Last Thursday at 123-ABC Elementary school was fall family literacy night. Family literacy night is about getting parents involved with the school and teaching students literacy techniques to use at home. Every grade had their own literacy station. I worked with second grade and our literacy station was called Fall Comprehension Trees. At our station students from any grade level could come up with their families. They had to cut out leaves and color at least two. Next, they would write a comprehension checkpoint question on their colored leaf. The comprehension questions were printed on 4 sheets of paper so that students had a variety to choose from. Lastly, they would glue their leaves to a tree trunk. I really enjoyed family literacy night because I had the opportunity to meet my students parents and get to know my students in a different setting. Teachers, students, and parents could come to fall family literacy night dressed as their favorite book character. I thought this was a really cool idea because it influences children to read so they can dress as their favorite character. My collaborating teacher dressed as Pippy Longstockings because that is the chapter book she is reading aloud to our class for fun. Another reason why I loved fall family literacy night was because I got to work with new children that I normally do not have the chance to. I noticed something about myself when a kindergartener and a fourth grader were at my station. I have a higher pitched voice with the kindergartner and had more of my focus on him because he needed help using scissors and with writing the comprehension question. Then my voice level changed when I was working with the fourth grader. She knew what she was supposed to do so all I was doing with her was telling her how good of a job she was doing and I asked her questions of why she choose the comprehension questions she did. I realized then and there that it does not matter to me what grade I teach. I love helping and teaching all children. I am still in the process of learning the differences of each grade level but I feel that teaching comes naturally to me and I would be thrilled teaching any student at the elementary level!
Here is a picture of second grade's Fall Comprehension Trees station.
During this week, 123 ABC Elementary had their book fair. I bought three books for my classroom library during fall family literacy night. I am so excited to share these because they are my first books I have collected for my classroom library. I bought these books because for one the book fair had excellent prices, and two I instantly thought of a lesson plan when I began to read each book. I am going to share with you my favorite of the three. It is called My Teacher for President by Kay Winters. Here is what the cover of the book looks like.
I think this book can be used in primary grades to teach children about the president's duties. We can have our voting lesson intertwine with literacy and social studies. I am very excited about this book because My Teacher for President gives great examples of what the president does and connects it to the classroom.
In Teaching Children's Literature we read a great article called Seven Rules of Engagement by Linda B. Gambrell. My professor separated us into groups and has us highlight our teacher takeaways. Then one by one we wrote our most meaningful takeaway on the board. Here is my group's teacher takeaways.
I really enjoyed this article because it has ideas on how to motivate children to read. For example it says, "Access to books also implies that teachers should invite children to read by raising interest and curiosity about books and other materials." This paragraph is talking about having a variety of books in your classroom library. I completely agree with that statement and my Classroom Library board on my Pinterest page expresses the variety of books I want for my classroom. To get my students motivated by having a variety of books I would use a teaching strategy I read in the book Kindergarten by Julie Diamond. Diamond had a ritual, created by her students, that very Wednesday a student would read a book to the classroom. I love this idea because the child is presenting a book they enjoy and sharing it with the class will have students who have not read that book be motivation to try it out.
This week has been a fun fall literacy time. I hope you guys are having a great fall season so far!
Sincerely,
Miss Hester
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