86/180 Things That Make Me Happy...

Best gift! Ethan and I with a birthday cake!

Seeing evidence of growth... (Name Chart)

 SAMPLE 1...

 SAMPLE 2...

SAMPLE 3... We're getting there!

ALWAYS MY FAVORITE STATION...

We are moving towards adding writing workshop to our daily rotations. Students have access to writing and drawing tools everyday both indoor and out, but having writing as a station would make it a formal daily routine and they are ready. 

They definitely have choice in how and what to write, and the goal is to foster confidence and the love of writing and communicating our thoughts, ideas, and stories.  

I am still navigating writing in ETK and learning each time I listen and watch my students.

Here is what it looked like:

Students have a journal (blank pages stapled in a file folder). 

They know the routine: find a blank page, of draw a story, share it, and I took dictation- (I wanted to model that what you say can be written).

Today I had the opportunity to work with each child and differentiate accordingly. 

They all had to follow the routine of finding a blank page.

Writing (or attempt) to write their name.

We stamped the page.

They were free to draw/write about any topic or story they wanted.

The rest depended on the child.

Nathan had a story in mind. He began to draw right away. *Students have 1-12 minutes.
Trust me, we get a lot done in that time! 

He shared his family story orally first. Then instead of taking dictation, I suggested that he write the story on his own and he did! He started writing random letters initially and then he said, "I went to my... I know how to write I!" He stopped writing random letters and wrote I. Then he continued to say and write his story using random letters, but every time he said I, he wrote it! Starting to make those connections! #beautifulobservation!

Abigail share that she went to the movies with her family.
I knew she was beginning to make letter sound connections, so I asked her to try to write sounds that she can hear and skip the ones she didn't know. We focused on labeling initial sounds: Movies, Dad, Mom, Valerie "I wrote my name already."

Justin wrote about going to the park and playing ball with his parents and brothers. We talked about how fun parks were and I asked him to share more details. Since he only had limited letter knowledge, we concentrated on telling story orally in English.

Most of the students drew and shared their story. I didn't write anything on their pages. My comments were oral. Yatzil just wrote her name 5 times in rows, while others just drew a picture and shared. All good... for the ones that I knew had an understanding that letters make sounds, I encouraged and supported them in writing down sounds they heard.

Ethan knows all his letters by name and many by sounds, I decided to do some interactive writing with him. I wrote the letters he didn't know in blue. So very proud of him! *Bonus points if you can read what it says!

It was a good day. Now I need to get to bed.