Reading Rabbits!

As the year progresses so do our phenomenal reading skills!  I am so impressed with the wonderful growth in reading in your child.  We have focused so much on building our confidence that reading has come with such ease.

Enjoy a few pictures from our recent reading celebrations!

Partner Book Sharing
In honor of favorite children's author, Dr. Seuss's birthday, we celebrated a day of reading amongst a two-week author study of all things Dr. Seuss.  We spent the afternoon sharing our Partner Books with our parents and partner families.



On Friday, students took home their partner's story.  This is an incredibly special gift given to your child, one that their partner worked on for many weeks.  Kindergarteners were thrilled to take this gift home to cherish their special book about them, from their partner, for years to come. Enjoy!

Please know that your child's story has gone home with their partner to be cherished and loved.  We have taken pictures of your child's Partner Book to send to you so you have photo document your child's first big writing project.


DEAR Time
After our Partner Book Share students participated in DEAR time.  Willowwind friends (teachers, too!) did just that we DROPPED EVERYTHING AND READ for 45 minutes!  I was so impressed with your child's ability to stay focused and busy with their collection of books for such a long period of time.  These rabbits love reading!  I enjoyed the opportunity to continue to read my book of choice, Divergent, a trending book with juveniles and adults alike.







Library Field Trips
The Cottontails look forward to our monthly field trips to the library.  As we grow as readers, so do our opportunities at the public library.  In January and February, students have been practicing finding just right books at the library.  Kindergarteners are able to check out three fun books and one "just right reader" that they can read on their own or with just a bit of help.  In addition, we have been using the classroom library to better find just right readers at school, too.

What is a just right reader?  Just right books help your child find the right reading level and helps make reading more fun.  Students use the five finger test to find that perfect, just right book by:
1)  finding a book they would like to read.
2)  looking at a page in the middle of the book.
3)  putting one finger down for every word they can't read or don't understand.
•  Five fingers down means to search for a different book
•  Fewer than five fingers down means the book is "just right".

This is a new concept for Kindergarteners and we continue to practice it with our just right readers.  Students' fun books will often be more difficult than they can read and that is okay.  Make books that are too tricky books that they can read the pictures in, a read aloud for your family, or a read together book.  This will help your child climb to more advanced reading levels!  The Cottontails are so excited to search for books that they can read all by themselves!  Embrace their confidence and excitement.

In addition, this past week, Luis joined the Cottontails on our most recent trip to the library where he helped children find various Spanish books.  Some Kindergarteners are so enthused by this idea that they are eager to pick a fun Spanish book to peruse at home.  Embrace this desire to build bilingual skills.  I am so proud of how much love this class feels for all books!  Don't forget, this month's ICPL books are due Wednesday, March 26th which will also be the date of our next library field trip.

Sharing our fun books and just right readers.