KindergartenWorks: sharing the love

A conversation with my favorite teaching friend led us to discuss that books are wonderful, but they don't have to be a mystery. What I mean is, my kinders don't have to view books created by published authors as these mystical things that are put together somehow, in some format that makes it wonderful, engaging and with every detail in the right place.

Let me preface here, the first time (and sometimes second time) we read a story we always just read for enjoyment. But the third and fourth time we are dissecting it and truly recognizing the features, specifics and figuring out how it was constructed. Can kinders do that?! Yes, a hundred times yes - with support! ;)

We categorize books that we've read 4-5 times in a week by posting them behind my rocking chair based on these terms I thought fit many books we read. We talk about them all the time, and I many times edify my kinder-authors like, "You wrote information just like Melvin Berger," or "That's a different version story just like Lucille Colandro likes to write."

With that said, we use the picture icons seen in the corners to help my beginning readers remember the concepts and I put ones that relate to retelling and recognizing events in a story together in a free bookmark for your kinders. Today is about sharing the love! I plan on sending mine home as a reward for my kinders completing their story maps to plan out their different version of a "problem/solution and pattern" story. What a way to show how reading and writing go together!