Writing

Research on writing in the classroom:

All About Me/Student of the Day (Adapted from Four Blocks Month by Month Kindergarten)
 * 1) Objective(s): Students will gain awareness of letters in a person’s name. Students will learn to ask questions.
 * 2) Before the activity begins, write each student’s first name on a sentence strip
 * 3) Gather the children in the sharing area.
 * 4) Draw a student’s name.
 * 5) Ask the class to read the name.
 * 6) Have the child come to the front of the room and stand beside you.
 * 7) Do a cheer spelling the child’s name, “Give me a M . . . M!”
 * 8) Cut the letters apart and mix them up.
 * 9) Have the student sequence the letters in his/her name.
 * 10) Allow the child to pick two friends (one at a time) to sequence the letters in his/her name.
 * 11) Interview the child as a class (they will need guidance at first)
 * 12) Discuss the child’s attributes (hair color, eyes, long or short hair, so on)
 * 13) Have the children go to their tables.
 * 14) Give each child a piece of paper.
 * 15) Demonstrate the top and bottom of the paper.
 * 16) Stroke, by stroke, as a class, write the child’s name (don’t stress if some of them are way off - it is the process that is important)
 * 17) Have the children draw the child
 * 18) Place the child’s drawing of self on a bulletin board titled, “Special Friends”
 * 19) Place the child’s name (written on a sentence strip) under the child’s picture
 * 20) Staple the other pictures together in a book for the child to take home
 * 21) Use the word wall as a reference for the children. Discuss which names are long, short, which have some of the same letters.
 * 22) This bulletin board will become your word wall later on. At this time, arrange the names by first letter.
 * 23) When everyone in the class has been the special person of the day, put their pictures together in a book and place it in the class library.

Infinitec Resources:
 * Literacy Center - Early Childhood Reading  @http://www.literacycenter.net/
 * Online games and printables targeting beginning literacy skills. Gain practice forming letters and spelling color words.

__[]__ (letter sound match); [|__www.starfall.com__] (It’s Fun to Read) 2 hours >
 * 1) ## [|__www.literacy__] center.net; [|__www.getreadyto__] [|read.org;] [|__http:// teacher.scholastic.com/clifford1/__] (letter and sound match);
 * 1) 
 * 1) Creating and Managing a Writing Center
 * 2) Students will use the writing center to explore writing.
 * 3) Many teachers do not use a writing center in their classroom because they do not know how to teach children to use it properly. This video would explain how to introduce the writing center, how to introduce new materials, and how to encourage quality student experiences.
 * 4) Book Cover Creator ( [|__http://readwritethink.org/student_mat/student_material.asp?id=58__] ); KerPoof (http://www.kerpoof.com/)

Infinitec Resources:
 * Literacy Center - Early Childhood Reading  @http://www.literacycenter.net/
 * Online games and printables targeting beginning literacy skills. Gain practice forming letters and spelling color words.

