to our school

    • 2 Policeman and 1 Police Woman

    • Discussion included the inside of a police car, hand cuffs and chest protector and when you would contact the police.

  • Discussion about God's gift to us – Jesus

Word Study

  • Take home book messages – continuing to work on identifying letters for sounds that they hear

  • Word play with the Elkonin method for the word family “ar"

  • Letter r