"C" is for "Colorful Cotton"

First . . . the children used a paintbrush and white glue to make a large "C" on a half-sheet of construction paper, then tore small pieces of cotton batting and attached them to the glue. (Tearing batting, as opposed to using cotton balls, was just an extra way to work on those ever-important fine-motor skills.)

Next . . . they used dot markers to add a little more color to their letters.

Finally . . . we strung them on our clothesline for a fun and bright classroom display :)

Firsts and Bursts

I love "firsts." It's one of my favorite things about teaching very young children.

The first time Alya used, "Help me, please!" without any prompting. The first time Majed strung the sounds S-O-N-Y together to read, "Sony!" on the MP3 player. The first time we had a successful English-only brainstorming session.

No matter how many "firsts" you have, they never get old. Take today: A little boy identified a letter in environmental print for the first time:

"Ms. Emy! Ms. Emy! LOOK! O." 

I was instantly flooded with so much excitement and pride I thought I might burst. (This is frequently true about so much of what my students do!)

Here's the letter on our carpet:

I wrote before about how we tape and walk our letters. Since then, the children have started helping me construct the letters, which has been a great way to work on critical and spacial thinking skills, as well as team work.

The letter "O" love didn't stop there. The same student that identified it on our "Colors" poster during whole group decided to write it out during centers - another amazing first!

Do you see his pink "O's" in the center? And the yellow one to the right?

From across the room he called to show me what he'd done, and when he realized I didn't understand right away, he showed me:

:)

Now, of course, all the children are extra busy finding and writing letters they know (and some they're not so sure about yet!). Not only do I love the "firsts," but the whirlwind domino effect is pretty spectacular, too! Here's to many a few more of these learning bursts as we enter these final weeks of KG1.

Ocean Bottle Word Cards

Lately the children have really been enjoying making word cards (index cards with a vocab word on one side and a drawing to represent the word on the other). 

During our Under the Sea unit, we worked together one morning to create "ocean bottles." We filled empty plastic bottles with water, then added a few drops of blue food coloring, glycerin, and glitter. The glycerin helps to suspend and slow the glitter as it travels through the water. Then we added various ocean-related objects, like seashells and plastic fish.

The cool thing about these bottles is they're easily cross-curricular. We put them together as part of a science activity, and we incorporated math by measuring, tracking, and counting what we added (i.e., "We need 2 drops of blue food coloring. Maitha, will you add 2 drops?" and "Let's put in ten fish! Can you count out ten for me?" or "How many red fish can you find swimming in this bottle?").

On this particular day, I put our bottles in the writing center to use for word cards.

The children tipped the bottles around and observed for a bit. They then selected an item from the bottle to use for their card. I'd placed several completed example cards in the center: ocean, fish, frog, and seashell. As I said, each card had the written word on one side and a drawing on the other.

Here, a little boy has selected the seashell card to work on:

Not every student is 100% comfortable writing letters/words just yet, so one way I adapt our word cards is with alphabet stamps. I'll write out a card with the word "fish," for example, with a blank line underneath each letter. The children then match the correct stamper to each letter, filling in the blanks until they've finished the word. Sometimes I set out the full set of stamps; other times I limit the stamps available based on what's needed to complete the word card. It really depends on the student (and the day and the time and . . . so on :) ). Many students enjoy working on both types of cards (written and stamped).

One nice thing about our stampers is that they are pretty small - meaning the children have to pinch them and place them carefully, building up fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Finally, I'd like to point out that I never force a child to do anything s/he is adamantly opposed to or disinterested in, especially at this age. I certainly do my best to engage all of my students, and if something isn't working, I change my approach. That said, the majority of the children LOVE making word cards and approach the task enthusiastically.

"M" is for Marble Painting

A cookie sheet, marbles, and paint made for a fun process the children were eager to explore . . .

I think almost everyone made at least two paintings, and some enthusiastic participants made even more than that!

"D" is for Doodles on Doilies

Say that three times fast ;)

Fun vocabulary, simple materials, and a sweet display make this project a keeper!

Making a Mural

We worked together to create a beautiful display for our Under the Sea theme last week.

Using recyclables (cardboard tubes and egg boxes), we painted a bubble-filled background on blue butcher paper . . . 

. . . while others worked to make cardboard squid:

Some of us sponge painted "R" shapes to look like reef. Did you know sponges actually come from the ocean? ;)

Eventually we added some other fun items, including the cool cardboard fish we'd been working on the week before - but not until we'd used them for a little addition practice!

We fished in two separate "ponds," gathering the fish in a basket, then counted our total catch. (The process was similar to what we did here with eggs. This time, however, some children drew out their own addition problems as a way of leaning into that next developmental step.)

Our mural is now hanging in the corridor, and we've been getting lots of compliments on our hard work! As always, pictures of the finished product to come . . . stay tuned :)

Learning Letters in 1-4

We begin by looking at our new letter in our Jolly Phonics big book, hearing the letter name and sound, then repeating what we hear. But that, of course, is only the beginning. . . .

We walk the letter (and usually say a chant about the formation).

We write the letter : On whiteboards . . .

On paper . . . 

With chalk . . .

Or even with our fingers in some colored rice!

We sort our letters (The red cubes have "Mamas" - uppercase letters; while the magnets are all "babies" - lowercase.)

We go on letter hunts in poems and stories . . .

. . . Or to find objects beginning with a certain letter sound.

We match upper- and lowercase letters using clothespins and paint chips (good for fine motor practice and color identification, too).

Sometimes we stamp our letters.

(Teacher note: I like to make my own stamps using craft foam, bottle caps, and glue. I'll try to find a link or put a tutorial together soon. It's really easy, and the children love them!)

While studying the effects of the sun, we found the letters of our names hidden in blocks of ice.

It's fun to turn our bodies into letters. (We also used our legs to make "triangles" and did special "Tt"/"Triangle" jumping jacks.)

We amaze our teachers by making letters in our own ways . . .

Out of whatever we can find!

Or even by finding our favorite letters in a book we're reading.

(We especially love finding the letters in our names. They're very sneaky, always hiding in places around the room!)

We explore letters in poems hanging in the reading corner. 

And of course while reading books!

So many letters to be found!

These are just a few of the everyday ways we learn about the English alphabet at school. We began using Jolly Phonics in mid-November, originally spending two weeks on each letter sound. Much of our first term was spent getting the children accustomed to reading and writing left to right. Now that they're comfortable turning pages and holding pencils, we've upped our pace a bit :)

More to come! Stay tuned.