Wondering Before, During, and After we READ

Wondering... How do we link wondering about our world with the power of wondering before, during and after we read?

We have to make these links for our children.  So we model it.  How?  We wonder out loud as we read with our children so they will begin to do the same.

Why?  The bottom line is that it will increase a child's comprehension.  This is a good time of the year to begin to do these 3 steps with your little reader.

1. BEFORE READING...WONDER! Stop and wonder about the front cover. (This is so often is skipped!) Wonder about both the picture and the title. This leads to predicting about what is to come in the story. This engages a reader from the start. Setting the scene and anticipating what's to come!

2. DURING THE READING...WONDER! Stop after each page and wonder about how the character's are feeling and what might happen on the next page.  Wonder about the problem and how it will get solved. Wonder what you would do if you were the character. Wonder if the story will end well.

3.  AFTER THE READING...WONDER!  Stop and wonder about how the author ended the book.  Could you come up with a different ending or wonder what might happen next?

Did the author do a good job wrapping up the story?  Could you write the next part of the book together? What was the main idea?

Enjoy the beauty of wondering!

Wonderland...Creating minds of Inquiry

Date should be 2017 and my kids let me know it! 

WONDERING is WONDERFUL...and PURPOSEFUL!

What troubles me as an educator in 2017?

Among the many things that keep me awake at night is the realization that America's children struggle to WONDER and IMAGINE...

They are at a loss to make up imaginary games to play on the playground.  When given the opportunity to go and learn about something that fascinates them, only a few of my students know what they want to study and have the drive to go for it... 

SO WHAT?  Well...Guess What?  Good readers use it all of the time and those who can compose stories do as well...

Am I asking too much of 6 and 7 year olds?  I think not.

Because I'm a mom and an educator for close to 25 years and I KNOW they are capable of this...and the ones who are best at it are often NOT MY BRIGHTEST STUDENTS. 

So what's this all about?  Why am I so passionate about this topic?  

Besides the pure beauty of wondering and it's use in literacy, life-long learners who are successful in today's marketplace wonder and go after their learning. And they are hungry to share their knowledge, making them successful. 

We both want your child to be happy and successful in their adult work lives.  This is what drives me to create days like the one we had yesterday.

Here is a peek inside our day.  Welcome to Wonderland!

First, we discussed the who, what, why's and how's of wondering and watched a short clip from the old Sesame Street series. Ernie wondered lots of things that helped to kick start our thinking! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwAd8QZb9Ok

 Next, we decorated our "Wonder
Journals".  Here we will write down our wonderings and things we want to explore for the rest of the year.

During Read/Write/Explore time the children can research these questions they have on our kid friendly search engine Kid Rex.
Or at the library.

 Mr. Brandon and I sprinkled "wonder dust" on their journal pages as they wrote their first entries to help inspire them!
And yes, it did lead to sprinkling this dust in their hair! 
We enjoyed this immensely!

 Finally it was time to create some wonder mobiles.  With lots of crafting tools each child created something to hang on the branches for our mobiles that now hang from the ceiling of our room, to remind us to wonder every day.  I don't have a picture of the final product yet but will send that soon. 

Are you WONDERING how to help your child become better at wondering.  I hope you are...stay posted for the next blog.

Learning How to Serve...A Gift That Keeps on Giving

Today we didn't get a lot of "subject" learning done.  Instead, we learned about how to be kind and helpful citizens.  Which would you say is more important for your child's future? 

Here's how our prep and planning went.  

1.  We learned about the word "service".

2.  The 4 C's were introduced and we set goals:

• Communication: Soft voices, eye contact
• Collaboration:  Kind words, no "making someone" do something they weren't ready to do.
• Creativity:  Using puppets to pretend with.
• Critical Thinking:  What will I do if my preschooler doesn't listen or cooperate?  What might go well?  Be a challenge?

3.  Deciding on whether to read a big book or show a video.

4.  Realistic Math Problem! Together we figured out how to pair each other up with a preschooler. 

Check out how we used manipulatives to solve this.

The blue unifex cubes represented our 24 crew members.

The white ones represented the 19 preschoolers. 

We paired the white and blue up, and then realized we would have 5 left over first graders.

They weren't sure what to do with the leftover 5 for a bit, but then realized we would could add them to other groups. They got jazzed about this math so we then got out our number grids and added the total number of kids all together. Awesome!

After our visit we debriefed about our successes and challenges.  The children realized teaching can be exhausting work!! I was super proud of how they handled our first visit.  This is a lovely crew of children. 

Click on this link to see the Google Photo Album from our visit! 

Preschool Visit

Writing Celebration!

Such a gift to have an audience for our writing today!  Thanks to all of the parents who were able to make it as they shared the love and supported the children around them.  It felt warm and fuzzy.  The room was buzzing...made my heart overflow with joy!  We are growing. The children were so very proud:)

Teaching Reading Tools

Readers need to have lots of tools in their tool belts.

During the first month of school I immersed my readers in tons of books that help to build fluency. 

Now it's time to add more tools to their tool belts as they begin coming across longer tricky words in their reading.

To introduce these tools, I made a connection to my weekend fence project and how just one tool may not solve the problem...just like in reading!

My attempt with hammer failed, so I had to get out my power drill.  I wore the tool belt during my reading lesson as we discussed that reader's need lots of tools to try!

Parents...if you are like me, you learned one tool.  Sound it out. I DO NOT USE THIS TOOL!  I'm hoping to teach you along with the children how to help them use more effective tools.  Don't feel bad if you have been saying this for years.
I did as a mom!

Here is a list of tools that I will be teaching.

If you'd like some lessons, then come and in and I'll be glad to help!

Or you can also watch this great video about how to help your child read at home.  Click on this link! It's worth your time!
                HELPING YOUR CHILD READ AT HOME 

Together we can take your child far in reading this year!