March KinderLiteracy Step by Step Post

Hello there and HELLO near-March! March is for sure headed here and soon! I settled on four themes to cover today and then I’ll be back in a few weeks for more “Springy” themes! Today I will be covering: Read Day (Seuss), St. Patrick’s Day, Dinosaurs, Moon and Easter/Rabbits! We will start with Read Day because it is coming up next week! Above are some my favorite Read Day books… there are literally so many of them that it is hard to decide! Today I will be sharing some fun ways to bring the “close read” model to light using these books! So many of them are great for those “just because” reads, but actually several more contain great content, skill focuses and rich vocabulary!

This first one is for sure a “loved by all” kind of book! This book is great for rhyming words but word families in particular! Of course the -am family fits the best! I love this interactive word building activity in my class! One kiddos holds the rime (am) and other bring up the onset letters to help create new words! This is a great activity to do before reading the text! This will draw in the kiddos because they will be excited to hear/see the words they just helped to build! *This activity will be in a free download below.

Here are some great “stopping points” within the text:

Page 12- Why do we think he is upset? Can you make a connection to a time you were upset?

Page 31- Do you think he is convincing him to eat it yet? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.

Page 57- Have students turn to their partners and make a prediction about what might happen next.

Page 59- What has changed? Why might this change have come about?

Alright let’s move onto the next text! This one is awesome for reviewing/teaching real and nonsense words! I love to play this fun whole-group game before diving into the text! The kiddos all have a real and nonsense (on other side) paddle! You will hold up word cards and they will decide if it’s real or nonsense! *This activity is part of the freebie download below.

Here are a couple words worth teaching from the text:

Friendly- welcoming and open to others (possible action- give a pretend hand shake or hug)

Cupboard- A cabinet with shelves (possible action- open the doors to your pretend cupboard and remove an item)

Stop Spots:

– Read the preface and stop to have kids turn and talk to a partner, making a prediction about what they think this text might be about.

– What do we notice about the boy? Does he enjoy these friends? What evidence do you have?

Up next is a super fun text that promotes a TON of rhyming fun! I have a couple of rhyming games I love pairing with this text! The first, rhyming riddles! These are so fun because they are open ended riddles… the students solve them by finishing the rhyme! The other fun activity is called “Taking Out the Trash”. With this game you will give kiddos a set of 3-4 words. They will let you know which doesn’t rhyme aka the “trash”. These printables are included in the freebie below!

This text lends itself to a set of vocabulary words!

slick- sly or sneaky; fast (Possible action- do a sneaky and thinking face)

sew- to make or repair using a needle (Possible action- do a sewing motion with your hands)

fleas- a type of tiny insect that does not have wings but can jump far (Possible action- use your finger tips as fleas and make them jump around)

breeze- a light or gentle wind (Possible action- use your hands to motion the wind swaying back and forth)

Stopping Spots:

– Read the preface and have students turn and talk (predict).

– Who are the two main characters in the text? How do we know this?

– Page 12- What does the illustration show us?

-Page 30- Make a prediction on what might happen now that there is blue goo.

-What did we notice this book did? (Rhyme)

-Have students think of their own page to the text. (I see a _____ in (a) _____. )

This one is always a class favorite as well! A couple of great words to mention in this one:

Mind- The part of a person that does the thinking (Possible action- tap your brain)

Noon- twelve o’ clock in the afternoon; midday (Possible action- use your arms to go around the clock, and then stop at noon)

Stopping spots:

– Page 4- He wants a dog and she wants a cat. Make a prediction with your turn partner on what you think might happen next!

-What does it mean to “make up your mind”?

The last text of course is a well-known by the kiddos! This one also has some great vocabulary words!

Yelp- to cry out or bark quickly and sharply (Possible action- allow the kiddos to make a yelping noise)

Disturb- To interrupt; especially by making noise (Possible action- pretend like you are tapping or bothering someone near you)

Hustled- To go swiftly (Possible action- use your arms to motion that you are jogging quickly)

Protect- to defend or keep safe (Possible action- use your arms to mimic guarding over something underneath)

Stopping Spots:

– Why can’t he where the sound is coming from?

– What does it mean that a person is a person no matter how small?

– How is he protective? Use evidence from the text.

-How are the others treating him?

-At the end of the text, how does everyone work together?

I have created picture cards for all of the vocabulary words mentioned above! You can download these and the fun word work games HERE!

I also wanted to share with you my Read Day centers! This packet is for K-1 and then I have additional Read Day centers for Pre-K in their Pre-K center bundle!

Each of the centers are available in a kinder and first grade version! This works perfect for differentiation! You can have your high-flying kinders work on the firstie version and the firsties that need a little bump working on the kinder version! Both versions visually look the “same”. The difference is the skills that are covered!

What is included?

– 5 kinder literacy centers
– 5 first grade literacy centers
– 2 kinder math centers
– 2 first math centers

You can view a preview of the centers HERE.

Snag the entire set of Read Day centers HERE!

Okay! Let’s move onto our next March theme… St. Patrick’s Day! This week we pair two Tomie DePaola books! This week is from KinderLiteracy Unit 8 (Supplemental Weeks). The main text, Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato is the main text and the paired text is completely optional but I do love pairing it with Charlie Needs a Cloak!

Theme for the week? Of course! St. Patrick’s Day!

This week’s essential question is about moral! This is always a tricky concept for kinders to grasp but with lots of real world modeling… they get it!

Our vocabulary words for this week and possible actions:

Avoid- Cover your eyes to (avoid) what you see

Crept- Use your arms to motion a crawling motion

Wail- Pretend to cry loudly

Prattie- Have students choose their favorite way to eat potatoes and motion that

Ponder- Tap finger to chin to indicate you are thinking

Plenty- Use your arms to open showing all that you have in front of at the dinner table

This week’s poem!

Defining the words for the week!

Listen and draw- prattie and plenty!

Illustrating Jamie at the beginning, middle and end of the story!

When pairing with Charlie’s Cloak!

The Jamie O’Rourke craft is a fun and silly prattie!

Time to talk a little DINOSAUR! Dinosaur week is part of Unit 5 of KinderLiteracy!

This week’s essential question has the kiddos taking note in FACTS! We of course have covered facts through the weeks prior, but we are now honing in on all of the knowledge that is stuffed into on book! Our second essential question offers up a time for the kiddos to predict, What if dinosaurs still roamed the earth? Your big thing this week is all about EVIDENCE! I would suggest that you even write it across the board! As the kiddos answer questions throughout the week…you will ask them what EVIDENCE they have to prove that! This week I pair with Harry’s Bucketful of Dinosaurs! However, any fiction dinosaur book will work! We just want to draw their attention to the differences in the fiction and nonfiction versions!

This week’s poem!

This week’s vocabulary words and possible actions:

Extinct- pretend to fall over “dead”

Fossil- pretend to hole a fragile fossil in your hands

Museum- pretend to walk into a building and look up in amazement as you “see” a dinosaur

Paleontologist- pretend to carefully dig up old bones

Listen and Draw!

Two types of dinosaurs!

The kiddos will label a dinosaur whole-group and as independent practice!

Dinosaur Can/Have/Are reports with playdoh dinos!!!

Up next is another exciting theme from Unit 5 of KinderLiteracy- Moon! This weeks pairs Moon by Melanie Mitchell with Papa, please get the moon for me!

This week’s essential question ask that students use the photographs and illustrations to help predict the text! The students are also asked how the moon appears to change and how that happens!

This week’s vocabulary words and possible actions:

Rock- use one hand to make a fist to represent a rock

Craters- use both hands to make cupped holes

Glow- pretend like you are blinded by the bright light

Neighbor- tap on the person sitting next to you

This week’s poem is a good ol’ classic 😉