There’s something magical that happens in January in Kindergarten.  All of a sudden, kids start reading and writing all the time.  They finally realize that they CAN do it!  This is the time of year when we really start working on learning our sight words and we give kids as much time as possible to engage in literacy.  We’ve recently started some new literacy stations.  These are set out during the day and kids can choose where they work.  Sometimes I will invite a few students to work with me if I know there is something in particular they need help with.

There are SO many great resources on the Nellie Edge website.  If you aren’t familiar with Nellie Edge, go browse around the free resources for parents and teachers.  I printed the pink Heart Word cards and laminated them to use as Play-Doh mats.  I love that they also include the finger spelling component.  We’ve been learning sign language as part of our “second language experience” requirement in kindergarten.

Here’s another great idea from Nellie Edge.  I printed these writing prompts and sentences onto cardstock and put them in the writing corner with cards.  This is a huge hit, especially since Valentine’s Day is right around the corner.

This is a story telling station that I added and I was thrilled with the conversation that came out of this work.  The kids loved exploring the books and playing with the animals, but I was so impressed with the language I heard.  Several of our kids raise animals at their houses and the conversation turned to chickens and ducks, care of the animals, and interest in searching out more information in books.  I love the schema kids bring to the table!

I had my neighbor, Anna, paint these camping Story Stones for me last summer.  I put them in a box with some camping books and something magical happened.  The kids were happily telling their camping stories to one another, when one of my most struggling readers and writers came over and asked if it was ok if they got out some blank books so they could write their camping stories!  Be still my happy-teacher-heart!  I’m so thankful that I always keep blank books on hand just for this purpose!

The List Writing work is a true favorite!  I printed the list pages from Nellie Edge and have several options for kids to choose from.  They love writing grocery lists and lists of their friends in the class.  We have a pocket chart set up that has a picture and name of each child in the class, so kids can grab a name if they are not sure how to spell something.

I’m telling you, MAGIC happens after Christmas Break!  We are into February now and we are truly becoming readers and writers!

Happy learning!