It is not easy being married to a kindergarten teacher. As I share the events of the day with my husband he often smiles and says, "Honey, I don't need the Genesis version." (You know - In the beginning...) He also reminds me, "I'm not five. You only have to tell me once." In his honor I am not going to give you a Biblical narrative, but the Dragnet version - just the facts. For our young emergent readers to grow in skill and fluency they need to read, read, read! An apology to my husband for repeating, but this time it is necessary. Just as a marathon runner must run each day and a championship basketball player must practice 3-pointers, our emergent readers need to practice reading. Encourage your child to take time each day to read. Our beginning readers need to read simple repetitive texts that will build skill and confidence. They also need to hear good reading modeled, so take time to read to your child. Just like we practice the skills to nail that gymnastics move or to hit that soccer goal, good readers must also practice their reading skills.
One of my greatest joys is to hear a kindergartner proudly say, "I read that!"
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Self-Reliance
This week I have thought a great
deal about how to make our kindergartners more self-reliant learners. As a teacher I want to facilitate learning,
model appropriate behaviors, and guide students in developing strategies that
help them become competent readers, writers, and problem solvers. Striking a balance between allowing them to
be independent learners and knowing when to step in to help can be
difficult. I want to provide the balance
that allows children to become self-confident and self-sufficient while still
feeling supported and mentored.
It is often
more important for me to ask questions to guide thinking rather than to provide
quick easy answers. “What do you think? How would
you solve that problem? What should we
do first?” Asking leading questions
and brainstorming together can help stimulate thinking. Modeling good questioning techniques provides
young children with some strategies to attack problems on their own.
As parents and
teachers we have to encourage our children to take risks in their work and let
them know that it is okay to make a mistake or two along the way towards
greater independence. As adults it is
hard to let go of our idea of perfection.
It is definitely quicker (and more skillfully done) to complete tasks
for our children instead of allowing them the time to complete them on their
own. When hanging up coats or packing bookbags
on their own our children see they are responsible for taking care of their belongings. When a child says, “What’s that word?” or “How
do you spell…?” It is so easy to give the quick answer. I know I am guilty of this during a time
crunch, but this makes my students continue to depend on me. My goal should be to nurture the persistence and
inquisitive spirit needed to find answers independently. I want our children to know they are capable of
solving problems and that making a mistake is not the end of the world.
We need to
model responsibility and self-reliance in what we say and do. Our children rely on us and watch carefully to
see how we react to life’s situations. I
have often been guilty of wanting to rush in and shield children from
disappointment or failure, but by doing this I deny them a chance to develop some
important life skills like self-reliance and self-confidence. Our children are depending on us to teach
them how the world works and how we should work in the world. Sometimes that means they learn from us and
other times it means we encourage them to work it out on their own.
.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Questions
Life is an unanswered question, but let's still believe in the
dignity and importance of the question.
- Tennessee
Williams
Questions, questions, questions! Skillful readers ask themselves questions as they
read to build understanding. Often
children read and save the questions for the end. To better understand a text a
reader needs to ask questions before, while, and after they read. As a parent
you can help your child become a more proficient reader by modeling this
process and encouraging your child to use this technique when reading
independently.
As our young readers begin, encourage them to examine the
book’s cover. Talk about the title,
browse through and discuss the pictures, and make some predictions about what
might happen.
While reading together model questions - “What do you think the problem might be in this story? Often characters
have a problem they have to solve. How
do you think they will solve it?”
Encourage children to use prior knowledge (what they know about the
world around them) and think about what they would do in a character’s situation. After reading on, model how you use evidence
from the text to show what the character actually did in the story. Children love to talk about stories and share
their insights. This practice helps the
text become more meaningful and promotes better understanding.
Here is a list of just a few discussion items you might use
while reading together:
- Do you think
this story is fiction (make-believe) or nonfiction (fact)?
- Describe the
character using details from the story.
- Where does the
story take place? Describe the
setting.
- Where did that
happen? How do you know?
- Using a
picture on a page describe how you think a character feels.
- Why do you
think he/she feels like that?
- What was the
problem? Why is that a
problem?
- What would you
do if that happened to you?
- What do you
think will happen next?
After reading you might ask some of these questions:
- Did the story
end the way you predicted?
- What would you
have done if you were that character?
- How did the
character change throughout the story?
- If you could
rename this book, what would you call it?
Why?
- What lesson
did this story teach?
- What did you
learn from this story?
- Does this
story remind you of anything that has ever happened to you?
- How did you
feel at the beginning of the story?
- How do you
feel at the end of the story?
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