EVERY STUDENT IS A SHINING STAR

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HAPPY NEW (SCHOOL) YEAR! Make this the best school year ever. Keep it simple, enjoy each moment and focus on your students. One of my favorite mantras is "work hard, show respect and be responsible." What are some ways we can model this for our students and children?

As parents make sure your child is ready to learn. I recommend reading My Shining Star by Rosemary Wells pictured to the left.

As teachers we should always be prepared and treat every student as though they were our own child or our favorite niece or nephew. My Shining Star is for everyone. Adapt it's ten principles to your teaching practice and classroom "rules." Students know when a teacher cares and respects them. Students know when a teacher is prepared. Students want things to be fair but understand that fair does not always mean the same thing for each student. 

When we model our expectations as adults and accept the responsibility of being a parent or teacher FIRST students will notice. It doesn't mean everyday will be easy, it does mean you are modeling the attributes you expect from them. Walk the talk.

MS. M's MATERIALS - FIRST INSTALLMENT!

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Ms. M's Materials is an opportunity for  me to share some of the amazing books I have read with my students over the years. I'll be sharing them with you by describing in simple form how I used these texts in my classroom. 
What Is Beautiful? - We Are! is an introductory unit I use when teaching Preschool and Kindergarten. The unit was inspired by the book What Is Beautiful? by Maryjean Watson Avery and David Avery.  In this unit we get to know each other as we connect to text with basic body part vocabulary - eye, ear, nose, mouth, smile, hair, hands and arms. Students are able to identify a “favorite” part, we take close up pictures and they create posters. I use software that allows me to outline the sentence they create about their favorite part and they trace their sentences. They also learn each other’s names and it’s a fun unit that builds community and respect in the class. This unit can be modified and expanded for higher level grades and English Language Learners by adding additional texts and making some of the activities more cognitively demanding and age appropriate. 

If you are a teacher or home-schooler and would like to learn more about this unit, additional resources and lesson extensions, please contact me through this blog. Featured books in this unit include;

What Is Beautiful? By Mary Jean Watson Avery and David Avery
The Best Part of Me: Children Talk About their Bodies in Pictures and Words by Wendy Ewald
The Eye Book (Bright & Early Board Books(TM)) by Dr. Seuss
The Nose Book (Bright and Early Books) by Al Perkins
The Hair Book (Bright & Early Book ; Be 24) by Graham Tether

I Love My Hair! by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley
The Ear Book (Dr. Seuss Bright and Early Books for Beginning Beginners) - Hardcover - First Edition, 44th Printing 2008 by Al Perkins
Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb (Bright & Early Books) by Perkins, Al (unknown Edition) [Hardcover(1969)] by Al Perkins

A to Z - A Wonderful Journey!

Our reading journey is almost over as the school year comes to an end. Your child will be bringing home a book that showcases most of the books that we have read this year in Library Class. Each page showcases the Letter of the Day, a picture of the book we read and a picture that demonstrates your child's understanding of the story. One thing that I know for sure is that ALL of our Kindergarten students LOVE reading. Take some time to have your child explain the pages of their book. You will enjoy how well your child can remember the details of the story and be sure to make reading a part of your summertime activities. Checkout Boston's Storymobile that begins July 10th. The program is targeted to children ages 3-8 and everyone goes home with a FREE book. Click HERE for the schedule.

Also visit your neighborhood library where you will find everything you need for a summer of great reading and more with your child. Boston Public Library Kids link HERE is a great place to check out events at all branch libraries. If your child left their library card in school in will be in their library bag along with their Reading Journey Book. Happy Reading!

Z-O-O spells Zoo!

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This year our Kindergarten students had a wonderful trip to Franklin Park Zoo. It was the perfect trip to create background knowledge for our Letter Z book, Put Me In The Zoo by Robert Lopshire. Spot believes he should be in the Zoo and shows all the "things that he can do" to two young friends. There is some discussion about what type of animal Spot is and does he actually belong  in a zoo! Big questions, awesome thinking.  "Spot is a dog!" "No, Spot is a bear." "Spot is a pretend animal." Actually Spot is a "spotted" leopard but that does not really matter because the real beauty in this story is that we realize that there is a perfect place for everyone  no matter what they are!

Yo! Yes?

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We returned to a favorite duo of ours for Letter Y. In Yo! Yes? by Chris Raschka we celebrate friendship. In just 34 words an outgoing confident boy makes friends with a shy nerdy boy. By this time in the school year our students are recognizing many words so I read a page first and they repeat each page with me. Check out the story on vimeo.

X in Box

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For Letter X we read two different texts. Our first read was The Nowhere Box by Sam Zuppardi. The students make many connections with this story; playing with a box, little brothers, sisters or cousins bothering them and of course playing with someone is almost always better than playing by yourself! We also read Not a Box by Antoinette Portis and student's showed me what their not a box would be. Thinking and imaging are two of the most important things we do all year when reading together. You can take a look with your child as well below.

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Waiting for Wings!

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Lois Ehlert's Waiting for Wings is a perfectly timed read for Letter W. Many of our kindergarten classrooms have watched their own butterflies grow as they learn about the life cycle of a butterfly. It's a fast read with lovely rhyming text, gorgeous illustrations and cleverly designed pages. We make our own butterflies out of the letter W and make our own butterfly hats where we show we understand symmetry! I also read The Crunching Munching Caterpillar by Sheridan Cain...my students LOVE this book! The empathy they feel for the caterpillar is matched with the excitement they have as he realizes his dreams.

Vegetable for Letter V!

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In Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert the story begins with the task of planting a garden and ends with making vegetable soup. I also include a nonfiction read about vegetables and do a fun survey with the students about their favorite vegetables. During our "Show Me" section of the class, they draw a picture of their favorite vegetable soup! All of our students make connection between apple picking and picking vegetables. A fun book to read with your child when growing your own vegetables or when making vegetable soup!

Yellow Umbrella

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April showers bring May flowers! It's a perfect time to read Yellow Umbrella by Dong II Shen and Jae-Soo Liu when we reach letter U. Students watch and listen carefully as this alluring story in a wordless picture book unfolds. This is one of two books that I use during our alphabet journey that use  music CD's (re: Letter J, The Jazz Fly). Using the CD's builds a childs' listening skills and demonstrates that there are alternate ways to interact with a story. Originally published in South Korea, this book also introduces our children to music and song from another country underscoring my library theme that "reading takes you places!"

T is for Trash!

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"Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the trashy town! Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the trashy town!" chant the students as we read Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman. We follow Mr. Gilly and his two cute mice as he cleans Trashy Town. This is a favorite read aloud of mine as it involves lots of student participation. At the end of the story there is only one thing left for Mr. Gilly to clean... what could that be? You can watch Mr. Gilly clean Trashy Town here!

Some Smug Slug!

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Some Smug Slug by Pamela Duncan is a sensational read aloud! It's a bit of a tongue twister with all the "s" words and my students LOVE finding all the "s" shapes as we read. In the end the fact that the slug does not heed some well placed advice captivates my students.  "Why doesn't he listen?" "They told him to stop!" "He's gone?" My students also drawing their own "smug slugs." We have fancy slugs, superhero slugs and even a few slug families. A great book for reinforcing listening skills, following directions and being safe.

Ring! Yo?

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For Letter R we read Ring! Yo? by Chris Raschka. The book features one side of a phone conversation between two boys. The words are large on each page and the illustrations of the boy on the phone are delightful. Students are captivated as we read through the book. Ms. Pinet's Class notice sight words and squeal with delight. I have several "old" phones and students are able to role play with them after they finish drawing a picture of someone they talk to on the phone.

Q is for Quiet!

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I ask my students, "How many different kinds of "quiet" can you think of?" "I am quiet when my baby sleeps," "when I play with my favorite toys I am quiet," and "you have to be quiet in the library"  are a few of the examples my kindergarten students immediately make with The Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood. I "whisper read" and say let's find out about more types of quiet.

Every page offers us ways to think about the concept of quiet but one of my students favorites is roller coaster quiet as I have them act out riding on a roller coaster. This book is worth many reads. 

aaa-CHOO!

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What makes you sneeze? "Dust," "cats," "when you are sick," and "the weather"  were just some of the wonderful answers my kindergarten students gave me when we read Pigs Make Me Sneeze! by Mo Willems. Poor Gerald thinks he is allergic to Piggie. His elephant sized sneezes send poor Piggie flying over the pages and my students laugh and remind each other that you have to "catch your sneeze like you catch your cough." They also love to read along as Gerald's sneezes. Learn more about the fantastic books by Mo Willems and enjoy them with your child by clicking here!

Elephant and Piggie, Best Friends!

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For Letter O we read Are You Ready to Play Outside? by Mo Willems. As I post this update, we are preparing to get another blast of winter! Even with the pending snow storm we know that Spring is right around the corner and we will be playing outside more and more. Poor Piggie can't decide whether she loves or hates rain and in the end the two best friends work out a great solution. We discuss the difference between inside and outside, including inside and outside voices. We talk about all the different places you can be when you are outside; the park, the beach, a restaurant, your porch or patio and the playground. We also talk about the different things we do when we are outside, play games, go swimming and have a cookout! Students then practice drawing Elephant and Piggie outside. Practice drawing Elephant and Piggie with your child and make up stories for a fun family activity. Start by drawing Piggie with Mo Willems!

"N" is for Nest

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My students LOVE Baby Bird's First Nest by Frank Asch. They are immediately engaged when Baby Bird falls out of her nest and cries for her Mama. She makes friends with a little frog that lives in the pond near her tree and together they build a nest. I have a small collection of real bird nests that the children are able to touch and that adds even more excitement to the Read Aloud.