With distance learning or in person learning while wearing masks- teaching phonics has become so much more difficult in Kindergarten. I found that teaching an isolated sound when the children can not really see my mouth is almost impossible. We are trying so hard at our school to adhere to every health and safety protocol, so not wearing an approved mask is off the table. So in addition to the rest of our literacy programming, we are adding in a video segment to our day. It really is the regular phonics teaching I would do face to face with my students, but I am recording it at home so I can play it in my classroom, or if we end up distance learning, I can embed the links into Brightspace or Google classroom. The first two weeks of school we focus almost solely on routines, kindness, and recognizing our names in print. Then we begin our phonics program.
Letter A – Week 1
We start with the letter A for a few reasons. Because it is the first letter of the alphabet, it prevents parents from getting stressed thinking that I somehow missed a bunch of letters. When I send home my calendar I tell them that we start with A and then we move around the alphabet so we can make words quickly so we move from isolated letters and sounds directly into reading and communicating with words. It is very very exciting that in just a few weeks they have words they can build, read and manipulate sounds, even in Junior Kindergarten! Each week I will add a video introducing our next letter and we will begin building our skills together.
Activities for A week
Letter T- Week 2
Activities for T week
Out Thankfulness Trees were a terrific success. We traced our hands onto watercolour paper and emphasized making the /t/ sound as we traced around our hand with a pencil . We then traced the pencil line with an oil pastel still making the /t/ sound. Then we painted the tree trunk, sky, and grass with watercolours. I interviewed each student over the week and they told me things they were thankful for and we added them to the finger branches. The last part was using the tip of a Q-tip to tap the leaves onto the tree tops with Tempera Paint.
We spent most of our week talking about Terry Fox and how he wasn’t afraid to try. We are working hard at building resilience within our students, and Terry was an excellent example for all of us. We also brought in toonies for Terry, and ran the Terry Fox run in just our cohort on Friday. It was a totally terrific week!
Next week we will be working on the letter S!
Letter S- Week 3
Activities for S week
We also studied shadows in our science centre, observed some snails, and built some snake habitats with our loose parts. I would say it was a super week with the letter S. Join us next week as we learn about the letter Ii !
Hi! I'm Kelly- a Teacher that LOVES Kindergarten. Join me to learn some experienced teacher hacks as well as new best practices as we learn to navigate in a Covid-19 epidemic. I'd love to have you join my email list so I can send you awesome updates and user friendly freebies!
Follow me on Facebook
Sign Up Here
When I have an awesome freebie or new blog post I will send you an email. Attached to your Welcome email is a copy of my Two Year Long Range Plans for Kindergarten!
For Kids and Parents that are wondering what Kindergarten will look like this year:
Ms.Bee Teaches
Here we aim to teach teachers and their students all they need to know to survive and thrive in Kindergarten. Check out videos on everything from how to teach how to use hand sanitizer to the best way to do Guided reading while trying not to spread germs.
Hi. I’m Kelly Buchanan, the Ms. Bee of Ms. Bee Teaches. Here I want you to be the teacher that has time to listen, to build community and to truly teach kindness, self-regulation, empathy, confidence, and the joy of learning. I have devoted my whole career (over 25 years now!) to teach mostly Kindergarten. I’ve taught in Canada and the USA in private and public schools in inner city, rural communities, and affluent suburbs. As a busy teacher, mom, wife, friend, guide leader and mentor, I know that educators are time strapped and looking for balance, without sacrificing excellence. Whether you are a new teacher, new to kindergarten, or a veteran like me, I can set you up for your most successful year yet. Want to have the best school year ever? Subscribe to my blog and be ready for transformative content that takes your classroom from a sticky mess to a thriving hive of happy, engaged and empathetic students that you truly know. Be kind to yourself.
Class Lists for Kindergarten You might be surprised that I do not have a super complicated organization system in Kindergarten- but there is a fantastic reason for that. My students need ALL my time. There are typically a LOT of them. Many of them have…
How to easily record growth and learning in Kindergarten I make a giant grid on google- I usually put an overall expectation at the top (I make one of these sheets for each overall expectation that we are planning on reporting on during the term)…
Free Kindergarten Monthly Writing printables I hang these in a proud place in my classroom! Throughout the year as they complete the monthly writing, I place the newest piece on top. During our writing conferences I can easily pop the stack off the board and…