HOLY MOLY?!? {book lovers are amazing!}

In honor of National Book Lovers Day, I have to share this previous post about my Book Lovers Club.

It is simply magical. 

Seeing these sweet families with their membership cards and huge smiles makes my teacher heart so happy! 

In honor of National Book Lovers Day, you can grab my Book Lovers Club product for 20% off through Friday. :)

Oh my goodness...

Did you read my post last week on our

BOOK LOVERS CLUB??

If not, check here!! 

Well, the book lovers in my class continue to knock my socks off!

They are already SO great at read to self time. 

My heart is so happy when I look around and see so many {excited!} readers!

 This summer I tried to create even more inviting spaces for my growing readers to curl up with a book. 

Everyone thought I was NUTS when I told them my new laundry baskets were to be filled with readers. 
:):)

My book lovers have been recruiting anyone and everyone we pass in the hall. 

When people ask what it means - all of the students respond with:

You must...

 LOVE books.

Know how to take care of them.

Want to talk about them.

and know about authors and illustrators.

YES! YES! YES! YES! 

So much fun. 

Anyways... 

My book lovers have even been actively recruiting new members at home!

They BEGGED me to send home membership cards so their moms, dads, grandparents, siblings, and neighbors could join. 

WOOHOO!

Here are some of my AMAZING families who have all joined our Book Lovers Club:

Seriously, I can't take the cuteness!!

I am so weird, but I seriously get a little teary looking at these amazing families celebrating books with their children. 
What a gift!!

Book Lovers = YOU ROCK!

Thank you, parents, for making this time so special for your child. 

:)

Teacher friends,

I created my Book Lovers Goodies as a fun way to get excited about books and reading. It includes fun ideas, membership cards, bookmarks, links to fun reading sites, and more. 

Check out my previous posts

here

here

or 

here

and on TpT here. 

Teaching Vocabulary in Kindergarten

A couple of weeks ago I shared about an incredible teaching conference I attended. 

Read more about that here. 

One of my favorite sessions was Cara Carroll's outstanding presentation on teaching vocabulary.

Cara stressed that systematic, explicit instruction is key.
She also shared that students need to work with the words many times before they become a part of their working vocabulary.

I couldn't wait to try some of her strategies with my growing readers. 

I have been absolutely blown away with how my students have reacted.

I introduced words through a fun word detective activity.

It was very fun, and certainly left an impression on the students. 

You can read more about this activity on Cara's blog.

Cara stressed giving students MANY opportunities to interact with the words. 

Here are just some of the ways we have worked with our words:

practiced using them verbally

I recorded their examples so they could see the word in print again.

We also practiced showing the word meanings in our reading notebooks: 

When I challenged the students to write 100 words on our 100th day...

divvy

lair

schema

and

onomotopeia 

were the very first words on our chart!!

I thought it would be fun to have WOW word Wednesday. 

What kindergarten student doesn't love a microphone?

The students could act out, sing, or do a little speech about one of our vocabulary (wow!) words...

This was the HIGHLIGHT of my week!!!!!
For our very first try, I was impressed. 

I promise to get better footage next time, but here are a few amazing word nerds performing:

Create a picture slideshow

Word experts. 

Choose 4 of your favorite vocabulary words and illustrate the meaning. 

Thank you, Cara, for reminding me how 
powerful vocabulary can be!

Here are some other fun vocabulary ideas I have pinned:

Next professional read for me?

I am looking forward to continuing to challenge my students and learn more about vocabulary instruction.