Looking for an easy way to create worksheet resources for your kindergarten class? Check out the free worksheet generator over at education.com.
Here’s a sample worksheet to spark your little one’s reading skills with this fun matching game.
This guest post was sent to us by Education.com, an award winning educational materials like worksheets, games, lesson plans and activities designed to help kids succeed.
If you read my first post on digital citizenship, I shared what it is and how we can start by teaching our kids that when it comes to technology … it’s important to BE GOOD and use it FOR GOOD.
As a way to get started, I encourage you to check out the DigCitKids Monthly Challenge: How do you help your neighbors? This is a great idea for classrooms of all ages/grades to start a conversation on ways we can help our neighbors – both near and far. For the month of September, the challenge is to come up with ways to help your neighbors.
Then go to the DigCitKids page to take the pledge and share your ideas on Twitter using #bethatKINDofkid!
Don’t forget to tag @theseedsnetwork as well, so we can follow along! 🙂
There is no doubt that a child learns best when learning takes place in an area of interest. As educators, we must keep this in mind when lesson planning. This task can be daunting, especially when given a large group of students with various interests. However, when given the opportunity to learn and grow through a deep routed interest, wonderful things can happen. This is the story of my son Riley and how he continues to learn through his interest areas.
As a preschooler, my son Riley had no interest in going over to the art center to make projects or sit with a teacher to learn how to write letters. Instead he preferred the block and science center. Usually gravitating toward hands on activities with cause and effect, opportunities to hypothesize and predict outcome; Riley needed learning to take place in a center he liked to be in. Fortunately for Riley, his preschool teachers embraced his interest areas and brought the learning of letter formation, early phonics, pre-math skills and writing to the centers that he loved. They were wonderfully creative and nurturing to Riley’s needs and interests.
As Riley entered Elementary school however, we found that he struggled somewhat. He was able to retain information, learn concepts in math and reading, however, struggled with reading fluency and phonics and decoding skills in text. Kindergarten through 2nd grade was challenging and somewhat frustrating as a parent. Although his teachers felt confident that he was “keeping up”, I as a parent was not satisfied. By third grade my worries increased when his reading fluency was decreasing and his other areas of study were suffering. My husband and I requested for Riley to be tested. I sympathized with Riley’s teachers because everyone was working so hard. In a class with 25 students, it is no doubt hard to tap into each child’s interest. I knew in my heart though, that something was not right.
After testing, we discovered that Riley has trouble with his verbal memory. This, unfortunately, makes learning very hard in a typical classroom environment. Just like preschool, Riley doesn’t fit into the conventional style of learning. He learns best through hands on activities, and through retelling verses writing. Upon discovering these findings, we were able to create better ways in which Riley can learn, be tested, and express himself. By fourth grade, Riley’s academic skill, in all areas, along with his confidence, has increased drastically.
We have found that taking a topic of study that Riley LOVES and incorporating academic areas into it, is the way to go. An example of this is Riley’s love for weather. He is obsessed with tornados, hurricanes, tsunamis, the daily forecast…he loves it all. His fourth grade teacher and my husband and I provided Riley with as many tools for learning more about the weather that we could think of. We exposed him to lots of books to read, including the Farmer’s Almanac, tornado tubes, a digital weather predictor, and radar apps for his iPad. Providing materials and tools for Riley within his interest area gave him experiences and practice with reading, writing, and math within a mode of study that he is invested and interested in. As the year progressed, he because quite the little weather expert.
Riley’s Weather Video on Local News
After following a rain storm and videotaping his first ever weather report, I sent a clip to our local news station. To our surprise they aired his video and Riley became an official weather forecaster. Our local apple orchard saw the video and asked him to become a regular “reporter” for their orchard, reporting on crop growth, and educating folks on how apples and peaches are grown. Not bad for someone who struggles with verbal memory!
“Orchard Fun with Riley” video
As a parent, I am so proud of Riley for working so hard to do well in school. As an educator, Riley is my inspiration to continue to look at students as individuals and to nurture their interests and passions. It is those types of teachers who make a difference in a child’s life and those students who are able be successful in life.
We are nearing the end of our book study of “Literacy Beginnings” (Fountas & Pinnell). I have enjoyed all the ideas that I’ve gathered from the book and other bloggers in the Blog Party. We are now at the part of the book that talks about how to assess literacy learning in preschoolers. Now maybe that doesn’t sound as exciting as some of the other chapters … but it was interesting to me, in that this section gives some clear, concrete ways to observe and document reading and writing behaviors. In the words of the authors, this chapter discusses ways to “guide your observations”. And anything that can help teachers best utilize their time and talents when assessing children is worthwhile, and yes .. a little exciting!
“Teachers can become astute observers of reading and writing behaviors and skilled at producing responses which advance the child’s learning.” — Marie Clay
The best way to assess a child’s understanding of basically, anything, is to simply watch them play or work. Take time to interact with them as they play – talk and listen to what they tell you. Teachers do this on a daily basis all year long. So, how do we best document their understanding of literacy? What should we be looking for? And how long will all this assessing take?
I’ll answer the last question first … it doesn’t have to take long at all. The authors suggest observing 2-3 children a day and taking notes (using notecards or a clipboard) – with each observation only taking a few minutes. Doing this periodically 3-4 times a year will give you a great deal of information to aid in your planning and to share with parents.
The authors then discuss three types of reading experiences that can be observed –interactive read-aloud, shared reading and independent book experiences. The behaviors mentioned in the sections below are what you can expect to see from children AFTER they have had many experiences with the types of reading activities listed.
In an interactive read-aloud you read a story to the children and then discuss it. You can point out new vocabulary, talk about the sequence of events in the story, talk about how the story makes them feel, etc.
What should you look for while observing?
When observing a child participating in an interactive read-aloud, the authors give some clear things to look for on page 209 – such as, does the child…
• look at the book while it’s being read
• join in on repetitive parts of the book
• make comments that are appropriate while the story is being read
• make comments after reading that show an understanding of the story
These are specific behaviors that are observable and that teachers can take notes on.
Shared reading is when teachers and the children read the text together (using big books, flip chart poems or songs or writing a rhyme on the chalkboard).
What should you look for while observing?
The authors give some more specific questions to keep in mind while observing a child during a shared reading activity on page 209 – does the child …
• participate during rereading with some accuracy
• look at the print while reading
• locate a few words in the text
• match spoken with written words (point under each word while reading)
Ideally, there should be times throughout the prekindergarten day for children to look at books independently or with a friend. Classrooms may have a specific “library time” or it could be a choice for children at specific times of the day. Observing children as they handle books can give teachers some insight into their understanding of literacy. Watching how a child holds the book (right side up), turns the pages (right to left) and talks about the pictures are important behaviors to note.
When observing a child during a reading experience, asking some of the questions below will help you gather specific evidence of that child’s understanding of literacy. The authors list some questions to ask on page 210, such as:
• Point to the title of the book
• Show me your favorite part of the book (and ask why)
• Show me the beginning/ending of the story (and ask what happens at the end)
• Can you find a word that starts with the same letter as your name?
The authors talk about using simple methods to keep track of your observations, such as on index cards or with a sheet on a clipboard. I came up with a simple “Literacy Assessment Sheet” that can printed and be used on a clipboard and stored in a 3-ring binder. It lists up to 3 children on a sheet (so you can quickly assess up to 3 children at a time). I also setup a fillable form version (opens up in MS Word), if you are transferring notes onto a computer and storing them there.
To get more indepth descriptions of reading experiences, such as interactive read-alouds and shared reading, refer to the following chapter reviews:
• Pre-K Pages – Chapter 5 and Chapter 13
• The SEEDS Network (Chapter 5)
• Look at my Happy Rainbow (Chapter 11)
• Growing in PreK (Chapter 12)
Next up – is Chapter 23: Observing writing behaviors in preschool!
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We are wrapping up our review of how to assess literacy learning in young children as part of the Book Study Blog Party review of the book “Literacy Beginnings” (Fountas & Pinnell).
Today’s post is on chapter 25, which provides four simple systematic assessments you can use at the end of prekindergarten to help you record the growth of your students, and provide information to parents and kindergarten teachers. In addition to the formal assessments that we will talk about here – teachers should also collect drawing/writing samples and reading observation notes to be able to show families the progress their prekindergartener has made throughout the year. The quick optional assessments that the authors talk about are: letter recognition, phonological awareness, concepts of print and word writing.
Letter Recognition
To determine a child’s knowledge of letter names, you can make up or use a letter recognition sheet (samples shown on page 221 – and in Appendix L). These are fairly easy to make in a Word processing program – or you can download the letter recognition sheet that we made. By displaying the letters out of alphabetical order, the assessment is truly based on what the child recognizes (not memorizes). Go through the list and ask the child what each letter is, and if you keep getting no response, ask the child “Do you see any letters that you know?”. You can include the date on the sheet and make notes (such as how many letters were recognized).
You can also find letter assessment sheets and other downloadable assessments over at Pre-K pages.
Phonological Awareness
Helping children learn to say words slowly will help them to hear the individual letter sounds in words. Once they can identify the individual sounds, they can identify the individual letters within the words and begin to make that connection. For prekindergarteners, a good way to begin this process is to observe and record a child’s ability to hear the BEGINNING sound of a word. You can do this with initial picture sound cards (such as is shown on page 222 – and in Appendix M). For example, you have a picture of a CAT and say the name of the picture with the child. Then ask if they can tell what letter makes the first sound in “CAT”. The authors suggest showing pairs of pictures with the same beginning sound (ie. CAT / CAKE) to help the child hear the beginning sound (in this example, the letter “C”).
Phonological awareness can also be assessed by observing the child’s ability to hear RHYMES in words (the ENDING sounds). You can assess this similarly using picture cards and matching up pictures of objects that rhyme (ie. CAT / HAT). Rhyming card sheets are shown on page 223 and in Appendix N.
Concepts about Print Interview
Another assessment suggested in the book is to help you assess how well a young child understands print. Begin by using a sentence strip with the child’s name inserted (I will use an example like the author’s give on page 224):
Sarah and I can see the sun.
Point to each word while reading the sentence to the child. Then you can give the child a series of instructions to gather information about his/her understanding of print. Some examples are:
• Point to your name.
• Point to the first letter of your name.
• Point to the letter “I”.
• Where do you start reading?
Word Writing
The last optional assessment the authors suggest is word writing. You can ask the child to write his/her name or any words that he/she knows (you can guide this along by suggesting some words the child might know like MOM, DAD, CAT, etc.). You can ask the child “What did you write here?” and print the word next to theirs. This can be collected with other writing samples throughout the year and will show their progress in understanding print.
We have come to the end of the last chapter of our online book study! We’d love to hear your feedback!
What did you think of this book study? What is one thing new thing that you learned that you will definitely use in your classroom this year?
Thanks so much for joining us – and I hope you will visit us and all the wonderful early childhood blogs who participated often!
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We continue on with talking about how to assess literacy learning in young children as part of the Book Study Blog Party review of the book “Literacy Beginnings” (Fountas & Pinnell).
In chapter 22 we talked about ways teachers can observe reading behaviors. Chapter 23 discusses ways teachers can observe writing behaviors by watching children in shared, interactive and independent writing activities. We are now on chapter 24, which talks about ways to observe young children for evidence of sound, letter and word knowledge.
For 3 year olds, formal assessing on sound and letter knowledge probably isn’t necessary. Rather, the authors suggest observing this age group for evidence of growing awareness of letter and sound knowledge as they participate in activities during their day. For four year olds, you can gather more information from formal assessments using some of the questions that are listed in this chapter.
Assessing awareness of sounds
Hearing individual sounds in words is an important early literacy skill. The key to being able to assess how well a child is able to do this is by encouraging them to say the word slowly. See the chapter 8 review on phonemic awareness and phonics to learn more about how to teach about the sounds of language. Evidence of sound awareness can be assessed by asking some of the following questions that the authors list on page 217.
Can the child:
• say the word slowly?
• identify the first and/or last sound of word?
• say a sound in response to a letter?
Assessing awareness of letters
Before they can connect a letter to a sound, children must learn how to identify individual letters. Chapter 19 discusses in depth about helping children to learn about letters and words. To help teachers observe a child’s understanding of letters, you can use some of the questions suggested by the authors (listed on page 217) – can the child:
• match letters that are the same?
• find a certain letter among a group of letters?
• find the letters in his/her name?
• quickly locate a letter after it’s named?
Assessing awareness of words
It is a great accomplishment for a prekindergartener to make the connection that letters put together make up words that have meaning to them. The concept that their name is a word is one of the first example of this that they can learn (check out the chapter 20 review on Names). Color words are also a common early concept that prekindergarteners may start to learn. Most children at this age will not yet be able to read words, but will show other signs of a growing understanding of words. To assess this, the authors suggest asking some of the following questions (full list on page 217) – can the child:
• recognize his/her name (by itself or among a list)?
• recognize his/her name embedded in print?
• recognize some frequent environmental words (“STOP”, “UP”, etc)?
• demonstrate knowing the difference between a letter and a word?
The next chapter we will review is chapter 25, which provides four simple systematic assessments you can use for letter recognition, phonological awareness, concepts of print and word writing.
Top photo credit: Maggie Smith/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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We are continuing to read “Literacy Beginnings” (Fountas & Pinnell) as part of the Book Study Blog Party. Chapter 5 is titled “Using a Framework for Language and Literacy Learning.
The chapter starts off talking about essential learning experiences that need to be included in a prekindergarten classroom (some activities occur daily – others over the course of a week). Activities such as circle time, outdoor play, projects (inquiry), choice time, reading and writing time are explained. But the authors then focus on those activities that promote language and literacy. We will touch on the reading activities that are talked about.
Reading Activities
The authors talk about 3 essential literacy activities: Read-Aloud and Shared Reading, Book activities and Library time. With an interactive read-aloud, teachers read books to the children and talk with them about the story. Teachers can make the story interactive by asking the children questions, talking about new vocabulary, pointing to the illustrations and encouraging discussion. Shared reading is when teachers and the children read the text together (using big books, flip chart poems or songs or writing a rhyme on the chalkboard).
Book activities are my personal favorite (usually done after one of the above reading experiences). It was great to read in this chapter how children respond to literature by participating in an activity after reading it. Here are a few fun book activities that you can try:
1. Emotion Book- During the beginning of the school year, we read “Llama llama misses mama” by Anna Dewdney (a new classic!). Children can easily relate to how Little Llama misses his mother on the first day of school. This book provides a great opportunity for conversation about feelings and emotions. In this activity, children help to make an “Emotion book” for the classroom – by either drawing different emotion faces, or having children act out the emotion and take their picture to make up a book.
2. Little Llama’s Daily Schedule – In this activity, we make a visual schedule of our daily activities and compare them to Little Llama’s school schedule. The children get excited to make the connection between their preschool experience and Little Llama’s!
3. “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” (and other Eric Carle) ideas – We recently participated in an Eric Carle birthday celebration – where we posted some of our favorite “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” ideas. This story is engaging on its own with its vivid illustrations – but it also lends itself to great discussions and activities about caterpillars and the butterfly life cycle.
Here is a butterfly life cycle bracelet that kids can make:
I encourage you to read the full review of this chapter by Vanessa at Pre-K Pages . Vanessa’s review also talks about some of the other topics discussed in this chapter, such as writing activities and communication with parents, so be sure to check it out!
Keep on reading! There is so much in this book!
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