We read a lot of stories in kindergarten.   (One of my responsibilities to create, grow and nurture a love of books in my kid lets.)

Many books we read and reread.

I was curious what book was the class favourite.

So, I put together a collection of books that we had read throughout the year and spread them around a table.

The kids added a few more books to the table.  

Then we voted.

Each child was given three small pieces of paper to place on their favourite books.

I thought that Pete the Cat would be the definite victor.  We read all the Pete books over and over, and we did a number of Pete projects in class.  We so love our Pete shoes, his buttons and his fabulous attitude. 

I thought that Mo Willem's Pigeon and Elephant and Piggie, the current class obsession would  also make a good showing.  

I was wrong.

The kidlets made other choices.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar was chosen as the favourite book of kindergarten 2012-13.  

Go Away Big Green Monster came in second with 8 votes.

The Gingerbread Girl was the third favourite.  

The kidlets surprised me.  And it's all good.  

I'm already curious what next year's favourite books will be.

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Sandi

going to the free book store

"Access to books is the key to reversing the [summer] reading slide." 

 - Dr. Richard Allington and Dr. Anne McGill-Franzen.

Last month I attended a Kindergarten Summit that focused on research proven strategies to help struggling readers thrive.

Drs Richard Allington and Anne McGill-Granzen were keynote speakers.

One (of the many) things that jumped out at me was their research about summer reading loss.

Students who read during the summer break gain a month of reading proficiency, whereas students who do not read, lose 2-3 months of  reading skill.

Allington and McGill-Franzen did a 3 year study comparing the reading scores of students who attended summer school and students who were allowed to choose 10-12 books to take home and read during the summer break.  These books were chosen by the students from a book fair (lots of choice - pop culture books were favourites) and were sent home with the students on the last day of school.

The students who were given books to read had at least the same reading gain as the students who attended summer school.

Read about this study here or here.

I mentioned this study to our school librarian - who, like all librarians, is reasonably fanatical about getting books to kids and getting kids reading.

She was a woman on a mission.  She tracked down boxes of books (second hand, but in good shape)  from libraries that were (sadly) closing. And we set up a free book store on the second last day of school.

There were books in piles around the perimeter of our multi-purpose room.

The kidlets  could each choose 5 books to take home for the summer.  We encouraged them to shop carefully - to choose books that looked interesting to them - not the first 5 books they came across.

When they were finished shopping, the books were labelled,

and bagged

for them to take home.

We know that we are not replicating Allington and McGill-Franzen's study.  Our kidlets took home 5 books, not 10-12.  Our books were new-to-us rather than brand new, and we did not have any pop culture titles.  

But the kidlets did get to choose their books.  And choice is such an important motivator in getting kids to read. 

The hope is that the kidlets read and reread the books over the summer.  That they trade books with their friends.  And that they bring them back to school in September so that we can put them back in the boxes and  use them in the Free Book Store next June.  

(But if the books don't come back to school, there won't be knots in anyone's knickers - we trust that they are being read somewhere, and will go on the hunt for some more new-to-us good books.)

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Sandi

Happy (almost) birthday Canada!

I was thinking about something specially Canadian to do with the kidlets to celebrate our country's birthday.

This year, I thought we would look to a Canadian symbol from the Arctic.  

The Inukshuk: a stone "pretend person" built on the tundra by the Inuit as hunting and navigational aids, markers and message centres.  

We looked at some inuksuit (plural of inukshuk) online, and then set to work to build our own.

Twenty four Shreddies, 3 pretzel sticks and a blob of chocolate icing make one inukshuk. The instructions can be found on the back of a Shreddies box, or here.   

Six Shreddies "glued" together with icing for each leg.

Five Shreddies for the stone tummy.

Adding two pretzels for the arms and balancing Shreddies on top is delicate work.  But manageable. 

This inukshuk builder collected all the leftovers and kept building. 

The Shreddies inukshuks inspired some other classroom inuksuit.

Happy Birthday Canada!

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Sandi

I am no artist.

I do appreciate art.

And I want my kidlets to know about art,  think like artists and create.

I want our classroom to be full of art  to inpire the kidlets and that they have created.

One of the projects that has been rattling around in my head is a a Reggio inspired chandelier.  I am inspired by the chandeliers that Sally from Fairy Dust Teaching shared.  And this fabulously amazing chandelier I saw in a restaurant (that makes to-die-for rum punches) on a tiny Caribbean island.

I wanted to make a hanging work of art that would become part of the classroom. A last project that we would do together. A bit of history left in the classroom.

With one week of school left before summer holidays, I decided that if it was going to happen this year, it had to happen right away.

After wondering how I was going to get five year old fingers to work with florists wire, deciding that I did not want to use pipe cleaners, wondering where I was going to get a bunch of cool beads that would not break the bank,  I figured it out.

Scrapbook paper, hemp string and wooden beads - all leftover from previous projects.

The kidlets drew their self portrait with a black marker on 2" white squares.

They chose a piece of coloured hemp string and put some beads on it. 

A piece of scrapbook paper was chosen as a backing.  

The self portraits were hung on a piece of drift wood that I hung in our window.

While, on a macro level, I am pleased with this project (and the kidlets are pleased with their stamp on the room), there are some adjustments that I want to make.

I want to bring the driftwood home during the summer and spray paint the hooks something that is not gold and shiny.  A couple hooks fell out; time for the cordless drill and a bit of glue.

We will have to talk about where we will hang the driftwood next year when the new kidlets come to kindergarten.  Where will we find it's permanent home?

A permanent reminder of a year well lived.

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Sandi

I have been wanting to really get into Catching Readers Before They Fall - read it for deep understanding and read it as an examination of my teaching practice.

Kimberly from First in Maine is hosting a book study and gave me the necessary nudge.  Thanks.

chapter 1: Expanding Our Paradigm of Reading

what I loved  
The first thing that I highlighted was " We strongly believe in the power of quality literacy instruction and effective early intervention that provides safety nets for readers that struggle ... the strongest safety net of all is the classroom teacher".  Not consultants, reading coaches, specialists, visiting experts, principals, but the classroom teacher.  (Richard Allington - What Really Matters for Struggling Readers (2012) -  says exactly the same thing.)  Let's give the girl or guy on the ground - the classroom teacher -  the training and support needed to be a superlative safety net for struggling readers.

I also loved that one of my favourite professional books, one I turn to when I need to get myself back on track, was mentioned.  Debbie Miller's book Teaching with Intention reminds us to define our teaching beliefs and allow our teaching to flow from those core beliefs.

how I connect this learning to my teaching
While I have waded through my thoughts and clarified my beliefs about teaching, I have not done so about teaching reading.  Guess I need to get on it.  It will make my getting-ready-for-reading-and-oh-my-goodness-you're-a-reader teaching more intentional (and therefore, more effective).

chapter 2: How Reading Works

what I loved - or what jumped out and hit me on the head
The "magic of reading" is actually a very complex system composed of many moving parts that all have to be used at the right time and with the correct power level.  

I loved the analogy of the orchestra.  All the different reading strategies are like the different instruments; when they are used independently, they make noise, but when integrated, used at the right time and in balance, they can make soul shaking music.  

My boys might understand a video game analogy.  You have lots of reading weapons.  They all need to be used a the right time and with the right power to have an integrated attack on the text.  When the strategies are not used in the correct combinations at the right time and place, you lose a reading life.

While the reading process is the same for everyone, everyone needs to develop their own reading system.  Using the orchestra analogy: we all have the same instruments in the orchestra, we each make different music with them.

A reading system is all inside the reader's head.  It's not like math where we can say "show your work".  Each reader has to develop his/her own system.  If readers learn to use faulty weapons (video game analogy) in their system, their integrated assault will be off.  

how I connect this learning to my teaching
In Kindergarten, we are putting together our arsenal of reading weapons.  Learning the alphabet and letter sounds is a big one.  But it's sure not the only one.  

I need to be more intentional about showing the inside-the-brain process for the other reading weapons.  I need to talk my thinking - and invite the kidlets to talk their thinking too.   
With different kidlets talking their strategies, we can show how the brain works integrating all those weapons into an integrated assault.  We can own that text!

I am reminded that I have to advocate, call upon the research, and maybe even stamp my feet to get support for my kidlets who need  to learn in a small group so that they can put together their reading weapons correctly. It's important.

I want to continue building my capacity as a teacher of reading.  I am the best safety net for my struggling learners.  That's a big responsibility. 

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Sandi

I always laugh when I hear my words coming out of my kids' mouths.

But it makes me stop and think.

Think that I need to choose my words carefully.

When I first saw this quote, it hit me  hard.  There are some things I would love to take back.

source: gchimani1964

Sometimes, I get it right. 

Last week one of my little guys looked at me and said 

       - I have a conundrum.  And that's a little problem, and I can solve it easily.

Another little chap, who understands anxiety was having a hard time with something.  He called out to me 

     -What is that you always say about problems - something about there's no problems too big to be solved.

Hallelujah - they do listen to me - occasionally!

Tammy from Forever in First  had the brilliant idea of holding a linky party for the things that we always say to our kids. 

I have a few classroom/life mantras that have developed over the years.

Every single person in the room has something to contribute to the class, and something that they can teach others.  Every single person in the room has the responsibility and privilege of learning new things.  When someone asks for help, I ask them if they have asked the teacher next to them.  I am the tallest teacher in the class.  And the tallest learner.

I figure that it is part of my responsibility to demonstrate, teach and expect polite manners.  It is not polite to hunt for and take the biggest piece of brownie on the plate.  It is not polite to yell out that you need the red freezie.  It is polite, when you are offered something, to say either "yes please" or "no thank you".   I find that my ears are kind of unusual; when a child says, "I want purple", my ears tend to hear "no thank you".  Funny that.

No one is perfect.  We all mess up every once in a while.  Even when we are trying our best.  And when we are learning something new, we are going to make mistakes.  That's okay. It's one way that we learn.  We try not to make the same mistakes every day. That's the learning part.  

What life/classroom mantras do you hope become part of your children's inner voice?

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Sandi

Last week end my husband and I were in the hardware store - buying kindergarten supplies.

We bought 2 lengths of 3/4 inch pvc pipe and a bunch of connectors.

My husband, good man that he is, cut the pipe into lengths.  After cutting up the first pipe in random lengths, he thought that the kids might like to be able to build structures. He cut the second pipe into 2 different sized lengths. 

I put the pipe, connectors, some tubing and funnels into the water table.  And then took it outside. 

The kidlets started building.

Then the water pouring began.  

It's only fun to pour water in, if that water is going to come out somewhere.  That posed a number of questions.

Where is the water?

Why is the pipe leaking?

How will gravity affect the water flow.  (We learned about gravity with Col. Chris Hadfield.)

Where will the water go if there is a closed loop?

I didn't answer any questions.  The kidlets were experimenting, finding what worked and what didn't work, and adapted the pipe structure  based on new information.  

Sounds like the scientific process to me.

And to think that we stopped at the hardware store for a lightbulb ...  

            

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Sandi