Teaching Doodles: A Day Full of Literacy ~ I Teach K Day 2

Today was a day chock full of literacy and the great blog meet up.

Catching Readers Before They Fall - Katie Keier

Katie is the co-author of the popular summer book study book of the same name. I was expecting some good information and I feel she did not disappoint. However, to really get into the meat of the topic the session could have been more than an hour.

Take Away 1: Believe you are the one who will teach them to read and write. In other words, don't look to pass the buck but instead embrace and take ownership of this fact.

Take Away 2: When teaching directionality, Katie does what she calls "hop on my finger." Students simply place their finger on top of hers as she points and reads the words. I'm thinking this would also be a great partner reading activity.

Take Away 3: What we place the most importance on in the classroom is conveyed to the students as being the most important. If you are only ever killing and drilling letters students will miss the idea that reading has meaning and involves thinking.

Take Away 4: When building a name center, students can create their own name bottles by finding their correct beads for their name to place inside. Give them ownership of this! Katie also takes it a step further and places name cards with photos at the center so students can figure out whose name is spelled in the bottle they have chosen.

Assessing Comprehension - Trish Saccomano

Take Away 1: Pretelling is thinking in a sequential manner. Practice pretelling by creating anchor charts with the students that identify steps needed to perform a task.

Take Away 2: Retelling idea with puppets - create a slit in the paper for the backdrop of the puppet show. Then students can place popsicle stick puppets through the slit and the puppets become mobile.

A-B-C, Come Learn With Me! - Kathleen Pedersen

This session had so many take-aways it will be hard to narrow them down.

Take Away 1: Make a pull the stick from the tub game cheat proof by covering it with a sock. Who knew? Now kids can't see when they reach in to pull one out. Genius!

Take Away 2: Always keep in mind that your goal for the alphabet is mastery and automaticity. Think of this goal when choosing activities for the students. Will it help them make this goal?

Take Away 3: Ideas for the ABC arc (which I've been using for years now and just love):
                        1. Guess the Letter
                        2. Speedy Alphabet Arc
                        3. Closest to Z...or Closest to A (partner race)
                        4. Listen and Find

Blog Meet Up

Awesome! Honestly I was feeling seriously jetlagged and very close to not going. But I peeled myself off the hotel bed and forced myself to go. It was not a disappointment! It was great meeting so many wonderful teachers and speaking with them. DeeDee Wills ~ you are a riot!