One of the topics I'll be presenting in Vegas in July is all about writing. As I'm going through my presentation I thought it would be the perfect time to talk a little bit about it here and show y'all what I do and what I feel helps to make writing in my classroom so successful. First up, let's talk about some writing non-negotiables. If we expect our kids to become fluent writers capable of producing more than just a sentence here and there, we have to give them TIME to write. Not just 5 minutes here and there, but time for sustained writing. Not only do we need to give them the time to write, but we need to give … [Read more...] about Let’s Talk Writing!
writers workshop
Hello? Hello? Is Anybody There?
Hi friends. Maybe you remember me? I’m the girl who used to be semi good about blogging here at The First Grade Parade. Is anybody there? I’m convinced no one reads blogs anymore…or maybe just that no one reads this one. I’m sure it doesn’t help when I don’t post for a month :) Living in a small little town means that sometimes you don’t have internet access…for extended periods of time…even when you call your provider and practically beg for them to restore your service. {{Sigh}} So I enjoyed the temporary lapse in blogging. And when Internet service was restored, I kept on enjoying my break. … [Read more...] about Hello? Hello? Is Anybody There?
Apples Aplenty & A Meaningful Christmas
Did y’all hear me say Christmas? I’m sure you’re thinking, “Is she for real? CHRISTMAS? It’s not even OCTOBER yet!!” But bear with me. Y’all might remember reading THIS POST last year. I’m telling y’all all about this now so that y’all can get a move on it and start planning. My precious friend Brittney introduced me to our favorite Christmas tradition back when my boys were really itty and now I want to share it with YOU! A Meaningful Christmas is a simple, child centered devotional for families to use as they countdown to Christmas. Honestly…it’s our FAVORITE tradition. It all starts with a … [Read more...] about Apples Aplenty & A Meaningful Christmas
The Week in Rewind, A Peek At My Week, and Fall is Here!
This past week seemed so fast and furious. The weekend went by even faster. It’s 6:00 on Sunday night and in a few hours I’ll be starting another week with my littles. Why does it take so long to get to Friday, but Monday gets here so darn quick?! I spent my weekend decorating for Halloween. Yes. It’s early. But I LOVE Halloween and decorating isn’t hurting anybody so that’s just what I did. If you wanna see it all, you can take a little Halloween house tour on my other blog HERE. I have another full week planned…parent/teacher conferences included…and I’m excited to take you back through our week … [Read more...] about The Week in Rewind, A Peek At My Week, and Fall is Here!
Marshmallow Spaces & Winners Announced
I was blessed with a day to pull my kids one-on-one last week and assess each one individually. We administer our literacy assessments at the beginning of the year and that includes sentence dictation, sight word recognition, oral word vocabulary {how many words can you write in 10 minutes?!}, letter/sound recognition, concepts about print, and DRA. As I was administering the concepts about print portion of the assessment, I realized that a lot of my kids were struggling with differentiating between letters and words. I understand that this is a skill that will develop over the next month{ish}…maybe longer…but I wanted to … [Read more...] about Marshmallow Spaces & Winners Announced
I Survived Week 2 How About You?!
Well…I did it. I survived the 2nd week! HA! In all honesty, I have a pretty sweet little class. I feel like they’ve picked up so much in just a short 2 weeks! I’m so excited and anxious to see how much they progress this year. This is one of the reasons I love Kindergarten so much. They all come in with such different abilities and it’s amazing to see their growth…even after just a few short weeks! This past week we hit the ground running and started focusing on name recognition. Not just our own, but the names of our friends, too! I usually wait ‘til the 3rd week to start our name … [Read more...] about I Survived Week 2 How About You?!
