November 17, 2000
It was another busy week with the KinderKids, and for me it was a short week as well. I'm still fighting a cold, so I took Friday off to get some extra sleep. Getting my room ready for a substitute is always a challenge, as it probably is for most of you.
If you have a Balanced Literacy environment in your early childhood classroom (pre-K through second grade), it's can be very difficult for a substitute to step in and take over your daily routine, due to the many simultaneous activities and the mere fact that the students are out of their seats the majority of the time. I think most upper grade teachers don't understand that aspect of teaching the early grades -- when they take a day off, many of them are able to leave their planbook on their desk and their class does what they would have done if the regular teacher was there.
When I take a day off, I spend an hour or two preparing materials and making plans that will be easy to follow -- and unintimidating -- for the substitute. If I'm sick -- or have to take a day off to stay home with a sick child -- it means I need to arrive to school before 6:30 a.m. to get the room and the work ready, and it's almost always different work than what we would have done if I'd been at work that day. As a general rule, the kids don't do Literacy Centers/Workboard Jobs when I'm not there, and they don't have their normal one-on-one reading instruction and Guided Reading/Shared Writing times.
They do, however, get to do some great activities when I'm away, assuming that there's actually a substitute available to take the class. Subs are in very short supply in my district (and in many other parts of California, I think), so many times the class gets divided up and sent to the other 4 kindergarten teachers for the day, meaning the entire grade level has to set aside their day's plans to accomodate the unexpected extra students.
My class had an excellent substitute (the KinderKids call her a Visiting Teacher, which gives her special status) on Friday, one who had covered for me once already this year. I feel very fortunate to have the same Visiting Teacher more than once, as that allows her and the students to get to know one another and more gets done than if they saw a different face every time I had to be absent.
We're finishing our November units, Scarecrow, Scarecrow and The Leaves Are Falling Down. And we're still reading great Thanksgiving stories and doing related activities, along with finishing up our first "big" TLC art project, a Make-A-Book called "The Thanksgiving Story." I shared the first three pages of the book in last week's photos, and this week I have all but the final page ready to share.
Last week's pages
from The Thanksgiving Story
TLC Make-A-Book project
We
got behind schedule, as often happens, and didn't get the book completed
this week. I plan to do the final page on Monday, then laminate and
assemble the books by the end of the work day on Tuesday. Several
children have pages to make up due to absence, and I left a note for my
Friday parent helper -- Mrs. Newman -- asking her if she would mind doing
some of the makeups while I wasn't there. Mrs. Newman is a HUGE help
with anything and everything, and a valued teacher in our room. It's
a pleasure to have her there each week, as her help allows me to get so
much more work done than would otherwise be possible.
I'm busy getting prepped for my favorite December unit, G is For Gingerbread, and have some great new resources to share with you. We'll begin that unit the Monday after Thanksgiving, since there are only eleven instructional days in December. I'll continue the Gingerbread theme until the end of January, mixing it in with my Jan Brett Author Study and my unit on Snow and Snowmen, which also includes Hats and Mittens. It all rolls into a nicely integrated package when I teach it, but I keep the units separate in my mind.
I hope to add the Snowman unit to the website during December, and will be recommending materials for it here and on the KinderKorner listserv between now and January, in case I don't get the unit online.
I've received a lot of mail this past week, asking for the December quilt pattern and instructions, the December Good Morning song, and a whole bunch of other December stuff. The best I can do is ask everyone to be patient, because I'll be putting those things online as we begin to use them. You can look for a lot of December things next week, and I have quite a few December songs and poems to share this week, too ... you'll find them below, after the photo's of this week's work.
Last
but not least, if you're shopping for books, toys, software, or music --
for yourself, your classroom, or holiday gifts -- Amazon.com
is currently offering FREE SHIPPING
on orders over $100. This offer ends
Wednesday November 20th, so be sure to place
your order on time to save up to 10% on your total order by not paying
shipping costs.
Shopping at Amazon.com also means you don't pay sales tax on your purchases ... in California, that's an additional savings of over 7%, plus the great Amazon.com discounts on books. Buying my books and music at Amazon.com usually saves between 25% and 40% of the total cost of buying the same item at the teacher store or Target, and it's convenient, easy, and secure. Buying through Amazon.com also helps support the KinderKorner Website and KinderKorner listserv, and your support is greatly appreciated!
Happy Teaching, and have a great Thanksgiving!
~
Victoria
This Week's TLC Art Project
The Thanksgiving Story
Make-A-Book
These are the three pages we completed last week for our big November TLC project called The Thanksgiving Story.
Here are this week's pages:
The
Thanksgiving Story
Page
3
I see Plymouth Rock waiting
for me.
Plymouth Rock, Plymouth
Rock
What do you see?
The
Thanksgiving Story
Page
4
I
see a teepee, close by the sea.
Teepee,
Teepee,
What
do you see?
The
Thanksgiving Story
Page
5
I
see some Pilgrims, standing near me.
Pilgrims,
Pilgrims,
What
do you see?
The last page of the book
shows the Thanksgiving feast, including a turkey on a platter, plates,
corn, and other goodies. I don't remember the exact verse, but I
promise I'll put it online next weekend, along with photos. The KinderKids
are very excited about their special books, and are looking forward to
taking them home to share over Thanksgiving. They'll bring them back
to school afterwards, to keep in their personal Book Boxes for continued
reading practice ... repeated readings (singings/chantings/etc.) build
fluency and comprehension, along with aiding in language acquisition and
building background knowledge for other lessons and discussions.
For more information on
TLC -- Teaching Little Children -- projects and artwork, visit
the TLC website.
Introducing Word Families
Through Literature
Using a variety of literature
to study over 50 word families
Introducing Word Families Through Literature: Using a variety of literature to study over 50 word families is the title of a terrific book from Carson-Dellosa Publishing Company. I found it at the teacher supply store a couple weeks ago, and was very impressed with the approach and the materials and activities, as well as the books chosen for introducing the word families.
Because Carson-Dellosa materials are not available in regular bookstores -- they don't even have ISBN numbers -- I'm unable to give you an Amazon.com link for purchasing the book. You can ask for it at your teacher supply store, and it's well worth finding.
Each word family has a featured book, along with alternate/additional titles you can use. There are several thematic activities suggested for each story/word family, and blackline masters are provided when appropriate. This book really got me thinking about new ways I can work word family studies into my thematic units.
Here are some examples of word family and literature pairings I'm teaching now or in the near future:
