Where Should They Be Now? -- Kindergarten in December

Kindergarten – Christmas break is just weeks away. Phonemic Awareness is the skill your students should have mastered before they head into the break. In the science of reading it has been shown to be the foundational skill for students developing strong reading and writing skills.

Using your data (screenings or teacher assessments) you need to be able to show parents by documentation if their child can or cannot meet the phonemic awareness benchmark.

Just because it was taught in the curriculum doesn’t mean your students are fluent. What you are working on is for the student’s brain to be able to hear and identify sounds within our language. Building those pathways in the brain will provide the students with the understanding of sounds as you move towards Alphabetic Principle.

Helpful Hints:

·      When the students line up or move back to their seat have them give you the sounds in words.

·      When they are walking out the door or you are walking down the hall with your class ask 4 or 5 students the sounds in one or two words.

·      Put a sticky note or tape a card to students who you want to have additional practice with 4 or 5 words and have them give you the sounds to a couple of the words.

·      When you have the students come back to the carpet for an activity have them give you the sounds in a couple of words.

·      When they come to the teacher center have the students segment a couple of words.

·      Have the students segment their math words.

·      When you are teaching vocabulary segment the single syllable words.

Narrative Writing using Show & Tell!

Narrative Writing

Narrative writing is a lifelong skill student are able to start developing as early as kindergarten and even preschool.  Developing the skill of narrative writing starts with language development and learning to share information orally with others. Oh the dreaded Show and Tell in kindergarten and first grade where the student simply say, “This is my------------truck” is often seen by teachers as a waste of time because they feel there are so many more important skills which need to be addressed. Therefore, this critical language skill often gets skipped.

One option teachers might consider when implementing Show and Tell for language development is to have students share in small groups. There could be four centers; where the sharer sits in a chair and for two minutes shares about their object. The other students are divided up and sit on the floor to listen and ask questions. After 2 or 3 minutes the students who are sharing rotate to the next group. Then they get to share again. This gives the sharer a chance to share four times and practice four times. When the rotations are complete the four students sharing can stand in front of the class while the rest of the students go back to their workspaces. The students sitting at their work spaces then share what they learned with the class about the objects brought in for that day. I guarantee that your students will improve in their language ability and time spent sharing will actually be shorter. Bring back Show and Tell !

Once children are able to talk openly about a subject or object they are ready to begin their writing journey. When writing students are working at one of the highest levels of Blooms Taxonomy. So, if a student is struggling with writing, step back and allow them to process using their language skills. They still might not be ready to do their own writing and additional scaffolding may be needed for them to be successful, but processing orally fist will help students get their thoughts in order which is critical.

Below is a chart created using the Common State Standards for grades k-3 along with expectations, possible activities and assessments teachers might consider using. Writing is a transfer skill which is developed from oral language development. If students cannot talk about it they are not going to be able to write about it.    

Maximizing Reading to Children

Oral reading has the potential for providing young learners with comprehension practice which they can then transfer to their own reading.

Many classroom teachers take time during their day to read to their students. This is a wonderful opportunity for young learners to hear oral reading modeled. Over the generations along with the development of technology, time spent listening to text being read orally and discussed has decreased. As learners hear less information orally, their ability to process information and identify key points has lessened over time as well. It is key that when we are reading to students we are also providing guided discussion which guides learners to process the information being read.


How can you tell if your oral reading to your students has become “white noise” in your classroom. One major struggle readers have when reading to students is dealing with behavior. One way many teachers try to deal with behavior is to allow students to color or work on projects. If this is happening the learning objective has shifted. More often than not the reader’s voice has become “white noise” while the students are working on their project.


The major objective is to model strong reading along with building literacy / comprehension skills. This can easily be achieved by the reader stopping and engaging the learners in guided discussions with their peers. This is achieved by asking questions in which the whole group can respond or can respond with a partner next to them. The end objective is that they are then able to process these types of questions in their own reading and are also able to retell what they read. Learners cannot retell what they have read if they are unable to retell what has been read to them. In addition, they cannot then transfer the ability to answer question about information read to them. In order to be able to fully comprehend information a learner reads they must first have mastered the skills involved in processing information they have heard. Reading comprehension is a language-transferred skill.


Below is a chart with key elements young learners need to focus on when text is read to them. It is helpful to select one of the elements and focus on that element during the reading of the text. Avoid the question “who can tell me?” This allows you to become engaged with only one learner while the rest of the class waits for your discussion with the student to end. You want to provide a practice time for all your students and having the learners discuss between themselves provides that informal opportunity.

Element	Definition	Activities	Going Deep
Setting (Time)	Setting is not only the location given in a narrative but also the time it is occurring. Setting includes culture, historical period, geography, date, hour, and minute.	Where is the text taking place? What evidence in the text tells where the setting of the text is taking place? What text lets us know the time period the text is taking place?	Text to life -- How can you relate to the text? Explain the beginning, middle, and end.

Plot	The events that make up the idea of the writer. They are often laid out in a series of beginning, middle and end details being told. ●  Introduction or Exposition ●  Rising Action ●  Climax ●  Falling Action ●  Resolution	What problem was described? Explain the solution.	How do you relate to the plot? What might be a different solution?
Characterization	The details about a character(s) in a story. The author will provide the reader with information about the character such as behavior, appearance, and characteristics so readers are able to relate to the character (s).	Describe one of the characters.	How do you relate to one of the characters?
Conflict	Conflict is part of the plot. There are several types of conflicts: internal or external, man vs. man, man vs. circumstances, man vs. society, and man vs. self.	What is the conflict within the text? Who is involved in the differences?	What type of conflict happened in the text?
Point of View	How the author chooses to convey their message. ●  First Person - usually the central character of the story is speaking. ●  Second Person - Keyword you will find. “YOU.” ●  Third Person -	Who is talking in the text? What are keywords used to tell you what the point of view of the text?	How might the point of view change if told from a different person’s point of view?

	Story is being told by another person. ●  Third Person -(objective) Narrator describes the person (he, she, him, her) ●  Third Person (limited) Narrator gives specific thoughts and feeling of the characters. ●  Third Person (omniscient) the narrator is the ALL-knowing. ●  Dialogue vs. Narration
Theme	The topic of the text. It can be placed into two categories: a text’ s thematic concept or thematic statement. Thematic concept is providing the reader with something to “Think About.” A thematic statement is telling “What the author is saying about the subject.	What was the subject in this book (text) about? Were they telling us about something? What did the author want us to think about while reading their book (text).	Relate the text to your life.
Tone (Mood - Feelings)	The attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience.  Conveyed through the choice of words, or the viewpoint of a writer on a particular subject.  It can be formal, informal, serious, comic, sarcastic, sad, cheerful, or it may be any other existing attitude.	How are the characters feeling in the story? Share what some key words you heard that give us an idea of the mood of the text.	How do you relate to feelings expressed in the text?