Refine- How we use the information in your classroom?
I will definitely be using the idea of “little backpack” for literacy at home in the future. My students use the listening center daily but to have access to them at home as well can only help improve reading fluency. I can’t wait to explore the many different activities I could send home to promote home/school connections. During conferences a couple of my parents told me how they are becoming more fluent in English because of the activities their children are learning at school. I can see this as being an added benefit to them as well.
The list of books to have in an early literacy classroom made me think about how I needed to add more to the choices that my students already have in the room. My students write individual books a lot during writer’s workshop however I have never had them add those books to the class library. (I know shame on me.) Hopefully this will add ownership to the classroom library by all of my students not just the ELL’s. Some other great ideas are photo album books with pictures labeled, phone books, recipes and sign language books that I plan to add to the classroom library.
Role play and dramatic play is so important to Kindergarten students and I feel that we are pushed so much to incorporate the Daily 5 into our schedules at Riverside that this is going by the wayside. My goal is to incorporate more opportunities during the week, not just on Fridays, to allow for the students to experience dramatic/role play. When my students are playing family, nail salon, blocks, restaurant and so forth I find their conversation to be so intriguing.
The use of technology in the classroom is so important since we live in a world filled with computers, smart phones, and tablets. Next school year my students will be allowed to being their own devices to school on designated days. I plan to spend time this summer exploring appropriate apps for them to use to promote literacy.
Tammy, I so agree with you about role play and dramatic play being pushed to the side yet it really is so important for these young children. I was planning to try and use our school's flip camera (trying to find more ways to incorporate technology!) to record my students reading/acting out short stories, but maybe we could also have them write their own stories to act out...
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