Old Ms. Kuki had a Farm
Hello lovely people, Kuki / Dragon here. The other day Bunny and I were giving each other our daily recap of “how was work today?” and it dawned on us; maybe YOU, our loyal blog readers, would like a little glimpse into the precious moments of a kindergarten teacher! Honestly, I have sooooo many stories and I probably forget most of them even before I get home, lol, but I do have a few that have stuck with me over the years and I would like to share some of these precious gems with you. So here we go.
Kindergarten and Reading
There is this magical moment for some children in kindergarten when they finally start to crack the code of reading. It’s almost like a superpower that gets bestowed onto them. (Disclaimer: not all children begin reading in kindergarten and that’s OK ) When this does happen, they are filled with this incredible joy and their thirst for more explodes. For some it begins with letter-sound correspondence, that’s when they can recall the sounds that each letter-symbol make. For others, it’s when they can read CVC, consonant-vowel-consonant words. Everyone blooms at different times, but each time they connect, it’s special. It is one of the many privileges of being a teacher, to be a part of this process.
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A few years ago I had a student who came into kindergarten able to read…
One day I had prepared a morning message on flip chart paper before my students arrived. As they sat down for circle time, he began to read the message aloud before we even started. When he finished reading another child shouted:
“WAIT! How did you do THAT!? How do you know it says that!? THAT’S MAGIC!”
I couldn’t hide the smile on my face.
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Another goodie, is when we start to decode CVC words and blend the individual letter sounds/phonemes together. They begin by sounding out each initial phoneme and then slowly blending them together until… BOOM! They say the written word and their eyes light up with joy! At this point I’m celebrating by “raising the roof” like Arsenio Hall and pumping them up because they succeeded. It’s really fun and things can get a little crazy!
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People have asked me, “What can I do to help my child learn to read?” What I usually say is that they need a good understanding of their letter-sounds, being read to daily and last but definitely not least, make reading fun and special. In class I like to shut the curtains and bring out flashlights for a special reading atmosphere, or to send home special stuffed animals to whom the students can read to. I’ve even made tents, caves and farm houses to make reading fun and special. Currently in kinder, my French teaching partner and I are co-reading a chapter book to our group in both languages. She will read a few chapters in French, then I will take over and read the next few in English! They LOVE IT!!!
Reading by the fire
Reading with flashlights
Here’s a challenge for you! Try reading our book, The Butterfly Trap outdoors, or even with a flashlight tonight. I can assure you that if you make reading fun they will want to read more. We need to model a love of reading in our digital world.
Let us know what book you are reading and how you are making reading fun.
Have a good one, bookworms!
Love,
Kuki and Lee-Ann
Dragon & Bunny
