![]() I am, however, even more thrilled to implement project-based lessons and methods that sometimes start with students trying things out right away without all the front loading. I love monitoring this portion of each lesson to check their comprehension as students explain their work in progress. These wonderful and thoroughly researched strategies - to model expectations (I Do)-practice expectations together with guidance (We Do)-allow students to perform independently (You Do) - are very helpful and energizing, especially when it is the students' turn to be "independent" workers. I've used as a mantra "I Do, We Do, You Do" when mentoring my student teachers on gradual -release methods. In the past, I've been faithful to our district-adopted curriculum and followed the plans as scripted – with allowances for flexibility in differentiation as needed for students. In teaching Kindergarten in East San Jose, I find each year a wider gap between the prior knowledge students already have and the academic skills they must master. This is one of the reasons why I can't wait to introduce a unit that will focus mainly on science standards, using strategies to connect images and words for deeper comprehension of weather and how it affects the world and earth's inhabitants. Amusingly to me, young children, with their curious eyes, hands, and bodies, seek to understand the world around them, and they are naturally intrigued by science. This is just one example in identifying their struggle with comprehension and expression without a basis of meaningful experience and vocabulary. Thus, as young Kindergarten students, their experience and prior knowledge of "snow" are close to non-existent. My students, like myself, live in "Sunny California" where the range of weather is very limited. ![]() If I talk with my five- and six-year old students about the weather and mention snow, very few will have any experience with that word or concept yet. Others may recall a very different cold winter experience. For many people, recalling a cold winter experience means remembering snow as part of the sights. "Brrr!" The idea of a crisp winter morning brings to mind specific sights, sounds, smells, and even a chill to the skin and a desire for a soothing hot beverage. Weather and Building Knowledge by Julie So Introduction I love that this allows every student in my class to be an active participant and actively engage in reading.” □. I can see them starting to figure out what types of books are exciting for them and being eager to discuss the reading. My students have asked me if I have any books in our classroom library similar to the ones we read in March Madness. “My goal with this activity was to relate reading to something popular (March Madness) that my students already enjoy sparking joy for reading. This will continue until one of those eight books is the champion! “This exposes the students to different types of stories and can give them an idea of the kind of books/topics they enjoy reading,” said Ms. Then, the students vote on which they liked better, and that book moves on to the next round of the bracket. They read two books at a time as a class, practiced making predictions, and discussed things they liked about the book and the different connections students could make to each story. Ford’s 3rd Grade students have been doing a “March Madness Book Tournament.” For the month of March, they are reading eight different books that represent a variety of topics, genres, cultures, and inspiring messages. Projects like this give the children hands-on experiences that enhance their learning while having fun!” Explained Mrs. “In Collegium’s Kindergarten English Language Arts Curriculum, the EL Weather Wonders Module has allowed the students to learn about literacy and science. One student, Christian V., said, “I liked mixing the baking soda and shaving cream together to make a big, fat snowball!” The class made snowballs and snowmen from their handcrafted snow. It took about five minutes for the students to mix the snow with their hands and another five or so minutes of playing with it to get the consistency of real snow. ![]() ![]() ![]() One box of baking soda and half a can of shaving cream were used to make the snow. “I thought it would be ‘snow’ much fun for our class to actually make snow,” said Mrs. In their English Language (EL) Literacy Program, Module 2 Weather Wonders – Unit 3, students learned about characters, settings, and problems in the story, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack. Covert’s Kindergarten students made some of their own in the classroom! We may not have gotten much snow on the ground (yet), but it’s okay because Mrs. Kindergarten Literacy Program Weather Wonders Activity ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |