Determined in December

This month has been filled with determination! Students finished learning the names of the letters and we started producing letter sounds. We are segmenting letter sounds and listening for the beginning sounds of words. Children who can segment and blend sounds easily are able to use this knowledge when reading and spelling. Segmenting and blending individual sounds can be difficult at the beginning. We are using our arms, fingers, and colored counters to segment individual letter sounds in words. We also slowly say each sound in a word (c-a-t), and then say the sounds quickly together to "read" the word (cat).

Students synergized to put our alphabet letters in order.

Students created sight word snowmen.

Students work on their motor skills using chalk to form their letters.

We had fun making the letter S with glitter snow.

We practice putting the letters in our name in order with snowballs.

Finish Line

We are celebrating the end of the alphabet this week! Students finished identifying letters W-Z. Now we will begin working on letter sounds.

Students use finger lights to practice tracking print.

We used habit #6, synergize, to create the letter Y with yellow yarn.

Students read the book "Playing Dress Up" and then took time to play dress up! They compared and contrasted our dress up time with the costume in the story. 

Sensory Learning

Our reading groups have been using their senses to explore letters. We made the letter W with tasty pretzel sticks. We used our bodies to form the letter U. We even used finger lights to form our letters in the dark!
During guided reading, students are pointing under each word, as they track print from left to right. It is true that children need their fingers to establish one-to-one correspondence. This principle establishes that one word read equals one point of the finger. It doesn't mean that children point to get the words "right." For now, students are becoming more familiar with text patterns.

Letter W is a tasty pretzel treat! 

You can use finger lights to practice forming letters in the air.

Give me a U

Syllables

Our students have been learning how to segment words by clapping the syllables. We practice by clapping our names and our favorite foods.
We practiced forming and identifying the letters M-R. The lowercase p and q look similar, so here's a little trick to help them remember:
 Have your child make two thumbs with their hands. Next, they will place their thumbs so they are pointed at the ground. Then, tell them that p comes before q in the alphabet. This means that the first thumb pointed down is the letter p and the second thumb is the letter q. For students who are familiar with alphabetical order this tricks works well.

We made uppercase M with craft sticks.

Students can match lowercase letters on their magnetic boards. 

Rhyme Time

Did you know that listening to popular children's songs can help your child learn about rhyming words? We have been singing "Itsy, Bitsy Spider", "This Old Man", and many more songs to identify rhyming words. We even change the words and try non-rhyming words in the songs, just for fun!
Students are learning to write and identify letters L-O this week. We are reviewing a few letters that can be tricky too, like Gg, and Kk.
We read the story "There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves," and students practiced writing the word "leaf." We are also practicing story sequencing with this book. What did she swallow first? What did she swallow last that made her sneeze?

Students used chalk to practice writing the letter j. 

We play "mix it, and fix it." Can you place the letters in the correct order?  

Matching Letters

Alphabet Matching

This week, students identified, matched, and wrote uppercase and lowercase letters A-H. We read the story "No, David!" and highlighted the letter H. Students made connections to the story and discussed habit 1(be proactive) and habit 3(put first things first).

Alphabet Soup

We have been hard at work, learning the names of the letters in the alphabet. Students are identifying the letters A-H, upper and lowercase. They are also locating these letters in their names and in stories that we are reading. We had fun finding our letters in an alphabet soup game! This week, we will read a book about making soup, as we search for the letter H. Students will also listen for rhyming words in songs and poems.

We had fun searching for the letter f in our alphabet soup!

Welcome back to school! I'm looking forward to the start of a new year with our Smyrna Stars. We will continue our journey as a "Leader in Me" school.  Not only will we learn to read and write, we will also develop leadership skills. At Smyrna, we believe that readers are leaders!