GLAD to see a Common Core Strategy Return

How many of you are familiar with GLAD strategies?  GLAD stands for Guided Language Acquisition Design in case you have never heard of this. These are being used again in our district as part of of our lesson designs when building Common Core units. Why is this such a big deal. It works!
Teachers often put these pictorials on large sheets of white butcher paper and use a projector to lightly trace the image with a pencil. This is then put up in the classroom and created in front of the students using markers while you are talking about what is being created. This might be the only time my students are quiet. This process fascinates them. Now to make this more dramatic I use scrapbooking chalk to add the color quickly and easily but I am asking them for their input..."Hummm I need to make this an ocean  so what color should I use?"  The first day might just be the map but as I teach them about the journey the Pilgrims took on the Mayflower I am adding labels. This can be done right on the paper but I have mine color coded and on velcro so it can be more interactive. Notice that the Mayflower is on a separate stick that the children can move across the ocean to show the path they took.  I have have students come up and add pieces as they become more familiar with the story. Make them think. When the Pilgrims got to America what do you thing they made their houses out of? There were lots of trees in the forest. Who wants to put some of these on my pictorial? Where did they find food? Do careful questioning based on the story you have read and you are using a non fiction piece of text to build their understanding and they are putting evidence on this picture to support their comprehension. Our curriculum specialist came up with this idea and I loved it! The labels help to build academic vocabulary. Clap out the syllables and pay attention to beginning sounds. Students can add their own pictures to this unit as you move forward and it stays up while you are teaching about an important American holiday. What do you think about this?

Hey, What's The Big Idea?

So I have been busy for the last few weeks getting ready to roll out some CC units for our second and third grade teachers. Not an easy task for an old kindergarten teacher. The big buzz is learning how to backward plan when doing your unit lesson designs. Teachers need a true understanding of some new terms. The Big Idea is a statement that crosses disciplines and allows students to have a deeper understanding of the content being taught. They need to be able to apply this to their own lives. Wow! That changes the game big time and will be far more demanding for teachers to develop. Essential questions lead students to the Big Idea as they learn the content of the unit of study. Teachers will help students to formulate answers to essential questions as they read both fiction and non fiction and hold collaborative discussions. That was a mouthful. How will this look in kindergarten? I am moving on to that next. We need to keep Big Idea and Essential questions in kid friendly language. Collaboration is a huge piece of  Common Core and our kids will need practice with this over time. 
I made this Big Idea statement on 81/2" X 14" paper and gave them essential questions with nice backgrounds to make this a bit more exciting. It will be fun to create these for each unit so teachers can put them up in their room and refer back to them as needed...

Fall Sparkle Has Arrived

So my life is all about Common Core and I have created four little emergent readers for this time of the year that your students should enjoy. No matter what, I am sure they will all like the Halloween one the best since our students love to dress up in costumes.  I have some non fiction readers that are science based and a fire safety reader has also been included. Anything missing? I hope not. Need some sparkle after all the testing and progress reports? Doesn't that seems to rear its ugly head five seconds after school has started? If you are interested they will be available in my store at Teachers Pay Teachers and I will try to get them up soon at Teachers Notebook. Have a great week of teaching!
Who is doing backward planning and is using Big Ideas and Essential Questions? I have some great ideas for that spinning  around in my head. We are hitting that hard right now!

Reading Closely... What is that?

So one of the jobs I have  this year is modeling lessons in other classrooms. When I started prepping for this I was lucky enough to obtain this adorable clip art from Nikki at Melonheadz. She is a wonderful graphic artist who makes fabulous graphics for our students. If you don't know her stuff check out her store at Teachers Notebook here. Make her a favorite. She is certainly one of mine!

Take Home Bags To Promote Reading

Literacy bags can make a real difference. Our children need lots of opportunities to practice  reading high frequency words in context. How do you provide addition practice with this? You can have your students work with a parent volunteer,  work with a partner, or read to you. However, I still recommend that you send these little readers home so parents can celebrate their child's accomplishments and provide more practice for these young readers! Students are so proud of their new skills and it helps build their confidence.
Convince them and they will believe!

Give Them Books And They Will READ! FREEBIE!

My students use emergent readers that are part of our reading program but I create many other ones for various purposes. Sometimes they need more practice with a sight word and it is important to contextualize it. So I create a reader and try to make them reflect what my students are interested in. If I feel they need more practice with scissors, often it will have a cut and paste component or a place where they practice writing a sight word to build their fine motor skills. Once I have met with the children and worked on these readers in a small group setting, they go in a ziploc bag and into their homework folder. I want them to share these readers with their families and practice as much as possible. I include a note to parents and ask that they take the time to do this to build up each student's fluency and confidence. Kindergarten is all about believing in yourself -right?  I make this very simple but here is the kicker: At the end of the week I want all the books back to practice in the meeting spot for about 20 minutes right after my opening. Sometimes we read them as a group and there are times I call on specific learners. Boy, do you get a window into who is working with their child (or not!) Anyhow I L*O*V*E this system and the kids love having these books to use throughout the semester. You can grab these labels right here.

 If these readers will help add some "sparkle" to your program they can be found at my TpT store and at Teachers Notebook.

Spreading Sparkle (Set #3)

Here is my third set of  Sparkle Readers that align to the Common Core. Four emergent readers have been included. These are perfect for young learners who need lots of practice with repetitive text. When implementing CCSS many teachers think that you need to buy lots of additional materials but once you understand the alignment process you will find much of what you already have will work well with these standards. I love the focus on non fiction and many of us will celebrate bringing back all the Science and Social Studies materials we never felt we had enough time to focus on. These little readers reflect this shift and use the repetitive text: Here is the... I tried to create readers that would be interesting to beginning readers and interactive. There are cut and paste activities, color word practice, and number writing. I have also included some practice tracing simple labels. This packet has 73 pages and is selling for just $7.00. If Common Core feels a little scary, here  is a good place to start!  Baby steps...
What activities do you like for building fluency with your kinders?

Add More Sparkle to Your Life

Thank you for all the positive comments you have written about these emergent readers. The teachers in my district have loved having these little sparklers to add into their tool kit. I like the idea of using them in class, along with the pocket chart strips to build their fluency. Wait a minute... what fluency? Okay, eventually. I like when you work on concepts of print on a daily basis and a student on day 60 starts from the right, builds it in the chart and reads it all going in the wrong direction, touching each word. The best is when they turn around to look at you with a huge smile. It is too funny. So what does a teacher do? She models until she turns blue! 
These readers focus on the sight word "a" and are on the following topics: birthday, family, pets, and autumn. I have infused academic language, tracing letters, cut and paste, and guided drawing in these books.
They also align to the common core and reflect the 50-50 shift to non fiction that is being implemented. You want to remind children to look at the details in a picture to help them unlock the text  and try to give them "think time". By the way I am usually biting my lip for the ones who need this. Click here if you might be interested in adding these into your mix. Have a great week of teaching! I am doing a presentation on backward planning with 
Big Ideas and Essential Questions. Wish me luck!

Kindergarten Common Core... A Great Resource

Have you seen this resource? It looks like something I might have great use for as I help teachers in my district align to the Common Core State Standards. I have not seen anything quite like this and it might simplify our understandings. This book is filled with activities, worksheets, and even posters to help you wrap your head around these new standards. If your are curious about this you can check out this link and see a sample of the book to see if it meets your needs too. Click on Kindergarten Common Core and see what you think. Leave a comment because I want your thoughts.

A Freebie From Fran for Fun

My life has really changed and I am crazy busy trying to support Transitional Kindergarten teachers and rolling out the Common Core to our classroom teachers. My head is swimming from all the information I am trying to make sense of. So I took a break and made a freebie for all my friends out there in the real world who need a perk! If you take the freebie please follow me and follow my store cause it will make my day brighter. These number cards are Common Core aligned because that's how we roll now... Have a wonderful Sunday. Click on the picture to download the goodies from my TpT store. You might want to check out the other packets I have for the beginning of the year.