[LM_NET] HIT: ELEM KG Lesson Ideas

[Angie Woodson <librarypup@GMAIL.COM>]

So sorry it has taken me so long to post a HIT.  We just returned from
spring break this week and I think my head is still in Florida.
Thanks to all for the great responses.  I read some folktales this
week and the kids loved them!  Here is my original request and
responses are listed below:

Hi all!  This is my third year with kindergarten in the building.
Each year I have gotten better and better with their lessons.  So far
this year we have covered library rules/procedures, book care,
letters, shapes, colors, numbers, opposites, rhyming, position words.
We've also read books relating to the major holidays and covered such
authors as Dr. Seuss, Bill Martin, Helen Lester, Kevin Henkes, David
Shannon, Bernard Waber, Mo Willems, Audrey Wood, Don Freeman, Maurice
Sendak, Robert Munsch and Laura Numeroff.  Now that the year is coming
to an end, I find myself losing steam with my lessons.  I checked the
archives but wasn't very successful in finding ideas for kindergarten
lessons.  Can any of you provide me with some inspiration?  I'm
staring down at a long six weeks with these little guys and not a
whole lot planned.

_________________________________________________

Angie, a few years ago when I was teaching in an elementary school, I
used this article as a basis for a great unit with my kindergarten
classes. It did take a few weeks but it was really worth it. I had
students do a lot of research using pictures from Ranger Rick and
other magazines. I still remember one student whose job it was to
verify his idea that bears eat fish. He found a picture of a bear with
a fish in it's mouth and practically jumped on the table yelling Mrs.
Daniels, look, look, Bears eat fish!
 I saw this presentation at AASL in Pittsburgh, they also published it in:
Knowledge Quest Nov/Dec2004, Vol. 33 Issue 2, p40-44, 3p

_________________________________________________

You've probably already done this. My kids enjoyed bring your favorite
teddy to school day. I did the same.
We read Where's My Teddy and Brown, Bear, Brown Bear to our teddies.
After, we had a teddy bear picnic. I served Golden Grahams and juice
and played the Teddy Bears picnic on the cd player while they enjoyed
their snacks.

I also did a dinosaur unit borrowing materials from the nearby science
museum. We read various dinosaur books and explored the exhibits.
Then, I handed out dinosaur books to color (printed from Enchanted
Learning?? something Learning online).

_________________________________________________


What is your state curriculum for Kindergarten? What are they working
on class? I always design my lessons as an extension of the themes
they are working on that particular week.

_________________________________________________


you could do a lesson about the difference between historical fiction
and history/fictiojn, you could do biographies of famosu people let
each student pick their own and read it then give a presentation or
jsut talk aobut some things they liked. One of my favorite activities
which is described by Terry Lesesne is to get several non-fiction
sources all on the same topic have the student work in groups and read
them then create a chart and outline what the sources agree o0n, what
they disagree on, and what seems to be coming completely out of left
field. it's a great way to teach students about comparing soruces and
it's fun. You can write to the author/publisher and ask them about the
suspicious info if you like. Good luck,

_________________________________________________


Have you thought about introducing poetry (April) and non-fiction
(science, history, etc.)/biographies?  I've got some great picture
books in all the genres, and that's what I'm going to be working on
after our spring break.  Next year they will be first graders, and
able to check out in sections besides the easy section.....very
exciting.

_________________________________________________


My students LOVED doing book repairs.  It was messy, but well worth
the effort.  I covered the tables with newspaper.  They each had a
paintbrush and book glue in a smaller container. I showed them how to
reglue the spines, and then hold them with rubber bands until dried.
They did a great job, and really did a lot of repairs.

I also do powerpoints on the history of libraries, types of libraries,
history of the alphabet, etc.

_________________________________________________


I'm sending you a link to a gold mine!  I used to teach in VA where I
started my masters in LIS and found this site when I was clicking
around looking for something.  Enjoy it! There are 22 lessons for KG!
 I used several lessons for all grades in elementary school where I
was before I came here....love the cross reference to Library Info
Skills!

http://hanover.k12.va.us/instruction/media/LessonPlanBook.htm

_________________________________________________


Have each student make an ABC page for a class book, that usually
takes a lesson or two.

_________________________________________________


Have you covered how books are shelved in the library?  Abc order by
author's last name?  I like to do this with them: MY name is Mrs.
Jones.  If I write a book with cool pictures and a story where would
my book be shelved?  Then each child does their book.  Also, comparing
fiction/nonfiction is good as you teach them about the features of
nonfiction.  I read Bear Snores On, discussed how we knew it was a
made up story (bears don't do that).  Next time I told them we were
going to read an easy nonfiction book about bears.  This book would
teach us stuff about bears.  I did a modified KWL chart.  WHat do you
know about bears?  What do you want to know?  Look at Table of
Contents and Index and see if we can find the answer in this book.
Then read book, then ask them each to tell you one new thing they
learned about bears.  Something like that.  You can do this with other
fiction/nonfiction pairings.

_________________________________________________


folktales!   I use some of the classics (3 billy goats gruff, 3 bears,
etc) and mix with other world cultures (Head  Body Legs, native
american, asian) - we graph out similar themes (hero, bad guy, magic,
happy ending, etc) - can last for weeks!

_________________________________________________


One big hit with my kindergartners is learning the parts of a book (spine,
front and back covers, etc.) and then playing Simon Says ("simon says show
me the front cover," and so on).  The kids love it and it's a great way to
make sure they never forget what the spine is.  Good luck,

_________________________________________________


How about F vs NF, parts of a book, or a unit on familiar fairytales.
Have you taught Mother Goose Rhymes?  Perhaps you might want to do a
different color each week, and find a story, activity, and bookmarks
to go with that color?  do you have access to a lab?  It would be fun
to have them do a class book and/or create a multimedia show.
Counting books, alphabet books, or concept books are all things the
kids could create as a group.  Good luck!

_________________________________________________


I do nursery rhymes all year long. You would be surprised how many
they don’t know!
Also, they are almost 1st graders so you can do ABC order and talk
about how the books are arranged and read a lot of Alphabet books in
the process. They will love to dance to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom if you
have it. I also use Alphabet Mystery by Audrey Wood and Matthew ABC by
Catalanotto

_________________________________________________


Hanover County library media specialists have created lesson plans to
complement the National Information Literacy Standards and the
Virginia Standards of Learning. The lesson plans are in PDF and Word
formats.

http://hcps2.hanover.k12.va.us/instruction/media/LessonPlanBook.htm

The library media specialists of Hanover County have created a
curriculum guide for teaching the National Literacy Standards in
conjunction with the Virginia Standards of Learning. The guide is
divided by grade levels, National Literacy Standards strands from
Information Power, and literacy skills teaching objectives. Hanover
County librarians have also developed a checklist of information
literacy objectives for each grade level.
http://hcps2.hanover.k12.va.us/instruction/media/librarycurriculum.pdf

_________________________________________________


For April I am doing poetry with all the classes.  Kinder can read silly
poems,learn rhyming hand claps, jump rope songs, etc.  Anything that
rhymes!    I also show Reading rainbow videos those last couple of weeks
when they can't check out.  Let them lay on the floor and relax (you
too!)

_________________________________________________


We've done most of the authors you've mentioned...we're going do the
remaining six weeks with folk tales / fairy tales of all the different
countries...throw in some storytelling. Teach the kids to tell some of
the easier stories...tape and give the DVDs to parents.

_________________________________________________


I do a beginner alphabetical order lesson for K at the end of the year.
I label each of the kids with a postit or index card that shows the
first letter of their first name.
We sing the alphabet song together and they pop up when we say "their letter".
The next week we sing the alphabet song while I quickly touch each
shelf of the picture book section. I have them labeled with large
signage.
Sometimes at the end of K, though usually at the beginning of first, I
label them with the first letter of their last name and they line up
in order as we slowly sing the alphabet.
Kids with the same letter tie, unless they've done some alpha order
work in the classroom, in which case we look at the second or third
letter of their name.

_________________________________________________


Why not combine some of what you already have done:
review rhyming and write a class poem; review colors and do a color
wheel with favorite titles in some of the colors; pick  your favorite
book this year and draw a picture about it; have student vote on their
 favorite stories you have read and reread them;do a memory booklet
and have them fill in pages (two or three) of what they have learned
this year, then decorate them an dat the last class you can give them
back to them witha certificate : Great Job Look at What You  Have
Learned This Year!!.
If you have any pictures of the year with the students in them, make
copies and add to the certificate or booklet.

_________________________________________________


You can do gardens!  Make paper flowers, read about seeds, start an
orchard made of blocks, do apple printing, read spring titles, read farm
titles (Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens is great! And Harvey Potter's
Balloon Farm by Jerdine Nolen is always at hit: I ask them what kind of
farm would you like?), then go to the beach and read summer titles the
last couple of weeks.  You can bring in some sand table activites, read
Harry by the Sea by Gene Zion, get out the sunglasses and shells, you
can do shell rubbings on paper with crayons and hula dance!
I am doing joke books in April and they love being the joke teller and
audience.  Also, poetry month is in April and kindergarten lOVES
rhyming.  Sing "Over in the Meadow" by Langstaff and have the adequate
number of animals from the book and you can do a physical graph of them
and add them up to find out how many animals in all are in the book.

_________________________________________________


mother goose and folk and fairy tales

_________________________________________________


I just ask them what they are teaching and I try to find books that
relate to what they are teaching.
Because kindergarten studies eggs, I'm going to incubate duck eggs and
let the whole school watch and learn. It takes 21 days for the eggs to
hatch so we will have kids coming in everyday learning about them.

_________________________________________________


Here are some ideas from the book I consult: Library Skills Survival
Guide (created by Librarians in the district next to ours)
(under sub tab: Kindergarten)

1.       Processing information
a.       Since you’ve covered so many books already… you could do an
activity where the kids vote on whether characters or stories are real
or could be real vs. imaginary/make believe.
b.      You could make a pocket chart for that or devise something
where they could see the book covers and make piles or have two large
pockets…

2.       Identifying who created the book
a.       what are the different name for authors and illustrators?
(ie: text by, story by, etc.)
b.      understand difference between author and illustrator
                                                               i.
 give them simple text on a page and they have to draw a picture
                                                             ii.
give them a picture and they have to tell what is happening

3.       Laying foundation for information gathering:
a.       Share a non fiction story or just part of the story and
create a web of ideas that they heard while you were reading
b.      Draw a simple picture and label it with the information (ie:
bird, parts of the bird etc.)
c.       Use the What i know, what I want to learn and what I learned format.

4.       This is for grade one but if you’re at the end of the year,
the K’s might like to do it: Similarities and differences
a.       Read two versions of the same story (fairy tales have lots of versions)
                                                               i.
Children make two lists: same and different, discuss.
b.      Compare Eric carle’s House for hermit crab and Is this a house
for Hermit Crab? (Megan McDonald), try a Venn diagram to illustrate
the comparision.

5.       ABC books are great for kindergarten, also 100th day, etc.,
do you have the means to project a seek and find book illustration?
The ones where illustrators have hidden letters or animals in their
work are very exciting.

_________________________________________________



-- 
Angie Woodson
Media Specialist
Van Buren and Central Elementary
Plainfield, IN 46168
librarypup@gmail.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law.
  You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings
  by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book.
To change your LM_NET status, you send a message to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu
In the message write EITHER:
1) SIGNOFF LM_NET
2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL
3) SET LM_NET MAIL
4) SET LM_NET DIGEST

 * LM_NET Help & Information: http://lmnet.wordpress.com/
 * LM_NET Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/
 * EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://lm-net.info/join.html
 * LM_NET Supporters: http://lmnet.wordpress.com/category/links/el-announce/
 * LM_NET Wiki: http://lmnet.wikispaces.com/

--------------------------------------------------------------------