Contents
Home
About Me
Résumé
Classroom
Teaching and Technology
State of Iowa Teaching Standards
Gifted and Talented
Contact Me
|
|
< Back Next >
Curriculum and Teaching Methods
Reading:I explicitly and systematically teach reading and pre-reading skills using research based strategies. Additionally, the National Reading Panel has identified five essential components of effective reading instruction. These are: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. I have earned a reading endorsement to teach reading and draw on my training as well as experiences and the guidance of expert teachers in the field.
click here to link to the National Reading Panel.
Reading Groups
When I taught Kindergarten, I taught the students to look at the cover of the book and at the picture. They would make a prediction about what the book would be about. The students would then take a picture walk through the book and on each page say what is happening based on the picture. They also looked for familiar words. Depending on the group, I read it through with them and they practice afterward on their own. They keep the books in a “browsing box” to read during other times in the day.
Sight Words
I had the sight words up on a bulletin board in the classroom. I also had white note cards with the sight words written on them in red (the color for the highest imprinting). I used these cards as flash cards and at first we would go over them with me saying the word and them repeating.
I had several different activities where the students could practice the words. For example:
- building words with magnetic letters
- stamping words
- matching sight words
- writing sight words
- choosing sight words to fit in a sentence
- practicing flash cards at home
- writing them in journals
- playing around the world
- “buttering” the “popcorn” words. For this activity I would write a daily news on large chart paper and the students would take turns highlighting the sight words. I typed the daily news up on Fridays and send it home so the kids can “butter” at home.
- sight word memory
- sight word bingo
Phonics & Decoding
- Jolly Phonics
- Whole group and small group instruction
- practice using games and activities. For example, with the I Can Read Game students use letter cards to sound out and spell the word that matches the pictures.
Phonemic Awareness
Here are some examples of activities I have used to teach phonemic awareness in the following categories:
- Phoneme Segmentation-
Rubber Band Stretch-Using a large rubber band I model how to stretch out a word as the word is said. /mmmmmmmm-/aaaaaaaaaaaa-/nnnnnnnnn/
I then model how to bring the rubber band back to the original length and says the word fast: /man/.
Children pretend to stretch rubber bands as they say the sounds in different words.
- Rhyming-
Silly Willy-This is a song/game sang to the tune of “Skip to my Lou.” In this game the whole class sings: “Silly Willy who should I choose? Silly Willy who should I choose? Silly Willy who should I choose? I choose (name) (rhyming name).” So, it could be, for example, “I choose Emma Wemma. After a few times of playing the game the students get to take turns “choosing and rhyming.” This is also a great way to line kids up.
- Syllable Blending-
Troll Talk-I tell the students a story about a troll who loved to give gifts, but the troll talked in a funny way. Before he would give the person the gift, he would tell them what the gift was but the person had to figure out what he was saying before they could have the gift. I then proceed to tell them I am going to be the troll. I have several different objects hidden in a box beside me and I start with one child and then take turns with the others to proceed with the game. If I had a banana, for example, I would say “ba- na- na.” Once the student correctly said banana then I would give them the banana. I would then go to the next person. The next time we play the game the students get to take turns being the troll.
- Syllable Deletion-
Say it Again-I tell the students to say a word and then to say it again without one of its parts. For example, “say spaceship” the students say the word “now say it again but don’t say space.”
- Syllable Segmentation-
Penny Drop-I have several pennies and one cup. I demonstrate first by choosing a few words and dropping a penny in each time I complete a syllable. We then count the pennies to see how many syllables the word has. The students then get a chance to try it one at a time.
- Phoneme Blending-
The Sounds in the Word-This is a song that goes to the tune of “The Wheel’s on the Bus.” I demonstrate how to play the game and then after the group gets the hang of it the kids take turns being the leader. I show them picture cards so they know what word to sing. Leader: “The sounds in the word go /c/ /a/ /t/ - /c/ /a/ /t/ -/c/ /a/ /t/ -, The sounds in the word go /c/ /a/ /t/, can you guess the word? Students: “cat”
- Beginning, Middle and Ending sounds-
Pop-up People-I choose students to come to the front of the group to be sounds in a word. So, if the word we were going to act out was the word cat then I would choose three students. The students line up and I tell them what sounds they will be. When I point to them they pop up and say their sound. After they have all popped up and have said their sound the rest of the students say the word fast. “cat.” We then point out who was the first sound, who was the middle sound and who was the last sound.
Comprehension
- Think alouds
- Graphic Organizers- I have a plethora of resources for graphic organizers but the most commonly used ones with my Kinders were: KWL, Beginning-Middle-End, Character maps, Problem solution and Who-What-When-Where-Why. I fill one out for the whole group. I do, however, have a couple of students that are reading independently at 2nd grade levels so these students have learned to use some graphic organizers on their own.
- Predicting
- Front Loading
Vocabulary
Taking Delight in Words-an example for teaching vocabulary
< Back Next >
|
|
