Elsie, you are right! Every little detail in my year long plan/weekly lessons/language throughout the day links together someone. There are so many connections all over the place. Sometimes, you might think, why is she reading that book to her kids, it's not that great of a book? It's because there is some important connection in it to a bunch of other things we've talked about or will talk about. Putting it all together is like a giant puzzle that I just love to figure out. Anyway, on to your VERY GOOD question--
Like I said above, YES, there is a reason for every picture I draw and the labels I use. Everything is done with intention. I do realize that the reasons might not be apparent!! :)
Some of the first few drawings we do are are a bee (oh, I hear B, let's write Bb) and eye (easy to draw and easy to hear; oh, I hear i, let's write the letter Ii). At the beginning, almost everything is about paying attention to your mouth and feeling sounds in your mouth and hearing them come out of your mouth. Soon (and usually), we draw some of the pictures found on our alphabet picture cards. We leave that though long before we finish the alphabet because we need to get into CVC words using the letters/sounds we've learned and into two-word phrases such as "the cat" or "a hen." Then, we have a few days of writing a complete sentence and then they'll start writing "independently" in their journals. My teammate and I talk about what the kids should draw when we sit down and do our plans. Of course, we have ideas from past years that we use. But, just this week, my teammate said, "Let's have them draw a robot on Rr day. We could use squares and other shapes." I said, "Good idea! Let's label it 'the robot.'" So--Rr, lots of shapes as we're doing a lot with shapes during math, our heart word "the" that we've introduced, practicing a finger space, and you can hear all the sounds in robot. We have not learned long o, of course, but the students can easily hear it and figure out to write an o. It's still about trying to get them to listen to the sounds and try to figure out a letter to write for each sound.
Will you walk them through each sound in "robot" and write it together whole group, or will it be an independent exercise during writing time? I would LOVE to see this lesson in action, especially if it is the first time they are writing a full word for their picture :)
We will definitely count the sounds and then go back and listen to the first sound and figure out what letter to write and I’ll model and then go back and listen to the second sound and figure out what leather to write, etc. We do everything together during these eight weeks of drawing and writing together, even though lots of kids are ready to start trying this on their own. I make them stay with me and not work ahead. There is a new video out that you will see, perhaps before you see this comment, that shows us writing “the mop” and another day writing “the cat.” I am modeling how to write two words and make a finger space. The whole post was put together in your honor since, last spring, you asked about how I transition them into sentences. 😀
Yes, I just checked, and I see the post on writing words & finger spaces. Will be sure and watch it!
THANK YOU for this post in response to our Q/A over sentence writing. I am certain these new writing instruction practices will be life changing in helping my students with sentence writing. I clearly jumped into that way too fast in years prior. My new mantra this year is: GO SLOW NOW TO GO FAST LATER.
Kandi, have you been clicking on the links in the lesson plans? That is where I am posting the pictures I’m drawing. I don’t do one for every alphabet letter. Soon we are moving into CVC words, drawing characters from a read aloud, and other topics. This is just how we start so we can start listening to sounds. Oh, a lot of the pictures match what is on my picture alphabet cards.
I love that you always 'link the learning' for your students by using the same language in picture drawing as the letter formation e.g tall/long lines, short lines and curves. I can see how this provides lots of opportunities for them to make connections.
Is there a specific reason for your pictures? Sometimes your picture matches the letter name and sometimes the sound e.g you drew an eye for / i / (letter name/long sound) for / o / you drew an octopus - short sound? Your students are making so much progress with their name writing. I love hearing them say those letter formation cues!
Thank you for another helpful video with so many things to glean! I am going to start having the Busy Bee "read" as well - wonderful way to have students begin pointing and reading.
Did I hear you mention that you give the kids a snack on their way out the door to recess? Tell.Me.More. Snack is one of my issues (aka biggest time wasters!) that I am trying to simplify.
You ask a great question that I forgot to mention in my writing videos. Yes, I have the kids point and read what we write. Being able to go back and read what you've written is what keeps them going during the writing process, so I start to develop that now by pointing and reading, even if it's just one sound on the paper during the first couple of weeks. Also, they need that skill (reading their own writing) to make sure it is making sense as they go along.
About snack -- Kids line up for recess and say yes please or no thank you as they walk past me on the way out. The yes pleases put their hands in the shape of a bowl and drop in some goldfish, animal crackers, rice crispy treat or whatever it is for the day. No choice, if they're hungry they'll eat what I'm offering. In a few months, at least half of the class says no thank you because they want to get to playing faster and they've figured out that snack interferes with that. Kids sit and eat their snack and then they can get up and play. No walking around or playing with food. Snack in the classroom takes SO MUCH TIME and clean up.
Elsie, you are right! Every little detail in my year long plan/weekly lessons/language throughout the day links together someone. There are so many connections all over the place. Sometimes, you might think, why is she reading that book to her kids, it's not that great of a book? It's because there is some important connection in it to a bunch of other things we've talked about or will talk about. Putting it all together is like a giant puzzle that I just love to figure out. Anyway, on to your VERY GOOD question--
Like I said above, YES, there is a reason for every picture I draw and the labels I use. Everything is done with intention. I do realize that the reasons might not be apparent!! :)
Some of the first few drawings we do are are a bee (oh, I hear B, let's write Bb) and eye (easy to draw and easy to hear; oh, I hear i, let's write the letter Ii). At the beginning, almost everything is about paying attention to your mouth and feeling sounds in your mouth and hearing them come out of your mouth. Soon (and usually), we draw some of the pictures found on our alphabet picture cards. We leave that though long before we finish the alphabet because we need to get into CVC words using the letters/sounds we've learned and into two-word phrases such as "the cat" or "a hen." Then, we have a few days of writing a complete sentence and then they'll start writing "independently" in their journals. My teammate and I talk about what the kids should draw when we sit down and do our plans. Of course, we have ideas from past years that we use. But, just this week, my teammate said, "Let's have them draw a robot on Rr day. We could use squares and other shapes." I said, "Good idea! Let's label it 'the robot.'" So--Rr, lots of shapes as we're doing a lot with shapes during math, our heart word "the" that we've introduced, practicing a finger space, and you can hear all the sounds in robot. We have not learned long o, of course, but the students can easily hear it and figure out to write an o. It's still about trying to get them to listen to the sounds and try to figure out a letter to write for each sound.
Will you walk them through each sound in "robot" and write it together whole group, or will it be an independent exercise during writing time? I would LOVE to see this lesson in action, especially if it is the first time they are writing a full word for their picture :)
We will definitely count the sounds and then go back and listen to the first sound and figure out what letter to write and I’ll model and then go back and listen to the second sound and figure out what leather to write, etc. We do everything together during these eight weeks of drawing and writing together, even though lots of kids are ready to start trying this on their own. I make them stay with me and not work ahead. There is a new video out that you will see, perhaps before you see this comment, that shows us writing “the mop” and another day writing “the cat.” I am modeling how to write two words and make a finger space. The whole post was put together in your honor since, last spring, you asked about how I transition them into sentences. 😀
Yes, I just checked, and I see the post on writing words & finger spaces. Will be sure and watch it!
THANK YOU for this post in response to our Q/A over sentence writing. I am certain these new writing instruction practices will be life changing in helping my students with sentence writing. I clearly jumped into that way too fast in years prior. My new mantra this year is: GO SLOW NOW TO GO FAST LATER.
Kandi, have you been clicking on the links in the lesson plans? That is where I am posting the pictures I’m drawing. I don’t do one for every alphabet letter. Soon we are moving into CVC words, drawing characters from a read aloud, and other topics. This is just how we start so we can start listening to sounds. Oh, a lot of the pictures match what is on my picture alphabet cards.
I love that you always 'link the learning' for your students by using the same language in picture drawing as the letter formation e.g tall/long lines, short lines and curves. I can see how this provides lots of opportunities for them to make connections.
Is there a specific reason for your pictures? Sometimes your picture matches the letter name and sometimes the sound e.g you drew an eye for / i / (letter name/long sound) for / o / you drew an octopus - short sound? Your students are making so much progress with their name writing. I love hearing them say those letter formation cues!
Thank you for another helpful video with so many things to glean! I am going to start having the Busy Bee "read" as well - wonderful way to have students begin pointing and reading.
Did I hear you mention that you give the kids a snack on their way out the door to recess? Tell.Me.More. Snack is one of my issues (aka biggest time wasters!) that I am trying to simplify.
I love the simple pictures. Do you have list of the pictures you draw for each letter?
Yep, and break everything down into its sequential incremental steps.
You ask a great question that I forgot to mention in my writing videos. Yes, I have the kids point and read what we write. Being able to go back and read what you've written is what keeps them going during the writing process, so I start to develop that now by pointing and reading, even if it's just one sound on the paper during the first couple of weeks. Also, they need that skill (reading their own writing) to make sure it is making sense as they go along.
About snack -- Kids line up for recess and say yes please or no thank you as they walk past me on the way out. The yes pleases put their hands in the shape of a bowl and drop in some goldfish, animal crackers, rice crispy treat or whatever it is for the day. No choice, if they're hungry they'll eat what I'm offering. In a few months, at least half of the class says no thank you because they want to get to playing faster and they've figured out that snack interferes with that. Kids sit and eat their snack and then they can get up and play. No walking around or playing with food. Snack in the classroom takes SO MUCH TIME and clean up.