I love doing class books that we can send home to parents each month. It's amazing to me the growth I see in my students. The first one we do in about October and many students I have to work with one-on-one to help them build that confidence in sounding out their words. This month I just gave them the paper and 90% of them wrote just what you see completely on their own!
I read a lot of comments from Kinder teachers that think teaching about MLK and the civil rights movement is too far above their heads, that they don't really understand. I actually find the opposite is true. My students are fascinated by how different things were in the past just love Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I read Martin's Big Words, which is one of my favorites. Discovery Education has a video of the story that is beautifully read and scored. We listen to the famous speech. Then we talk about all the things going on in society today and how might it be different if Dr. King were alive today. I asked them to write about what their "I have a dream...." speech would say. These are the responses:
...that homeless people can get food free.
...that the world is colorful
...that my mom had a gardener.
...that all pets can get along.
I had to laugh at this one-even a 5-year old is tired of hearing about the Powerball!
I have a dream there are no lotteries.
that penguins can fly.
that everyone will have food for free.
...that homeless people can go in buildings.
that there are no storms.
that someone should think what the decision is
that all boys should be nice to the girls.
I usually do this same writing each year. For some reason I didn't this time around. Anyway, your writers have sure made a lot of progress. It's fun to watch them grow.
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