Reading

Morning Message

This is a message I write daily to my students. I write as they watch. I "think out loud" as I write and spell. It is the best way I have found to teach sight words. Morning messages are simple and short, using just a few sentences.

As we write and read the message we notice different things each day. We circle, underline or highlight what we notice. I have special pointers we use. Mrs. Parker even bought us a "word whacker" that makes funny noises. We whack the words or letters we know. Here are some of the things we look for:

1. Number of words in a sentence
2. Number of letters in a word...noticing that some words are long and some are short
3. Types of punctuation
4. Clap number of syllables in a word
5. Left to right and top to bottom
6. How to write the date in numbers
7. Spaces between words...we call spaces between words "meatball spaces" and spaces within a word "spaghetti spaces."
8. When to use capital letters.

Sometimes I add a quick skill game at the bottom of the message. For example, I'll draw 3 pictures and ask which two rhyme or begin the same. I might put a nursery rhyme character up and then we will say the rhyme. Sometimes we will play a game like hangman using one of the words that is on our writing center chart (a theme word, a seasonal word, a sight word, etc." Instead of hangman I might draw a bug or an animal or tie it into our theme someway.

Reading

The kids have gotten off to a great start with their reading skills. We have been doing all of our reading lessons whole group for now. We start with a poem, then have a phonemic awareness lesson (phonics), then do our story for the day which is where we are pulling out specific skills. The kids are also enjoying doing all of our pocket chart activities where we are focusing on key words, left to right reading and recognizing the differences between words and letters. We have been focusing a great deal on letter recognition, rhyming words and beginning sounds of words.

TEACHING TEXT USED DURING THIS UNIT:

PHONICS/PHONEMIC AWARENESS FOCUS:

We have been learning our Scholastic ABC Songs to go along with their corresponding letter. While the songs may not seem amazing to everyone, these songs with motions are helpful teaching tools for many reasons:

*alliteration

*letter identification

*recognizing capital vs. lowercase letter

*hearing rhyming sounds and identifying them

*buildling hand/finger/arm strength

*hand-eye coordination

If you would like to help your child with these songs, please see the link for ABC Songs! I'm sure your child would LOVE to teach you the motions!

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