The Great State of Texas!

Since we live in Texas, we like to teach a long unit about our state, some time around Texas Independence Day, which is March 2. Throughout this unit, we have learned many facts about Texas, as well as studied many tall tales that take place in Texas. The kids really enjoy reading tall tales, like Pecos Bill, because some really crazy things happen in the story that they think are very silly. They have fun re-telling these exaggerated moments. 

To conclude our Texas study, we have written stories about Texas today.

The first thing that I did when I introduced that we were going to write a story was draw out the story elements. 

The students came up with the characters, the problem and the solution of the story. Of course, we discussed that the setting would be Texas. :)

After this, we drew out a story map, using the 4-square model that I discussed in this earlier blog post.

 The students came up with each sentence. We practice reading our story, to make sure that it had a problem and a solution. 

After all this, I sent the students back to their seats. We have spoken many times in my class about how to make a "good illustration" for their writing, so we discussed this again before they started. The kids know that I like their drawings to be very colorful and fill up the whole page. 

They were able to copy the story that we created together, or... if they were really "thinking", they could come up with their own story, as long as it had characters, a problem and a solution. 

Here are some final "stories" about Texas that the students wrote!

What a great way to end our Texas unit!

2 Presidents That Made a Difference... In Our Classroom!

We just got finished with a 2 week long unit on presidents in my class. It's amazing how interested these kids get over people who lived hundreds of years ago. I've been doing foldables throughout the year, but decided to do one on a bigger scale for this unit. For more on foldables, click here.

We learned about Abraham Lincoln for the first week and George Washington the second week. We did many compare and contrast activities, such as a Venn diagram to gain more understanding about each president. We made "pretend" money with the presidents faces on them. We even practiced drawing their faces, in a teacher-led, step-by-step, directed art project. We used these pictures for the outside covers on our foldable "books". 

Here is an example of what one looked like:

In the inside of each cover, I had students draw or label a fact about each president.

The middle section took us the longest to accomplish. I really worked hard on reminding them of the High Five Chart and the editing process. Yes, even kinders can edit their work! In fact, it really helped them to gain some ownership of the writing that they were doing. For more on the High Five process that I created, read my earlier post here.

I was so proud of how they came out. They wrote a lot about each president and really developed an interest in them with the more that each of them wrote!

Here are a few examples of a few writing pieces that we placed in the middle section of our foldable:

Although there are still misspellings after the editing process was complete, I knew that each student had given me their best work. Can you believe that kinder kids are capable of writing so many coherent sentences?! We had a great time with this unit and I will continue to do it in years to come.

Sound Mapping

In my classroom, to teach the letters and sounds, we do something called sound mapping. It is a research-based way to teach the alphabet (letters/ sounds) and basic writing skills. 

I start each morning with 30 minutes of this. I have a class set of these whiteboards in my room from Lakeshore Learning. I LOVE them! They are perfect for the kids and just their size!

You can purchase these white boards here at Lakeshore:

http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/seo/ca|searchResults~~p|2534374302133657~~.jsp

This is the basic breakdown of how I teach sound mapping each day:

1.   Introduce new sound. Have students listen and try to repeat. Show children your mouth formation and talk about placement of teeth, tongue and lips. Use mirror if needed.

2.   Have students listen for the sound. Students will clap when they hear the sound. Say various alphabet sounds and the new sound mixed in. Remind students to look at your mouth formation to give them clues about the sound. This can also be done with words that begin with the sound.

3.   Show the students how to record the sound on the board. Make sure to focus on the starting point and then the direction of the correct formation. Have the students look at your letter on the board and trace it in the air with their pointer finger.

4.   Students will write the letter in the air, on the carpet, on each other’s backs, and on their hands. This is before the white boards come out. Ask the students many times while they are doing this what sound they are recording.

5.  Show the students several times on the board how to record the sound.

6.  Pass out white boards and have the students try to record the sound with markers. Walk around and assess the students, as they record the sound. Some students may need you to hold their hand with the marker and help them the first few times. Correct any errors you may see.

7.   After a few minutes of practice, erase the white board and tell the students that they now must do it from memory. Students will repeat the sound that they are recording as they record it on their white boards.

8.   Follow up with additional practice in small group.

I also created a poster for my classroom to teach basic writing skills. It's similar to CAPS which I'm sure many of you have heard of, but I felt it was more kinder-friendly. This year, my whole school has adopted the High Five Model and I'm working on a version for older grades as well!

I also have this hands-on poster that I made to go with it, that stays out all year long in my classroom. 

The pieces are velcro-ed on and as I introduce each piece of the high five, I add the new piece to the poster. I begin the year by stressing the "teacher" handwriting, which all goes back to the sound mapping. Sound mapping, after all, is creating a map in one's brain of the letter and the sound. If the students are using their "teacher" handwriting, they will create a better "map" in their brain. 

I have had great success with this in my classroom! I've been teaching letters and sounds this way for 3 years now and my students are becoming amazing writers!

Please go check out my new packets in my TpT store!

Go check out these and download my Winter Math Journal FREEBIE. 

All of these and more are located at my teacher store:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Proffitt