CVC Word Cards

Just added my CVC word cards to TpT. 

They will be on sale through Monday.

:)

My students and I love, love, love these.

 Use these CVC cards for:

phoneme segmentation

blending

guided reading warm-ups

small group intervention

word work

read around the room

write around the room

assessment

reader's workshop whole group lessons

transitions {stretch this word to line up}

reading corner choice reading

daily 5

and much more!

Grab the CVC 

cards HERE! 

Reading Challenge

At the beginning of May I proposed a Reading Challenge to my Kindergarten friends.

If they could work together to read 180 books

(the number of days we have Kindergarten)...

then I would throw them a pizza party.

They were SO EXCITED about the challenge. It was a wonderful way to keep my growing readers engaged for the last few weeks of school. 

I believe they ended up reading the 180 books in 8 or 9 days!!!!

WAY TO GO KINDERGARTEN FRIENDS!

I am SO proud of the great readers you have become.

Don't forget to sign up for the public library's reading challenge... and keep reading all summer long!! 

Cuddle Up and Read

My husband Mike, cuddling up and reading with our children, Madilynn and Scott. 

Teaching Blog Addicts is hosting an awesome linky party called Teaching Tips for Parents. 

It is a compilation of simple teaching tips for parents.

 I highly recommend checking it out here.

When parents ask me how they can best help their child succeed in Kindergarten, my reply is always the same, "Cuddle up and read". 

Often parents push a little further asking for "real homework like flashcards, games, or worksheets" to help their child learn to read. Again, my response, "Cuddle up and read". 

I truly believe reading daily with your child is one of the best ways to help them learn how to read. It is also a really great way to slow down and connect with your child. You can never start too early (board boards are my go to baby shower gift) and once they start reading is no reason to stop. 

My children and I love this special time together each night.

This is what I read last night with my soon to be 4 year old:

And here's what I read with my soon to be 4th grader:

 Reading with your children promotes many reading skills such as fluency, vocabulary building, comprehension, listening, but ABOVE ALL it gives them a relaxed, fun way to fall in love with books and reading. 

Looking for a great list of books to get started?

Children's Book Guide has put together a list of the top 100 children's books of all time. 

Click here to check it out!

We also love to just browse at our public library. Browsing is how we came across a few books that have become favorites:

 

Parents and Teachers- 

check out all of the other GREAT teaching tips at 

Teaching Blog Addicts now. 

Reading Challenge!

Last week I proposed a reading challenge to my kindergarten friends. 

To celebrate our growth in reading, love of books, and our school year of 180 days, we are reading 180 books during the month of May! 

We have been counting all of the books that we read together at school and the books that the children read at home. 

I can't tell you the excitement that this challenge has created in our classroom. Students are running into the room each morning waving their list of books to add to our chart, announcing the number of books they read, and eagerly lining up to fill in their  blocks on the book chart.

                    

In just 10 days, we are already up to 159 books!!!

Dear Kindergarten Friends, 

Way to go! We are well on our way to reaching our reading goal! I am so proud of each one of you and love to see your excitement for reading and books!

We can do this!

Love,

Mrs. Rider


P.S. Here are some of my favorite pictures of you enjoying books:

This digital collage generated with Smilebox

We're Going on a Word Hunt...

Last week the students went on a word hunt. They LOVED searching through big books for words they have learned. They filled up our bulletin board within a matter of minutes. I loved watching the students' excitement and pride as they read and wrote words they knew. Way to go word hunters!

Read to Self

Check out my amazing kindergarten friends:

Free picture slideshow personalized with Smilebox

They are practicing part 1 of The Daily Five: Read to Self.

I love listening in to the children as they “shop” for books, comment on the pictures, read the words, retell the story, check the end papers, make connections, find star words, laugh out loud, and so much more.

Way to go, friends! I am so proud of each and every one of you!

Have you checked your endpapers lately?

This summer I attended the Lakota Literacy View. This was a three-day professional development workshop on teaching Reading and Writing- an opportunity I simply could not resist! Spending time learning from Lester Laminack and Ann Marie Corgill was thrilling! (If you teach writing in the primary grades, you MUST READ Ann Marie’s book: Of Primary Importance.) As I watched video clips from Ann Marie’s classroom I was amazed at the rich language that her young first graders were using as they shared teaching points from their writing conferences. I challenged myself right then to always use every opportunity to teach the authentic terms that writer’s use as they brainstorm, write, edit, and publish books.

One such opportunity came as I read Little Pea on the very first day of school. As I opened the book I pointed out the beautiful endpapers that were lime green and covered with hundreds of little peas. Well, I am thrilled to report that in the first week and a half of school my 5 and 6 year old students now request that we check out the end pages of each and every book we read, are bringing in books from home with unique endpapers, and creating their own endpapers in Writer’s Workshop.(Wahooo!!) Thank you, Ann Marie, for reminding me that I must always give even my youngest students all of the TOOLS and TERMS they need to grow as writers. Check out some of the special endpapers that the children discovered this week