READ....All of the cool kids are doing it.

As I sit and think about literacy in my future classroom my big question I am pondering is if it is appropriate to experiment with different ways to bring literacy in to the class. The article Emergent Literacy: New Perspectives, not only mentioned things that I would like to use in my classroom but also started to get my creative gears working and thinking about how I can "bring it" to my classroom. However, I am stuck wondering how much of what I do in my classroom should be things I have seen used before or am I allowed to sit at my drawing board and sketch up new ideas about making my students excited about reading and writing. Another question to add, is there such a thing as too much? To further explain my thinking I will try to develop a mental walk though of my future class.

One thing that my master teacher has been working on with the kindergarteners is creating their own Brown Bear books. Each day they work on one page at a time coloring the illustrations and then read through the book using their "reading glasses pointer" they made. While reading they are encouraged to find the words "I", "see", and "at". (Below is the pointer that the students made)

While the students realize they are supposed to find these words within this book, I wonder if they have made the connection that they can look for those words in other books too. The students are always reading books while they wait to move on to the next task, but I wonder if they mostly explore the pictures or if they look at the words also. I think one way I could help direct the students attention to words that we are focusing on outside of the initial activity would be to give them a "weekly word hunt". On the board I will post a word and introduce what the word is and how it is spelled. I will ask the students to look for that word as they read books during that week and have them put a post it note on the page when they find that word. At some point during the day I will have the student share the sentence that contained the word of the week with the rest of the class. I have gathered that the student love the opportunity to share things with the class and this way they are able to do so while also connecting what they are sharing to the curriculum.

Another thought I had came when talking with the other kindergarten teachers about how they can challenge their students. While five and six year olds are not capable of writing a book report as eloquently as an older student, I think they are still able to compose book report using illustrations and some writing. When thinking about this I realized that it would be better if there was a template made for the students to use to help make this an independent, self directed assignment. It could be challenging for students to write a book report if they were just handed a blank piece of paper, especially when you have 25-30 students. The template could have a line where students put the title of the book, a box where they could draw something that happened in the story, and lines at the bottom of the page where they could first start by writing three words from the story to later on copying a sentence for the story. This is something that I think this age group could be very capable of working on, however, I could be wrong. This is when I get back to the question: is it okay to experiment with different activities when it might be beyond the grasp of what is developmentally appropriate?

Other things I would like to have to promote literacy in my classroom:

• Snap words: A list of words that you can say in a snap! Students will be encouraged to find snap words and then they will be displayed in the classroom. If the alphabet is something that is always posted on the walls for reference and exposure why shouldn't other words be on display?
• Writing center: The article mentioned that the students need opportunities to experiment daily with reading and writing and I think a center where students can go and just write in whatever way they would like to express their self would be beneficial. There would be a variety of things to use in the writing center from paper and envelopes, to blank books where students could create their own stories.
• Morning message: The morning message is a great way to let students know what they will work on during that day while also exposing them to the words as they read it as a class. When I worked at the preschool they had their morning message be interactive. The teacher had jumbled the message that was written on strips of paper and the students had to put it in the right order using the things they knew (like words with capital letters go at the beginning and periods go at the end) and by reading the words.
• Flannel board: I want a large flannel board in my classroom where students will be able to create their own stories or can reproduce stories they have already read. There would be an assortment of different characters and settings to be used on this flannel board.
• Guest story reader: I really liked the story in the article about the class who invited people in to read stories to the class. The who process had a heavy emphasis on literacy. The students were required to write letters inviting their guests to their classrooms. The guest then would come and read a book to the class. Having someone come to the class helps the students to recognize the importance of reading and that reading is for everyone and not just students and those in schools.

I am inspired to bring reading and writing to life in my classroom. I will continue to explore new ideas of how I can bring literacy successfully into my classroom and making sure that all my students are excited to engage in such activities.