December - February Literacy Events

Most recent events listed first.

Date: Wednesday, February 28

Read Aloud Stories	We reread some of the latter pages in Wacky Wednesday to look for even more wacky things than we had found on Monday and Tuesday.
Shared Reading: Songs	We sang our goodbye song early in the morning and our Good Morning song last thing of all. We also reviewed Willoughby Wallaby Woo and made sure that each child had a verse in the song.
Independent Reading	Our morning message: Dear Boys and Girls, Today is Wednesday, February 28, 2001. And today is Wacky Wednesday. Did you bring or wear something wacky? Children do not need to come to school tomorrow or Friday but teachers need to go to meetings. See you next week. Love, Mrs. H and Ms. Lee
Daily Routines	Most children responded well to a backwards day with some of the things being reversed or changed. In the Wacky Wednesday book, “it all started with a shoe on the wall.” And that is how we started our day. We took time to look at those children who turned their clothes inside out, wore things backwards, wore something odd (an old Halloween costume, pajamas, weird hats, etc). We included a parade to the other kindergarten class, the office, the library and our buddies class. We tried to watch a 16 mm film backwards but agreed after a few minutes that it was very wacky…and we rewound it and started again at the beginning.
Notes	Some of the children were so caught up with the backwardness of today that they asked to be zipped into their jackets backwards when we went out doors. What fun!

Date: Tuesday, February 27

Read Aloud Stories	We focused on four or five pages from the Wacky Wednesday book that had some of the wildest wacky things. The children are asking for “more” of this book whenever they can.
Shared Reading: Charts	Our music today focused on reading and playing rhythm instruments according to a sequence chart. For example, the sticks together tapped for 8 beats; then the triangles tapped for 8 beats; followed by the tambourines for four beats; and finally all together for eight beats. We did this as we sang Baba, Baba, Black Sheep. The chart reinforces the conductors actions and reminds the children what instrument plays next.
Shared Reading: Poems	We reviewed Five Little Dinosaurs as a Word Walk poem.
Independent Reading	We read /w/ words on the pocket chart. One set of pictures that I was using had different pictures on both the front and back of the large flashcards. I suggested that I might flip one of the pictures but that I wanted everyone to look carefully and then the child helper would choose someone to respond with the changed picture. The children seemed more patient than usual in waiting for a turn although a few groaned if they were not chosen. A new game…
Daily Routines	When children worked on their Show and Tell book, drawing something that starts with the letter W,w, they had opportunity to review most of the letters of the alphabet as they needed to find the W,w page near the end of the book.
Signatures	We continued to work on well-formed names on our art work.
Language Experience	We discussed tomorrow’s special event, Wacky Wednesday, and tried to make predictions as to what might be different in school tomorrow. The children are very creative…they will be limited only by what their parents allow!
Notes	Children are more frequently being seen to arrange placemats for snack so that they are sitting beside someone they know.

Date: Monday, February 26

Read Aloud Stories	Ms. Lee read Wacky Wednesday by Theo LeSieg. We took time to really look at the pictures to find the wacky things that were hidden in each picture. We also introduced the Wacky Walrus puppet and the story for the letter W, w.
Shared Reading: Songs	We introduced Willoughby Wallaby Woo, a song with a few W’s in it but also a song that will fit with our Wacky concept for Wednesday.
Independent Reading	I worked with children one on one to listen to their home reading book, if they had returned it. Many children seem to naturally track from left to right. Many have memorized their story. A few are using a sing-song voice or word by word reading. I want to model for each child how reading should sound like talking.
Written Communication to friends	We concluded the sign making for the dinosaur museum/play house. Each toy dinosaur was labelled with its owners name and its kind of dinosaur name.
Language Experience	We discussed how dinosaurs (the duckbills) were hatched and how adult dinosaurs looked after their babies.
Notes	I wonder if my suggestion to parents that they read the At-Home Reading books several times to their child is too loose an instruction. Maybe I should give them a specific number of times, i.e.. 6. I forget where I heard or read this. It seemed a lot at the time, but now I am wondering if children need the modelling of the words/story and natural sound of the story before it sticks with them. Maybe the word by word reading is something everyone goes through after memory but before actual word recognition.

Thursday, Feb. 22 and Friday Feb. 23

Read Aloud Stories	Baby Brontosaurus and Baby Triceratops both by Dick Dudley are pop up books. The children asked for these information books again and again.
Shared Reading: Charts	Children reviewed all dinosaur poems and charts.
Independent Reading	Children were asked to read their own colour graph which they constructed after they played with small coloured plastic dinosaurs. Most were able to share information regarding which colour had more and less. Questions regarding how many more were attempted by all, some with lots of success…
Writing Centre	We continued and finally concluded the “Dinosaur, dinosaur” writing Books.
Dictated Language	Children drew and tried to write something that they had learned about dinosaurs. We practiced first on individual chalk boards and then children had an opportunity to record theirs more permanently on paper.
Written Communication to friends	After our extended paleontology dig this month we make a sign on our dinosaur bones: This is EarlBuxton-osaurus. We found his bones at Earl Buxton School. The display, as glue-gunned onto a large cardboard box lid, is our pride and joy.
Notes	It is incredible how much children have learned about dinosaurs.

Wednesday, February 21

Read Aloud Stories	The student teacher read Sam’s Pizza and a tiny book called Pizza.
Shared Reading: Charts	Children read and follow a recipe chart when they make pizzas in Kindercooking today. This assembly line recipe has lots of options to individualize your pizza for the items you know you like or do not like. We had all agreed yesterday that we would not put anchovies on our pizza…just like in the song, “I am a Pizza”
Shared Reading: Predictable Books	We read Little Baby Dinosaur by Marleen Miles, a kindergarten teacher at Crestwood School.
Shared Reading: Songs	We sang I am a Pizza by Charlotte Diamond and Pizza by April and Susan. Each verse of the Charlotte Diamond song has an echo section so the children quickly are able to join in. I use tapes with both of these songs to keep us on the right melody…
Daily Routines	Children continue to borrow a book from the library each day that they return one. Our class appears to be leading the rest of the school in no overdues each week. We are extremely interested in the announcement that come over the intercom when our class is identified.
Writing Centre	Duplicated copies of the tiny book, Pizza, are available for the children to individualize and then take home today. As well, the Dinosaur writing books that we introduced yesterday prove to be popular as a choice today.
Language Experience	Although all of the class is familiar with eating pizza, not very many children were able to describe how pizza is made from scratch. The song, Pizza, seemed strange to some of the children when it described throwing the dough up in the air.
Notes	Pizza is the word of choice for our key/magic words this week.

Tuesday, February 20

Read Aloud Stories	We read Pete’s a Pizza, a story about a family who solves the problem of a bored child by making him into pizza (rather creatively done).
Phonemic Awareness	We introduced the sound of the letter /p/. Our puppet, Polka Pig, popped up to show her pinecone, pearl necklace with a peace sign on it, and her pink and purple polka dots.
Read Aloud Stories	Mrs. Jarosch read to the class: Honest to Goodness Truth, by Patricia McKissack (a Best of the Best)
Shared Reading: Songs	We introduced two pizza songs: Pizza by April and Susan and I am a Pizza from Charlotte Diamond. This second one, we have as a big book, and so, we read and sang together.
Independent Reading	We had a morning message that reminded the children that yesterday was a holiday and that tomorrow we would be making pizza in class. As the children did not quickly guess yesterday and tomorrow, I drew a box around the yes in yesterday and underlined the to at the beginning of tomorrow and helped the children read the little words.
Computer Lab	Once and sometimes twice a week children can access the computer lab in the learning studio outside our classroom. The mother volunteers who come into to help usually supervise 4 or 6 children at a time working in pairs. This month we have set up a memory game where children play a variation of Concentration to try to match pairs of cards. The children find the technology of computers fascinating and challenging. This game definitely favours those with a longer attention span, but we are noticing that children are improving in their ability to remember where the uncovered pictures are. Also most have not determined that the game can be competitive; almost all are willing to help their partner.
Writing Centre	Dinosaur books with stampers, tracers and pencils and felts were available for children to decorate. The preprinted words said, Dinosaurs, dinosaurs; I like dinosaurs; ________ dinosaurs; ________ dinosaurs; I like dinosaurs. We encouraged children to think in terms of opposites for the blanks. They generated a list of possibilities: big, small; meat-eaters, plant-eaters; walking, flying; mean, friendly; and decorated their booklet pages appropriately. We put a great deal of emphasis on the reading of the book after it was completed, and celebrated the child’s ability to make it sound interesting.

February 16, 2001

Read Aloud Stories	We read Dinosaurs and All the Rubbish by Michael Foreman
Shared Reading: Charts	We reviewed Dinosaur Detective. We also went way back in our collection of charts and reread “Once There Was A Princess”. We looked for all the /p/ words in the poem.
Shared Reading: Songs	We sang Listen to the Chorus…
Independent Reading	Our morning message today referred to the long weekend that is coming up and posed a question about what would be happening on Family Day for each child and his/her family.
Daily Routines	Before the children left, I asked each of them to whisper a word that started with the letter v. (I like to use the whisper technique because I will be the only one to hear who has not generalized the concept. Also, it gives me another chance to be close to each child, even for a moment.) Everyone can either think of something by themselves or they are able to look around the class and find something that is on the v experience chart or in the v pocket chart. A few of the children are encouraged to try to think of something that no one else has thought of…
Writing Centre	We have an ABC Language Board with puzzle pieces for each letter of the alphabet along with picture strips for common three letter words. I sat with pairs of children and encouraged them to find the letters that fit into the notched word strips. Rather than tackling the letters from left to right, I suggested that children try the initial sound, the final sound and then try one of the five vowels. (I had taped a piece of paper to the bottom of the board and printed a, e, i, o, u on it). I explained that words usually had one of these vowels in the middle. This was useful for most of the children but I noticed that Michael ignored the suggestion and took the letters in left to right order. He already was familiar with the sounds of the vowels.
Dictated Language	For the first time I asked the children to work in pairs and use chalk boards to try to help me write some words. I had them copy __an and told them we were trying to write the word van. They quickly realized that we needed a v. Next I said we could try man if we kept the an, but erased the v. Some of the children made a few wild guesses but we said man slowly and tried to isolate the first sound. It is hard to slow down the children who are most excited and wanting to blurt out what others are almost ready to discover. I also dictated vet, from __et and set from __et.

Thursday, February 15

Read Aloud Stories	We had a look at the book A Night in the Dinosaur Graveyard by A.J.. Wood. The holograms made this a favourite with many.
Shared Reading: Charts	We reviewed the chart, Five enormous Dinosaurs.
Shared Reading: Predictable Books	We read On My Way to School by Marleen Miles.
Shared Reading: Songs	We reviewed our favourite Valentine songs.
Independent Reading	I tried to check on children’s use of At Home Reading books, by calling them aside to read me the book that they had returned this morning. We are making progress.
Daily Routines	Our Show and Tell session today was longer than the usual five children because we had the overflow of ones who had missed their turn during yesterday’s party. A wide variety of objects were displayed today: Velcro, violets, video, valentine box, velociraptor, etc.
Writing Centre	When children are printing their Show and Tell word, a few need reminding to hold their pencil correctly. Most can find the correct page to work on. (“V is near the end of the alphabet”, I tell them, “so look near the back of the book”…)
Language Experience	The volcano demonstration was a huge success with the student teacher able to discuss and demonstrate the process, ask questions and give simple information to each group as well as directing children to look up more info in a text book.
Letters	We wrote some impromptu letters of thanks for the parents that had helped at the Valentine party.

Wednesday, February 14

Letters	The Valentine cards that had been completed at home needed to be mailed first thing this morning.
Independent Reading	When our buddy class arrived shortly after 9 this morning, we delivered each child his mail box/bag and the process of opening and reading the cards began. Children in kindergarten were interested to see who they got cards from, as well as what kind of cards these were…(the design and the words, joke, or otherwise) were the topic of much conversation. Random calls of thank you were heard across the room. We suggested that children take their cards home and share them with their families which they were more than happy to finally do. The buddies stayed to help the kindergarten child play board and card games for part of the afternoon. The role modelling, the turn taking, and the opportunity to have something new to do with their buddy, made this day extra special.
Shared Reading: Songs	Children had an opportunity to perform their Valentine songs for their buddies. We featured: Four Hugs a day, Skinnamarink, and I Have a Secret Valentine. Several mother helpers busily snapped pictures to commemorate the occasion. There were many giggles as the grade fours realized that we were trying to teach them how to hug, in the song, “Four hugs a day.”
Read Aloud Stories	The Valentine video, The Berenstein Bears and Cupid’s Surprise was shown to the children. It featured lots of rhyming couplets that the children were invited to recall after.
Daily Routines	Our routines seemed different today with a party rather than a regular day schedule. While the children are happy to have a special day, several miss the security of a regular routine and ask when we are going to have centre time.
Signatures	The children had the opportunity to see the names of their class mates and the good printing that they had done on their Valentine cards as well as trying to read who the card was from.
Notes	Today was a satisfying but totally exhausting day!!! I am so glad I don’t have an afternoon class to need a replay…

Tuesday, February 13

Read Aloud Stories	Mrs. Jarosch read to the class, Valentine, by Carol Carrick.
Shared Reading: Charts	Our pocket chart is featuring a story with eight picture cards about our Puppet character of the week: Vam Vampire. In the picture cards, she makes a vase and goes to a valley to collect violets for her friend, Vera.
Shared Reading: Songs	We sang Skinnamarink and Secret Valentine. Our music class featured a song: Love Somebody, yes I do Love Somebody, yes I do. Love somebody, yes I do. Love somebody but I won’t tell who.
Daily Routines	This month Show and Tell is encouraged to be a guessing game. Children are asked to bring an object that starts with the given letter of the week but it needs to be wrapped or covered so that the rest of the class can’t see it. The child should give the class three clues about the object and then choose from amongst the class volunteers, one or more children who are willing to put the clues together to guess what the object might be. We usually suggest the class give up, if after 3 guesses no one has guessed it correctly. This helps the procedure move a bit more quickly too.
Phonics Centre	We looked for pictures of words that started with the sound /v/ to decorate a Valentine shape. We were careful to not choose some pictures that started with other sounds.
Signatures	Children finished their Valentine for their buddy, taking care to print “from” and their own name. They were also encouraged to try to print “to” and their buddy’s name.
Notes	Excitement is peaking for tomorrow’ party.

Monday, February 12

Read Aloud Stories	At the listening centre this week is a story of the Biggest Valentine Ever. All children are encouraged to take time to visit this centre this week.
Shared Reading: Charts	We read Skin-a-marink and then we sang it. Children are recognizing the difference in their voices when they sing and when they talk.
Shared Reading: Predictable Books	We re-read Love is Something. This big book is becoming a favorite when children can browse and read by themselves.
Shared Reading: Songs	We practiced Four Hugs a Day, again.
Independent Reading	Children are continuing to match the name on their Valentine cards to the names on the Valentine mailing bags. Adults in the class continue to assist as necessary, pointing out what letter the name starts with or where on the board (in ABC order) the bags are hanging.
Writing Centre	We continued the ABC Language Board this week at the writing centre and taught the children how to make a rubbing of their word.
Signatures	Children are reminded to carefully print their name on their valentine cards so that their friends will be able to easily read who the card is from.
Oral Language	We introduced the letter sound for the week: V,v. Our feature puppet is Vam Vampire. The children helped tell the story by repeating the sound of /v/ when the story suggested a v-word. A few children are hearing the sound in normal conversation and smile and repeat the word when they hear me say something that starts with /v/.

Friday, February 9

Shared Reading: Charts	We reviewed our experience charts for the Valentine theme: Skinnamarink, Secret Valentine, and we also reviewed the skating song “It’s so Nice on the Ice”.
Shared Reading: Songs	We started to learn Charlotte Diamond’s, Four Hugs a Day. This song teaches someone how to give a hug. We tried it with fellow classmates. We will try it with our buddies next week.
Independent Reading	Our morning message introduced the first day of gymnastics.
Dictated Language	I scribed many footsteps that we as a class dictated to recognize Kindness that had been shown to us this week: Thank you Mrs. Leung for helping us make Valentine cookies. They were so delicious! Or, Thank you Mr. Reyes for delivering that ladder to our room so quickly. We will be able to decorate our room for our Valentine Party now.
Written Communication to friends	The children traced, decorated and cut out a Valentine for their buddy and signed their name to it. These were set aside for next week.
Notes	We reread our key/magic words.

Thursday, February 8th

Shared Reading: Songs	We learned the song, Skinnamarink, as we listened to the tape by Sharon, Lois and Bram. Our experience chart version features the first verse and chorus. Most children are becoming careful trackers pointing from top to bottom and from left to right. I challenged the children to find words that they could already read. We drew circles around the familiar words and commented on how many words we knew.
Daily Routines	Show and Tell this week is featuring H, h words. I like this week because even if children have forgotten to bring something, they have hair, head, hands, heart and happy faces with them. It’s hard not to think of something!!!
Language Experience	I try to explain what “Have a heart” means. We have a great Discussion first with children’s ideas…
Letters	Interest is building in the mail bags with photos and names on them that the children are using for mailing Valentine cards. A few children are expressing curiosity and some want to take their cards home already…Patience is sometimes hard to learn…
Notes	Our word walk this theme is : Roses are red, Violets are blue, Sugar is sweet and so are you. Each word is printed on a pink or red heart and laminated onto a large (sidewalk) laminating film. Children choose to walk or hop on each word. It is still interesting to watch which children are unsure of the difference between words and syllables – violets might be stepped on for vi- only.

Wednesday, February 7

Shared Reading: Charts	We reviewed several charts that we had recently read.
Shared Reading: Predictable Books	Love is Something If You Give It Away (big book) is also known as the Magic Penny Song. We read with gusto!
Shared Reading: Songs	The songs that we are learning are becoming a bit more secure in children’s minds. We reviewed out Valentine ones.
Independent Reading	Our morning message reminds us that we will be getting together with our buddies after recess when we will work together to make a Valentine craft to take home for Mom and Dad.
Writing Centre	The children made tags for their craft/gift: To Mom, To Dad, or To Mom and Dad.
Written Communication to friends	The children spend time early in the morning mailing their Valentine cards into the mail bags of their classmates. I suggest that the helpers give clues as to where to find the right bag (what letter does it start with? All the names with the letter c are here… Do you think that looks more like Carolyn or Celine?) rather than just showing the child the correct bag.
Language Experience	The Magic Penny Song (Love Is Something If You Give It Away) presented the children with an opportunity to consider how you can give something and get something back too.

Tuesday, February 6

Read Aloud Stories	Mrs. Jarosch read to the class on our regular visit to the school library. Her choice was Cook-a-Doodle Doo by Janet and Susan Stevens.
Shared Reading: Charts	We reviewed yesterday’s H,h chart.
Shared Reading: Songs	We sang “How many ways can you make a Valentine?” Then we reviewed “I’ve a Secret”.
Independent Reading	Each child who brings cards to mail is reading the names of his classmates and delivering a card to the bag for that child. We will open them on Valentine’s day.
Play Writing	I encourage the children to make cards for each other and mail them in bags with their name and photo which we all make today.
Signatures	The need for a readable signature on valentine cards is apparent. However some parents have hand-written their child’s name instead of allowing more time for children to do a few each day. In these cases t he children can not read and match the name to whom it needs to be delivered when script or handwriting is used. We provide adult readers as necessary.
Notes	We read our magic words for review and added To and From.

Monday, February 5

Read Aloud Stories	Our visiting retired teacher friend read “The Quilt Story” by Tony Johnston. (This will lead to a follow-up art project). We introduced the letter H, h with a puppet story called Happy Hippo. We helped children to hear the quiet sound which we contrasted with /m/ and /d/.
Shared Reading: Charts	Children took turns pointing out /h/ words around our cozy corner where the pocket chart and an experience chart have many examples on them. I really want them to hear the sound /h/
Shared Reading: Songs	We sing “I’ve a Secret, I’ve a secret and I’m hiding it away…I am waiting for the morning of St. Valentine’s Day. I won’t tell you, I won’t tell you, I won’t tell you today, but I’ll tell you on the morning of St. Valentine’s Day.
Writing Centre	Children made mail bags that they could use to carry and deliver their mail. To label their bag, I demonstrated “apostrophe s” to show ownership. First I printed Mail Bag on mine and then I put my name above it and read it Mrs. H Mail Bag. I announced that this sounded a bit funny. It should say “Mrs. H’s Mail bag” and I then showed the children on the chalk board how to make it say this. Then I demonstrated how they could do this with theirs.
Signatures	We practiced our names on chalk boards again today.
Written Communication to friends	I hung up the words “to” and “from” realizing that many will need these as they start to make mail.

Friday, February 2

Read Aloud Stories	I finally locate the book by Bernard Most, A Dinosaur Named After Me, and am able to read it to the children. The children in the book each rename one dinosaur with a variation of their name: Matt calls the apatosaurus A-Matt-asaurus; Terra calls the triceratops Tri-Terra-tops, etc. We discuss and modify some dinosaur names for ourselves and I suggest that the children create a geometric shaped dinosaur for themselves and name it like the children in the book did. Our Bernard Most-inspired art will become a hallway display next week.
Shared Reading: Charts	We review our favorite charts from this week.
Shared Reading: Poems	We review…
Shared Reading: Songs	We review…
Independent Reading	I conclude the pull-out of children to read their at-home books to me for this week.
Daily Routines	Show and Tell is a weekly event for each child. This month we have asked children to bring their show and tell item under wraps so that the rest of the class can ask questions to help guess what is brought. (A modified version of 20 questions preceded with 3 clues from the show and tell child.) This is fun! Even if everyone does not bring an item we encourage each to draw something for that letter in his/her own show and tell book. I ask the mother helper today to stamp each D,d page with a rubber stamp that says “Dino-mite!”
Notes	The paleontology dig proves to be an ongoing favorite centre with children requesting third and fourth turns to hammer and brush at the buried bones. We are uncovering more and more interesting bones and I start to wonder out loud what sort of a dinosaur they may have come from. I have an idea that we may be on the brink of discovering the first ever Earl Buxton-o-saurus…but I will save that announcement for another day.

Thursday, February 1

Read Aloud Stories	We used an information film, Dinosaurs: A First Film. The concentration level of the children is remarkable. The film featured meat eaters who attacked a plant eater and the children were fascinated by the cartoon representation of this.
Shared Reading: Charts	Reviewed Footprints, Dinosaur Detective and Dinosaur Colours
Shared Reading: Poems	We reread the whole version of Five Enormous Dinosaurs. The children are using the picture clues to anticipate the next rhyme.
Shared Reading: Songs	I introduced Prehistoric Animal Brigade as a song. (Listen to the chorus of the brontosaurus and the stegosaurus….)
Independent Reading	I take time today and several of the days this week to draw children aside to listen to them read from their home reading books. I am modelling how to read without a false sing-song voice. I want reading to sound like talking. Many children are thrilled to show how they are learning to read. I find many opportunities to praise children for their efforts…
Daily Routines	I notice that children are enjoying playing in the museum and are quite careful to replace the dinosaurs by the sign that shows who brought what.
Writing Centre	A couple of children are motivated to try a D book, drawing three or more things that start with the sound /d/. I make a point of praising children for thinking of their own ideas.
Notes	We review our key/magic words – this time taking them off the ring and sorting them into easiest and hardest words. Of course, there is some discussion as to what is easy for oneself but I want to model this procedure so that children may try if for themselves. Each of them will need to decide which words they can already read and which ones they need to work on.

Wednesday, January 31

Read Aloud Stories	We read Count-o-saurus, by Barbara Esdale Smith. The children seem interested in the fact this book was written by the mother of one of the children I had in kindergarten a few years ago.
Shared Reading: Charts	We reread the chart, Footprint, footprints, dinosaur footprints. Were they big? Were they small? Look at their footprints. Were they fast? Were they slow? Look at their footprints. Footprints, footprints, dinosaur footprints.
Daily Routines	The word walk about five little dinosaurs is taped to the floor on the way to the cozy corner. Nearly everyone hops, steps, etc. on the dinosaurs and reads the rhyme. Some children have tried doing it backwards but they soon realize that it doesn’t work!!!
Writing Centre	The child who was the most interested in making a D book was Daniel. Perhaps there is something to my theory about a letter being special to certain children. I decide to share Daniel’s book with others later in the morning to see if others might be interested in making one tomorrow.
Language Experience	The phrase “habitat” came up in a discussion about where dinosaurs lived: One of the children brought a habitat/diorama as her D,d show and tell. The children had to “give up” but were fascinated by the converted shoe-box. One of our crafts featured a pre-historic scene (habitat) with a window cut to allow one of several dinosaurs to turn on a split pin and “be” in the picture. After this everyone seemed to be very familiar with the word “habitat”.
Notes	Today is our first report card day and I wanted the children to be a bit prepared for the Important Letters that they were taking home. I told them that I had written some good things about them and that I wanted them to share these with their families.

Tuesday, January 30

Read Aloud Stories	The librarian read to the class today: My Monster Mama Loves Me So, by Laura Leuck.
Shared Reading: Charts	We introduced the letter D,d with a Dotty Dog puppet, story, song and picture chart. Children played with the picture cards sorting which made the /d/ sound.
Shared Reading: Poems	We introduced a poem/chart about dinosaur footprints.
Shared Reading: Songs	We sang “Listen to the chorus of the brontosaurus and the stegosaurus, down by the swamp…along comes a dinosaur, making such a big roar, stomping with his feet and going “stomp, stomp, stomp”.
Daily Routines	In my class, children are able to go to the library daily to return the book they last borrowed and take out another one. The computer that the library uses scans the bar codes for the child’s name and the bar code for the book. The children’s bar codes are all on one bright pink sheet beside the computer and the names are in alphabet order according to last name. We have not spent a lot of time with explaining the sign out procedure (usually a helper mom just does it for the children) but recently they have become interested in helping to sign out their own book, and the mother helper just supervises). Most children are not yet reading their names in the last name first-first name next format, but they have memorized the position where their name is. Later this week, one of my class is moving, and the position of the children’s names will alter slightly. I will be able to check which children are starting to really recognize their names and not just the position of them.
Writing Centre	Our writing centre featured little home-made books with the letters D, d on the front and several pages stapled behind. Children are drawing three or more pictures of things that start with d.
Written Communication to friends	Children were encouraged to write/draw one of the things they saw on the field trip yesterday to the dinosaur museum. The pattern: “I saw a _________” was printed for all to see and copy. A few children need the copy to be adjacent to their own sheet of paper. All children were willing to try.
Language Experience	The children were very excited today to talk about what they now know about dinosaurs and what they had just learned yesterday. The idea of not knowing what colour dinosaurs really were has surprised some of them. A few just want to know that dinosaurs look like the ones in some of the recent popular movies. The painting easel had a few precut dinosaurs to paint … I noticed children seemed to prefer solid coloured brown and orangy shades instead of the pink and purple paints that I also had available.

Monday, January 29

Notes

Today was a very special day in which we spent time on the bus
ride looking outside our bus window for signs that we could read.
I was surprised at the variety that the children did recognize.
The Discovery Room at the Museum allows for lots of hands on
child- appropriate learning including a four foot tall mastodon
skeleton (Wooden) to assemble by number; paleontology dig in
rock-like material; dinosaur costumes to try on; puppets, puzzles,
etc., etc.
And a great photo-op…
We contrasted the prehistoric dinosaurs with the modern day
animals in the habitat windows on the main floor.
A very “learning full” afternoon!
Children have a tendency to quickly move through a display area
and only note a few things on their own unless the adult in charge
takes the time to draw things to their attention. Some mothers
make excellent tour guides….

We used the distribution of the name tags to assign children to small
Groups.

Friday, January 26

Read Aloud Stories	We read Dazzle the Dinosaur by Marcus Pfister.
Shared Reading: Charts	We reviewed other charts used this week.
Shared Reading: Poems	We reread “Dinosaur Detective” and introduced “Dinosaur Colours”.
Independent Reading	We reviewed the colour words and encouraged children to try to read them by themselves. Children are referring to the poem Dinosaur Colours and the regular colour word chart on the wall.
Daily Routines	During Show and Tell we continued to make the connection that /m/ (the sound of M and the word as written are evident in each of the objects for show and tell this week.
Writing Centre	Show and Tell contributors wrote their m word in their Show and Tell book on the m page as well as drawing or perhaps tracing their object.
Language Experience	We discussed what children already knew about dinosaurs with the hope of raising questions of what we are not all sure. This may be interesting, because there are a couple of children who feel that they know everything about dinosaurs. When I asked if we knew for sure what colour dinosaurs skins really were, my “experts” quickly wanted to volunteer grey and brown and bumpy skinned. I suggested that we might check with the museum staff next week…
Notes	We added “dinosaur” to our ring of key / magic words.

Thursday, January 25

Read Aloud Stories	I invited children to help me dramatize the story of The Mitten as I unfolded a large bed sheet. I had many volunteers wanting to be each animal and crawl under the sheet. Our version, like Jan Brett’s, had the bear sneeze (and I just lifted the sheet to help it “fly” through the air back to Nikki). Of course, we couldn’t do it just once….
Shared Reading: Poems	I introduced “Dinosaur Detective”, a selection from Wee Sing Dinosaurs. I am not using it as a song yet, so we just read it as a Poem.
Shared Reading: Songs	We sang “It’s so Nice On the Ice”, “Mr. Snowman”, and Five Enormous Dinosaurs. The first 15 words of this last poem have been made into a word walk (dinosaur shapes laminated in one continuous strip that children can walk on). They read one word as they step on each word: Five little dinosaurs letting out a ROAR Once went away and then there were four.
Writing Centre	We printed numbers on our January calendar from 11 – 20.
Language Experience	We discussed our museum and then the Provincial Museum (where we will go next week) and started to make plans for what we wanted to discover or learn there. We are not sure what colour dinosaurs were and we wonder if the museum workers know…
Notes	The children are fascinated by the opportunity to do a paleontology dig in plaster of Paris “rocks” (into which I have buried chicken bones.) Suggestion: mix plaster with vermiculite to make it softer and easier to hammer. The children are quickly learning that you cannot hammer into the bone, or it will break… we need to hammer the rock around the bone…and brush off the crumbs with old toothbrushes. The four pair of goggles that I found at the Dollar Store help the children to dress the part of the paleontologists (dinosaur detectives).

Wednesday, January 24

Read Aloud Stories	We reviewed the story of The Mitten with the book and again using some paper animal pieces. I invited the children to make their own paper mitten (with whip stitch sewing) and cut out animal pictures to go inside. They were welcome to make their just like the story or to change it and make it more personal with different animals.
Shared Reading: Charts	Review Mittens (The thing I like about mittens…)
Shared Reading: Predictable Books	We read Paul Galdone's Three Little Kitten
Shared Reading: Songs	Thumb in thumb place, fingers all together. This is the song we sing in mitten weather. When it’s cold it doesn’t matter whether they are made of wool or made of finest leather, This is the song we sing in mitten weather: Thumb in thumb place, fingers all together.
Independent Reading	We are attempting to listen to as many children as possible read their at-home reading books that they have brought back this morning. I want some baseline information about their tracking skills. I am also interested in knowing how many are reading in a singsong voice and how many naturally are using a natural reading/talking voice. Yes, we have some of each.
Notes	Today is an M,m day all around: our centres featured magnifiers, magnets, money, and making music. Even Kindercooking today had a mountain (baked potato with decorations)

Tuesday, January 23

Shared Reading: Read Aloud Stories	We read the story of The Mitten by Jan Brett. The children really enjoyed the opportunity to predict what animal was coming next. I found not all the children knew all the animal names well, so I really tried to reinforce the picture and name together, along with one distinguishing feature. The children also commented on the comparison to The Mitten that we read last week. Mrs. Jarosch read Ordinary Amos and the Amazing Fish by E. Fernandes.
Shared Reading: Charts	We reviewed the m-word and picture chart
Shared Reading: Poems	I introduced an experience chart poem about Mittens.
Independent Reading	Looking at and reading colour words was encouraged as we matched words with colour felts.
Daily Routines	During Show and Tell each of today’s assigned five children brought something that started with the sound /m/. We asked each child to show the object as well as to show the word his/her parent helped them write. We noted that not only does each word sound the same at the beginning but also each one has the same letter /M/ at the beginning.
Writing Centre	Numeral writing is being featured with lots of encouragement for correct formation. Homemade M writing books to record favourite m-words are available for children to draw and copy or write three or more words.
Dictated Language	The children’s dinosaurs for the Museum did not all come with signs identifying who brought what. When I scribed for the children, I again took the opportunity to tell the children about the “apostrophe s” after their name.
Language Experience	Children brainstormed for things they already know about dinosaurs and what they want to know.
Notes

Monday, January 22

Oral Language	We looked at pictures of things that started with the letter M (and some that didn’t. As we reread the chart we felt our lips humming as we made the “M” sound. I read the story of Merry Mouse, a puppet story that is loaded with “m” words.
Sign language	Our new sign for this week is “Mitten”
Daily Routines	When we walked in the hallway to music and gym, we were on the lookout for things that had /m/ sound. We discussed them when we got back. (Actually, we divided those that really started with /m/ and those that didn’t…we are going to get better at this when we practice more.)
Writing Centre	Children have the opportunity this week to draw things that start with the letter M,m into a little book. I noticed that Matthew and Michael seemed interested in doing this…perhaps the letter M speaks (?) to them.
Play Writing	I suggested that children bring items for our dinosaur museum (the play house) this week with a sign to identify what is theirs and what they brought.
Signatures	We worked at printing our names carefully, for practice on chalk Boards, and later on a letter to a child who has been absent for a few days.
Dictated Language	I encouraged children to tell me what to write in our letter to Ganit. They quickly came up with “Dear Ganit, How are you. We are fine. We miss you. Come back soon. Love, the Boys and Girls in Mrs. Hoekstra’s class.
Notes

Friday, January 19

Field trip to Callingwood Arena for Skating with our Buddies	Our bus is delayed in coming to the school and we have an extended time to chant our poems and sing our songs. We arrive at the arena at the same as the other class in their bus… (their driver went to the bowling alley several block north and insisted he was at the right place.)
Shared Reading: Songs	We sang “It’s So Nice on the Ice”. I think this is the song Thumper sang to Bambi when he was helping him learn to skate. Rather appropriate as most of us are learning today. I point out to the children that I am pretty good at going frontward but that I am now working on my backwards moves….
Independent Reading	We used the trip to look for signs along the way…things we knew or could read.
Language Experience	The children were so fascinated with the Zamboni cleaning the ice while we had our snack in the lounge area, that many of them stopped eating to watch the big machine do its thing on the ice. Many of them may have seen a Zamboni on TV but I think it was a novelty to most to see it right before their eyes.
Notes	Our grade four buddies are so good to the kindergarteners. They encourage, praise and coax the younger buddies to keep practicing and laughing, even when they fall down. The kindergarteners are seeing their big buddies as real friends now.

Thursday, January 18

Read Aloud Stories	The Mitten by Jan Brett
Shared Reading: Charts	Review of all recent favourite ones
Shared Reading: Poems	Five Little Snowmen Standing in a Row
Shared Reading: Songs	Review Mr. Snowman Big and Fat What can you do on a winter’s day
Independent Reading	So many children are excited to show what they have brought back as their first home reading. The little eight page books have a definite pattern and all want to prove that they can read now.
Daily Routines	Our Show and Tell routine remains very interesting. The children are enjoying seeing and hearing what each other bring. (I have about five children per day having a turn.) We are not in class tomorrow, so if anyone missed their turn this week to do show and tell, I asked them to choose their best s word and draw it (and copy the word) onto their s-page of their book.
Language Experience	We discussed what we would see on the way to the arena tomorrow and what we would do. I wanted the children to know what to expect. So I covered the rule about helmets (I mentioned that lots of clothing, scarves and very thick jackets were probably not necessary as this was an indoor arena).

Wednesday, January 17

Shared Reading: Charts	We reviewed all of our winter theme song and poem charts. The children are becoming confident about so many words. We draw circles around words that the children think they know. Snow (which appears many times on the charts is noticed by everyone….
Sign Language	We reviewed our sign for the week and those that we had learned from before Christmas. The children amaze me in the accuracy of their memory. They have learned several dozen words now.
Writing Centre	Continuation of snowman and s-words from yesterday.
ABC Show and Tell Books	Children are very careful to find the right page to draw their show and tell item into their show and tell book. S page is near the back of the book, so they are nearly able to sing the whole ABC song to check if they are on the right page. This is a good check for which children really can distinguish LMNOP as one or more letters…or all one sound…
Notes	We have a session to orient our parents to our At Home Reading Program. We are going to send home a little reading book daily and are recommending that parents read it to their child several times and then invite their child to read along with them (duet reading). Later, the child will be confident enough to read the eight page book by himself.

Tuesday, January 16

Read Aloud Stories	Our favorite story reader, Mrs. Jarosch, read Jam Brett’s, The Hat. In class we enjoyed Incredible Ned, by Bill Maynard.
Shared Reading: Charts	We read and sang It’s so nice on the ice (as you glide, glide, glide). As we will go skating on Friday this week, the children were very interested in the photos that I had used to illustrate this chart. They are old photos from a kindergarten class of mine from several years ago.
Shared Reading: Songs	We reviewed “What Can You Do On a Winter’s Day?”, singing several new verses (making them up as we went along).
Independent Reading	Children are encouraged to reread familiar pattern books on their own or with a friend.
Daily Routines	The children continue to read their own and each other’s names as they hang their coat, put away things in their cubby box, and figure out who is sitting next to them at snack time.
Writing Centre	We used the completed snowmen with s-words on them as a model to show others the possibilities in creating a snowman of s-words.
Signatures	We are continuing to focus on improved effort and extra care in name printing.
Dictated Language	After we talked about who might live in Snowman City, I encouraged each child to create their own inhabitant. As children finished their big snowman cut out, we encouraged them to describe their snowman as Andrea’s Snow Girl or Daniel’s Snow Paleontologist or Cameron’s Snow Golfer. We drew their attention to the ‘apostrophe s’ to show ownership.
Notes	During show and tell we are featuring words that start with the letter S. Nearly all the children are bringing a clearly s word. But we notice one who brings a shirt from Hawaii. We acknowledge that it does start with s but this time, s with h is saying /sh/. All the children who have a turn for show and tell today, draw their object in their show and tell book and print the word on the S,s page of their ABC Show and Tell book. We praise their efforts and award their page with a rubber stamp that says “Super!”

Monday, January 15

Read Aloud Stories	We listened to a short story together with its matching puppet that was loaded with ‘s’ words (Spotty Snake). We followed this up with a game of looking for s sounding words as we looked at picture cards – some of which began with the sound s and some that did not. We had fun stretching out the s-sound at the beginning of these words.
Shared Reading: Charts	We looked at a chart of words and pictures that started with the letter s.
Shared Reading: Poems	We reviewed the poem “Snow on the….” And “Mr. Snowman”.
Shared Reading: Songs	Our music therapist reviewed many favourite songs and taught us a color review song about frogs and different coloured lily pads.
Sign Language	We learned the sign for snowflake.
Writing	We reviewed numeral formation, stressing starting at the top and moving down in each number. We printed numerals to 10 on a January calendar.
Copy Writing	At the writing centre children chose to draw three things that started with the sound of “s” and to decorate the 3 body parts of a paper snowman.

Friday, January 12

Read Aloud Stories	Raymond Briggs’, The Snowman, in video format.
Shared Reading: Charts	Review The Snowman poem that we learned yesterday. Comment on similarities to story.
Shared Reading: Poems	Review “Snow”.
Shared Reading: Songs	Sing What Can You Do on a Winter’s Day and If Snowflakes Fell In Flavours.
Independent Reading	The Barney song is still on our white board so we reread it again.
Daily Routines	Even though the children know that there are 21 children in our class when everyone is here, I see them checking when I am doing attendance. They are becoming quite accurate, remembering to count themselves as well as anyone still hanging up their coat or coming in late.
Language Experience	We extended the song about what you could do outdoors on a winter’s day and the children enjoyed trying to fit lots of expressions into the same beats of the song. Later, they concluded art work to add to a mural with the same name.

Thursday, January 11

Read Aloud Stories	I chose Bruno in the Snow, but we didn’t get to it today…
Shared Reading: Charts	I challenged the children to read the Snow poem in the pocket chart to me. They did!!
Shared Reading: Poems	Introduce a new poem: The Snowman (I made a snowman round and fat and dressed him in a funny hat. He sat out in the sun all day and slowly melted all away. But I can tell….)
Independent Reading	As I listened to Benjamin read Hickory, Dickory Dock, he started to simply recite the words. I asked him to point to the one he was saying and he almost forgot the words… At one point, he was staring at “the mouse ran down”, he commented I wish knew what this said (the mouse ran up the clock) because it says almost the same thing here. I suggested he go back and reread to figure it out.
Daily Routines	When we were counting the days on the calendar one of the children noticed that we are going skating next week. Several of the children wanted to count to find out how many more days until then.
Phoneme Awareness	We listened to three words being read and tried to decide what was the same about all of them. The children were motivated and able to pick out the starting sound. When I tried two with the same sound and one different, it was more difficult.
Language Experience	The children became very curious about the action of thermometers as we dipped them into warm water and cold snow.

Wednesday, January 10

Shared Reading: Predictable Books	We viewed the video of a Snowy Day, by Ezra jack Keats. The children commented on the relationship of the story book to the film. We used the information from this story to extend ideas for our mural “What Can You Do On a Winter’s Day…” (i.e.. Peter made tracks in the snow with his feet and with a stick… he brought a snow ball into the house) I encouraged children to make more additions to our mural.
Shared Reading: Songs	We reviewed all of this week’s new songs: Mr. Snowman, What Can You do on a Winter’s Day and Wouldn’t it be Super…
Independent Reading	Before I had written the morning message, Zianna walked in with a large piece of paper that said: I love trees. I love flowers. I love rainbows. I love you. This spurred discussion and I wrote the words to the Barney song instead of a regular message: I love you, You love me, we’re a happy family…
Daily Routines	More frequently now as children are passing out placemats for snack, I see them reading the names on them to match friends at the same table.
Dictated Language	I asked Cameron to draw and write another “What I Did at Christmas” because he had taken his home and forgotten to return it. He was able to write “S” for Santa came.
Language Experience	We introduced the song “Wouldn’t it be super if snowflakes fell in flavours?” We had to discuss the association of taste and colour and then tried to make coloured snowflakes to reinforce this. After we melted some snow from the playground, we discussed real coloured water… coming from seemingly white snow
Notes	Today’s outdoor time at the playground produced some of the best extended play with dramatic play of the Titanic and icebergs; plus shark attacks and rescue happening in large groups. I was able to convince children to return to class when I said we would take some snow back with us for an experiment.

Tuesday, January 9, 2001

Read Aloud Stories	Mrs. Jarosch read Something Else, by Kathryn Cave.
Shared Reading: Charts	We reread the Snow strips in the pocket chart that I had introduced yesterday.
Shared Reading: Predictable Books	I introduced a big book Five Little Snowmen (standing in a row). It counts back as each melts, so children just need to learn the rhyming couplet that leads to the next descending number.
Notes	We continued most of the activities from yesterday, rereading, re-singing, and reviewing (and re-enjoying…)

Monday, January 8

Read Aloud Stories	I read Grandpa Dan’s Toboggan Ride
Shared Reading: Charts	We reviewed our ABC chart
Shared Reading: Poems	I displayed a new poem with a few words and a few picture prompts. Before we started I asked if some children might see anything they already knew. (Snow on the houses, snow on the tree, snow on the playground, snow on me). I pointed out that no/on is in all the lines and to be careful – in snow it says no; in ‘on’ it is a different word. This elicited comment of: neat, Wow etc…
Shared Reading: Songs	I introduced “Mr. Snow man big and fat, All dressed up in your winter hat…”
Independent Reading	Dear Children, Today is Monday, January 8, 2001. Happy New Year! Love, Lorie and Mrs. H.
Daily Routines	We reread our magic (key) words.
Writing Centre	The centre is set up with winter words and picture cards and some homemade books with newsprint pages and wallpaper covers. Children were encouraged to draw and write at least three things that belong to winter. Interest was high.
Journals	All children were encouraged to try to draw and write about their holidays. Several children said they “couldn’t” but when I asked them if they needed help with the first letter, most were able to do this independently. However, encouraging 20 children to write what they know or are able to write is very time consuming! (No helper today…)
Signatures	This week I will be evaluating children’s name printing amongst several other writing tasks: numbers 1 – 10, geometric shapes, etc
Listening Centre	This week the story of Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats is featured.
Language Experience	We diverted from our discussion of holiday details, to discuss Cuba and other islands in the sun.
Notes	It never seems to fail: When you need snow for your winter theme the temperatures are melting…

There was no school for the kindergarten children on Friday, December 22.

Date: Thursday, December 21

Shared Reading: Charts	Review “I Like Christmas”
Shared Reading: Predictable Books	Children read their book from Santa with their own parent or other family representative. An assortment of seasonal books was available if families had time to read, during the party. I reread The Christmas Orange to Benjamin while he waited for space at the table to make his craft.
Shared Reading: Songs	We read/sang Must Be Santa from our big book copy.
Independent Reading	Dear Children, What a special day today. We are here in the morning and we are coming back again in the afternoon for our concert and party. Will your family come to watch? Yes No Love, Mrs. H. and Lorie
Daily Routines	continuation
Signatures	continuation
Notes	Our concerts and family party were a huge success. We practiced, and performed for other children in the school in the a.m. and returned in the afternoon for a concert and party for our families. We were fortunate to have a volunteering Santa from the school trustees…a former principal who needed no additional padding. The additional time in school on Thursday, meant no time required on Friday…a definite bonus to our busy lives.

Date: Wed., December 20

Shared Reading: Charts	We read I like Christmas
Shared Reading: Songs	We read/sang Must Be Santa from our big book copy.
Independent Reading	Dear Children, Today is Wednesday, December 20, 2000. Tomorrow we will have our concert and Christmas party. Love, Mrs. H. and Lorie
Daily Routines	Continuation
Writing Centre	Continuation of writing Christmas things.
Notes	I have heard such positive responses to the letters that were answered by Santa’s helpers. This is definitely an aspect of my program that I want to continue another year. (The teacher of the Jr. High English class is also a former mother of a k child I had a few years ago so she is very familiar with my program.)

Date: December 19

Shared Reading: Songs	We read We Wish You a Merry Christmas and discussed figgy Pudding, good tidings etc.
Independent Reading	Dear Children, Today is Tuesday, December 19, 2000. Is Lorie here today? Yes No Love, Mrs. H. PS. How many days are left until Christmas?
Daily Routines	Continuation
Writing Centre	Continuation from yesterday
Signatures	Continuation
Letters	The children received their reply letters from Santa’s elves (the Junior high class in the neighbouring school). I built the anticipation and sent everyone home to have a reader help them figure out what Santa was saying to each of them.
Notes	This activity of letter writing and replying has generated lots of anticipation and joy for the children.

Date: Monday, December 18

Shared Reading: Songs	We read/sang Must Be Santa from our big book copy.
Independent Reading	Dear Children, Today is Monday, December 18, 2000. Today we will finish our special candle jar presents. The weather is a little warmer. Can we have recess today? Yes No Love, Mrs. H. and Lorie
Daily Routines	Continuation
Writing Centre	A variation to the writing centre was introduced with Christmas words and pictures for toys that children might want to draw and copy.
Signatures	Continuation
Notes	The children’s anticipation for Christmas coupled with long no recess days has increased the level of noise in the classroom. Oh joy!

Date: Friday, December 15

Read Aloud Stories	We read Arthur’s Christmas.
Shared Reading: Charts	We reviewed “I Like Christmas”. This is a poem with rhyming couplets, with the phrase, I Like Christmas, between each. I made the chart with the rhyming couplets in black print and the repeated phrase in red. It is easy to see that something repeats. But each of the couplets also starts with ‘Christmas is…’ so looking for what is familiar is a great follow – up activity for this chart. Do you know the poem: Christmas brings a lot of joy. I like Christmas. Candy and a brand new toy. I like Christmas, etc.
Shared Reading: Songs	We sang Must be Santa with our big book again.
Independent Reading	Dear Boys and Girls, Today is Friday, December 15, 2000. Today is Buddy Day. We will make a craft to take home as a gift. Love, Lorie and Mrs. H.
Writing Centre	Continuation of ‘What _______ wants for Christmas’ as well as the card making activities.
Notes	This was another very full week. Excitement for the holiday is starting to build.

Date: Thursday, December 14

Read Aloud Stories	We looked through Peter Spier’s Christmas. It is a no word series of picture book that show how one family gets ready for Christmas…and takes us through putting away after…
Shared Reading: Poems	We started reading Ï Like Christmas, a poem that repeats the same two words at the beginning of each line.
Shared Reading: Songs	We sang We Wish You a Merry Christmas, our concluding song for our kindergarten concert for next week. It’s the easiest song we are learning so we have left it to the last…
Independent Reading	Dear Girls and Boys, Today is Thursday, December 14, 2000. Can we have recess today? Yes No Love, Mrs. H. and Lorie P.S. How many children are here today?
Writing Centre	Several children enjoyed making their own Christmas cards from the fronts of old cards.
Signatures	We suggested some children practice writing their name smaller to fit on the gift tags we were making.
Notes	We reread our magic words and added ‘Christmas’. One child said ‘Mom’ when we looked at ‘Wow’. We reminded him of the special connection of these two magic words…

Date: Wed., December 13

Read Aloud Stories	We concluded The Christmas Orange
Independent Reading	Dear Girls and Boys, Today is Wednesday, December 13, 2000. Today we will Kindercook and make our own Rudolph sandwiches to eat. Love, Mrs. H. and Lorie
Writing Centre	The ‘What I want for Christmas’ activity continues to be very popular with some children returning for a second turn.
Letters	I noticed that Daniel was passing out Christmas cards to many of his friends. When I looked a bit closer I noticed that he had taken the fronts from some perhaps previously used Christmas cards and had written his name on the back of all of them. I praised him for his encouraged good idea and made a mental note to provide some old cards for the writing centre tomorrow.
Notes	I made a mistake in signing “sitting” instead of “tapping” in our song about the elves, and immediately several of the children picked up on it and started giggling. (It is easy to do because one sign uses two crossed fingers and the other is the same action with single fingers). I know these kids are making great progress with their sign language… I’ll have to be more careful or risk being laughed out of the class.

Date: Tuesday, December 12

Read Aloud Stories	We read part of Christmas Orange.
Shared Reading: Charts	One of the children commented that it was not long too Christmas. When we consulted our Count Down to Christmas calendar, we could indeed confirm that Christmas was coming soon. Several children took delight in counting exactly how many days are left (or rather how many sleeps)
Shared Reading: Songs	We changed a few words in the From All of Us to All of You song for our Christmas concert. A few children noticed and commented but I explained that it will be easier to remember if we sing the first verse twice rather than perhaps making a mistake in singing two different verses… and that our parents would like the song anyway.
Independent Reading	Dear Boys and Girls, Today is Tuesday, December 12, 2000. We will have an indoor recess today. Love, Lorie and Mrs. Hoekstra P.S. How many children are here today?
Writing Centre	Continuation of the cut and paste activities.
Notes	We practiced our signing…its getting quite good especially for the two Christmas songs we are learning: Santa’s Coming ( to the tune of Frère Jacques) and Tapping, Tapping Little Elves (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle).

Date: Monday, December 11

Read Aloud Stories	We read Arthur’s Christmas.
Shared Reading: Poems	I introduced Must Be Santa, a big book story in poem format.
Shared Reading: Songs	We invited Mrs. Dreger (from our other kindergarten class) to come and teach us a new Christmas song (This little Light of Mine) while Mrs. Hoekstra went to Mrs. Dreger’s class to teach From All of Us to All of You. These are two songs all three classes will sing jointly in our concert next week.
Independent Reading	Dear Boys and Girls, Today is Monday, December 11, 2000. We are going to learn some more about Christmas. Mrs. Dreger will teach one song to you and Mrs. H. will teach one to Mrs. Dreger’s class. Love, Mrs. H.
Writing Centre	We started a cut and paste (from fliers and catalogues) a sheet called What __________ Wants for Christmas. This was a wonderful wishing centre.
Signatures	We discussed the need to know who jar is whose. Names on them help us identify which is which. Clearly printed names make reading easier.
Notes	We reviewed our magic words and added Santa to the list.

Date: December 8, 2000

Read Aloud Stories	We listened to the Story of the Christmas Mouse (we have a taped version of it).
Shared Reading: Songs	We sang Once I Was A Princess and performed it for the other Kindergarten class. We also started working on a concert song, “From All of us to All of You” (I have been looking for this music for two years and now have just found it…it’s the Disney song that Burl Ives recorded…)
Independent Reading	Dear Girls and Boys, Today is Friday, December 8, 2000. We will sing for Mrs. Dreger’s class. Love, Mrs. H. P.S. Did you bring Show and Tell today?
Daily Routines	Each day in my class there is a short time to look at books – some children enjoy the pictures, but more and more children are choosing the books with patterns to reread themselves.
Language Experience	We wanted to view our own videotape of our nursery rhymes… but we had technical difficulties and will try again next week.
Notes	We reread our Magic Words. Because I wasn’t sure all children were trying to read, and not memorizing the words, I scrambled the flash cards into a new order today. I realize some children are really reading…some had started to become dependent on the original order.

Date: December 7

Read Aloud Stories	We read “ Arthur’s Christmas”
Shared Reading: Charts	Review ABC chart reading just the letters
Shared Reading: Songs	We reviewed our signing Christmas songs…to practice the words and to practice the signing (slowly)…but it is starting to come…
Independent Reading	Dear Girls and Boys, Today is Thursday, December 7, 2000. Yesterday we had Buddy Time. Did you have fun? Yes No Love, Lorie (the aide who works with my special student…)
Daily Routines	Thursdays have a different routine (early dismissal) and so we don’t have recess or snack. Today the children were explaining this to each other and had a real discussion about what we could expect.
Writing Centre	Continued Christmas writing booklets

Date: December 6, 2000

Read Aloud Stories	Each child had a Christmas book read to him/her by his/her Grade 4 buddy.
Independent Reading	Dear Girls and Boys, Today is Wednesday, December 6, 2000. Today is Silas’ birthday. He is five years old. Will we eat cup cakes? Yes No Love, Mrs. H.
Writing Centre	Continue Christmas writing booklets
Language Experience	We brainstormed for ideas of things that belong to Christmas.
Letters	We received a letter back from the puppet lady who had performed for us a couple of weeks ago. I read it to the children and we passed around the envelope, letter and photo that she had sent.

Date: December 5, 2000

Shared Reading: Charts	We reread the chart, What do you put on a Christmas tree, a Christmas tree, a Christmas tree, what do you put on a Christmas tree, a Pretty Christmas tree? Answers include a star, some bells and some lights.
Shared Reading: Poems	We preformed our Three Bears Rap for the health nurses who came to do a lice presentation.
Independent Reading	Dear Girls and Boys, Today is Tuesday, December 5, 2000. Will we sing some Christmas songs today? Yes No Love, Mrs. H.
Daily Routines	We continue to practice reading names around our room. In addition to the ones on our coat hooks, cubby boxes, name tags and placemats, we have added a new photo display with our name below our individual photos.
Writing Centre	Several children worked at the writing centre drawing Christmas objects and copying the word to match their picture. When I sat with them, I was able to get children to predict which letter was the next likely one in the words that they wanted to write. This was an ideal time to incidentally discuss silent letters because ‘snow’ and ‘cane’ can’t be sounded out.
Signatures	We continue to print our name on all arts and craft projects.
Notes	The children expected that when we went to the same room that we had previously used for a puppet presentation that they would somehow be entertained when we now went back to hear a lice presentation today. When the student nurse read a part of the book, they asked her to keep reading the story (nothing was happening – it was an information book). When they saw an overhead projector in the corner ready to use with the div II kids, they asked if they could have that part of the show. Somehow all in all the lice presentation didn’t have the same entertainment value….

Date: December 4, 2000

Shared Reading: Charts	We started reading a chart with a refrain: What do you put on a Christmas tree?
Shared Reading: Poems	We reviewed Father Bear, Father Bear and our Three Bears Rap.
Shared Reading: Songs	We reviewed, “Tapping, tapping Christmas elves”… to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle and also “Santa’s Coming, Santa’s Coming” to the tune of Frère Jacques. These will be two songs that we are going to perform in sign language at our Christmas concert.
Independent Reading	Dear Boys and Girls, Today is Monday, December 4, 2000. We will write letters to Santa today. Do we need some help? Yes No Love, Mrs. H.
Daily Routines	Reading names around our room: coat hooks, cubby boxes, nametags and placemats.
Writing Centre	Children were quite interested in our new Christmas words booklets. They could draw anything related to Christmas and copy the accompanying word from the display in the writing centre.
Signatures	A small group of children worked with a retired teacher volunteer to improve their name printing. We are seeing some gains in name printing maybe from this extra individual instruction or maybe from the student led conferences two weeks ago…parents are realizing that this is a fundamental learning step for children.
Language Experience	Children brainstormed for ideas to complete the statement: Christmas is…
Letters	The children worked with their Grade 6 big friends to write a letter to Santa. Most children took the time to decorate the letter and to write their own name. They will be sent to the North Pole (aka Junior High) later this week.
Notes	We are using the phonological assessment to check which children can hear and identify the same two words; to hear and distinguish two rhyme words; and to create a rhyme word when a single word is given.

Date: December 1, 2000

Shared Reading: Poems	We re-taped our nursery rhyme “readings” on another video camera.
Independent Reading	Dear Girls and Boys, Today is Friday, December 1, 2000. It is the first day of the new month. We will have a special school snack today. Love, Mrs. H.
Daily Routines	Reading words and names around our room.
Writing Centre	Encouraged children to match ABC’s and abc’s to puzzle board that has a picture clue below each puzzle place.
Signatures	Printing names on all art and craft items.
Notes	I am again impressed with the progress many children are making with reading. Ericka can read nearly all the independent reading message…and several others are making logical guesses when they try to decode a new word in the message.