Early Literacy Assessments {Kindergarten}

Why is early literacy important?

Children who develop early literacy skills have an advantage to learning to read. However, there are more than 1 in 3 children entering Kindergarten without the skills they need to learn to read. It is essential for children to develop early literacy skills for success in school and later in life. Parents who explose their children to reading, rhyming, singing, and talking beginning from birth profoundly influence literacy and language development, the foundation for all other learning. 

Early literacy development is everything a child knows about reading and writing before he or she can read or write. The following skills can determine whether a child will be ready to learn to read and write:

Print Motivation

• Children enjoy books and reading are more motivated to learn to read.
• Tips: Read books for enjoyment!

Print Awareness

• Children noticing print is everywhere. How to handle a book and following the written word on the page.
• Tips: Point to words while reading; look for letters and words on signs, labels, and lists.

Letter Knowledge

• Children knowing that letters are different from each other. Identfying and recognizing letter names and sounds.
• Tips: Talk about and draw the letters of a child's own name.

Vocabulary

• Children knowing all kinds of words.
• Tips: Carry on lots of conversations with children.

Phonologial Awareness

• Children playing and hearing with the smaller sounds of words.
• Tips: Sing songs {nursery rhymes}; Break words into syllables; Recite rhymes 

Narrative Skills

• Children being able describe things and events, retelling stories, knowing the order of events, and making predictions. 
• Tips: Ask open-ended questions to encourage conversations; Talk about your day and its series of events; Read stories without words

What is Early Literacy Assessments?

Early Literacy Assessments was designed to help identify the reading development of students in kindergarten. The assessments are easy to use which will help the teacher with targeted instruction for students to improve as readers.

Assessments include:

• Rhyming
• Onset & Rime
• Blending Phonemes { 3 & 4}
• Initial Sounds
• Final Sounds
• Deleting Initial Sounds
• Deleting Final Sounds
• Letter & Sounds
• Syllables
• Listening Comprehension

New Product!! Clip Cards {Easy Storage!}

A few weeks ago, I made a trip to Michaels to add some new home decor pieces to a new house I bought back in January. As I am going down every isle, I come across this super cute and colorful photo case. I have seen many of these on Instagram and Pinterest. I couldn't resist buying one! After weeks of thinking about how I can make use of this photo case, I decided to use this as one of my literacy stations. You might be thinking how is this going to be a center.

Every year I go through many boxes of Ziploc bags to replenish the wear and tear of the bags my literacy centers go in. I store my literacy centers in rubbermaid containers just like the picture above. I color code them according to guided reading groups.

This upcoming school year, I will be adding a new literacy station called "Clip Cards". My new photo box will store clip cards that cover literacy and math skills.

These "Clip Cards" are a hands-on approach to identifying alphabet identification, CVC words, and rhyming words. Students are able to apply their knowledge by clipping (clothespins) to the correct word or picture that is associated with that skill. "Clip Cards" have recording sheets to hold students accountable.

"Clip Cards" are great for literacy stations, intervention, guided reading, activities, common assessments, and more!

Coming Soon!

Digraphs Clip Cards

Blends Clip Cards

Math Clip Cards

Happy Birthday! SALE

I will be having a birthday sale in my TPT store starting tomorrow (Friday). Head on over to save up to 20% off on some new resources. 

Hello! It's me! Martin Luther King, Jr.

We will be celebrating this week the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On January 18th, we will give thanks to this American Hero for his dream, courage, faith, and love. Every January, I love to teach about Martin Luther King, Jr. before the holiday to give my students an understanding as to why we have no school on Monday.

First, I introduce Martin Luther King, Jr. to my kiddos through biographical text about his life. Here are just a few:

Hello! It's me!! Martin Luther King, Jr. Unit is filled with highly engaging activities for your kiddos to become Dr. King experts. Below you'll find some resource in the MLK Unit.

 

 

I am having a MLK Sale in my TPT store on January 18th! Everything is 20% off!

Happy Teaching!!!
Unforgettable First Grade

The Snowy Day

One of my favorite winter-themed books to share with my kiddos is The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. This book is a favorite of mine because I love the illustrations and the descriptive narration.

The Snowy Day is a story of a young boy's adventures playing outside in the snow. He makes footprints in the snow, makes tracks with a stick, hits a tree, sleds, and makes a snow angel. He tries to save a snowball in his pocket, but of course it melts away. I like how this book resonates with students as they make connections to what they like to do on a snowy day.

There are so many reading comprehension skills that go perfectly with this book such as Sequence of Events, Cause & Effect, Main Idea & Details, BME, Setting, Character Analysis, Prediction, Making Connections, and Visualize just to name a few.  I will be introducing Cause & Effect to my kiddos when we come back from the Christmas Break.

The Snowy Day ~Literature Unit is filled with highly engaging activities to help supplement this classic fiction story. Your kiddos will be able to use their creativity throughout these ready-to-go creative writing response sheets. At the end of this unit, your kiddos will create a super cute craftivity that can be used to display your students reader's response.

This unit includes:
*Vocabulary Cards: Introduce these vocabulary cards before introducing the story to students.
*Reader's Response Sheets: These can be bind together for students to respond to literature or you can use these to go along with the craftivity.
*Journal Prompts: These journal prompts can be added to your students reader's notebook for students to respond to literature. (Note: these prompt are the same as the reader's response sheets.)
*Reading Comprehension Sheets: These sheets cover most of all the reading skills such as Sequence of Events, Cause & Effect, Main Idea & Details, BME, Setting, Character Analysis, Prediction, Making Connections, and Visualize.
*Interactive Read-Aloud Flip book: This flip book is a creative way to teach specific standards to build comprehension. Also, combines guided conversations with reflective thinking to engage kiddos in strategic listing, speaking, reading, and writing about text.
*Retelling Cards: These can be used to help your students retell the story.
*Craftivity: This craftivity is use to display your students reader's responses.

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New Years Sale!!!

I will be having a New Years Sale on January 1st & 2nd. Everything in my TPT store will be 20% off. Head over to snag some new resources to start the new year.
{Click on the picture to head over to my TPT Store}

Happy New Year!!! Freebie

Happy New year!!! 2016

Have you been thinking about some resolutions? As for me, I have been thinking about my new year's resolution list for some time now.

1. Eat healthy.
2. Start to workout more.
3. Getting more organize at home and school.

But in all reality I just want to fill this year with laughter and memories.

Are you in need of some New Year's activities?

As we are about to start a new year, I aways teach my kiddos the meaning of a new year's resolution and goal setting.

I have created a new year's product filled with engaging activities for your kiddos to understand the true meaning of starting a new year. The activity book in this product include: a word search, a new year's poem, creative writing response sheets, and much much more.

The new year's craftivity in this packet will help display your kiddos new year's resolutions or new year's goals.

Enjoy this freebie!