Visiting Kindergarten

For many of us, learning to read is one of those pieces we just can't explain.  How do you learn to read?  What are the pieces that need to be in place and then come together to make that 'magic moment' occur?  For some students, the puzzle of words is easy.  For other students, words are a hard puzzle to crack.  The foundation of learning to read begins in kindergarten.  Reading and literacy don't just occur by having students look at books over and over in the hopes that it will just 'magically' click.  Certainly, hearing and looking at books is a part of learning to read.  Literacy in kindergarten involves more than just books - it involves the whole body and mind and all kinds of stepping stones.

An example of this is clearly found in Mr. Becker's kindergarten room.  I stopped by to see literacy in action and saw all kinds of work happening, challenging different senses and abilities.  One of the stations was students practicing writing their letters on white boards.  The students worked individually and chanted letters of the alphabet as they carefully wrote on the lines.  This is the basis for literacy - knowing letters and their sounds regardless of how and where they appear.

But writing is not the only way to practice letters and their sounds.  I moved on to visit with another table who were making letters from pattern blocks.  They were matching shapes and letters.  Part of building their literacy was them sharing with each other and talking about the process they were using.

Students also worked with sight words.  They were matching tiles to words and when I asked were able to identify a few words on each board.  Why are sight words important?  These are words that are chosen based on their frequency of appearance in text.  Look through my post.  Which words are used the most often?  Chances are you picked out words like: is and the are to I.  These words cannot be sounded out and require us to memorize them to make reading easier and more fluid.  Students begin working with these in kindergarten at the start of the year.  By the end of the year, memorizing at least 80 is a goal for every student.  With these known, more and more books open up before them.

The final step, and a part of every classroom focusing on literacy, is a chance to read a book at their level.  These students are reading a book with basic sounds, such as short a, and many sight words, such as can.  The students read the book aloud and by themselves, examine the pictures, and answer questions - just like any student would regardless of grade level.  As early as kindergarten, students begin to not only read to comprehend what happens in a story, but also read to understand how stories are told as well as what the story means to them.  These students took a moment to discuss where the main character was a girl or a boy and used pictures to infer the answer.

 Kindergarten is an important literate building block.  Without exposure and exploration of letters and sight words, students cannot hope to begin to read.  Learning to read isn't magic, it's hard work and practice!

Reading is Thinking in Third Grade

Continuing along the literacy travels, I journeyed to third grade this week.  Third grade is often considered a turning point in the reading journey.  Within this year, students become more independent readers, their reading skills and ability to comprehend move to a deeper level and reading to learn on their own becomes a very important part of the curriculum.  This is not to say that reading is not important in any other grade, nor that what each grade does is not critical to building a life long reader, but it is this grade where students often learn to become independent readers and using thinking strategies on their own as they read.  The State of Minnesota has recognized this as they required districts and schools to create and post Literacy Plans that address having students read at grade level by the end of third grade.  You can read about Aspen's Local Literacy Plan here.

This means, that the beginning of the year requires very important teaching so that students gain the skills they need to work towards that independence.  Modeling, practicing and coaching students are all a part of this kind of instruction.  I was excited to watch all of third grade instruct students in a skill critical to thinking as you read - group discussion.  The best way to investigate your own thinking about a text is to talk to others about it.  How many of you read a book and then want to find someone who has also read it to share your enthusiasm and discuss the plot, etc.?  It's the best part of reading!  But how to share and what to share need to be taught.

Below you can see how Ms. Johnson is listening to one group and aiding their discussion, while the rest of the students work in their own small groups - talking about specific questions about a story and recording the conclusions they reach.

While Ms. Johnson might be listening to one group, all of the other students are busy working on their questions for their group, sharing with enthusiasm and fun.

This group raised thumbs when they wanted to share an answer and the recorder wrote down what was said, as well as asking clarifying questions about the answer that was given.  Students have learned to look at the speaker and how to answer in complete sentences.  They will continue to practice these key skills all year with texts that are at their level of instruction - adding in new kinds of questions as they learn additional skills.  Each of them learned something new as they talked and discussions will get even more lively as the texts become more complex and intricate and require more thinking as they read.

Keep working hard third grade!  And I hope you take some time this weekend to read a book and share it with someone else.  You never know what you might learn!