I'm a little behind in posting this. This post is about the 3rd week of school. This was the first week that we had our full groups for each class everyday. We also started our formal alphabet instruction this week. I've read a lot over the years about whether to teach the letters in order or not and the research is fairly mixed. Some people say it's better to teach the letters in order, while other experts say it isn't. Taken this research into consideration, plus using what I've seen in my 12 years of teaching, I take the approach to teach the alphabet letters in order - at least at the start. I find that many students start school with little or no awareness of the alphabet. They don't know what letters are or that there's even an order. I have found that a stronger foundation is built if we begin with the basics. For students who do come with some knowledge of the alphabet, a review of the basics tends to strengthen their alphabet awareness and allow them to develop deeper skills. So we started with the letter Aa. We learn both uppercase, lowercase, the sound, and how to write it at the same time. We sing songs and chants about the letter, talk about words and names that start with that letter, practice recognizing it around the classroom, and practice writing both forms of the letter. We will do this with all 26 letters in order (usually runs into January), then we go back through the entire alphabet but in random order, and move a little more quickly. In November/December, we start assessing individual students to see how their alphabet knowledge is progressing. If students are struggling to grow, we will provide extra alphabet activities for those students in addition to continuing our regular instruction. Students who are showing excellent growth with alphabet awareness, still participate in our whole group letter practice, however they may have alternate activities to work on at certain times to extend their thinking.
Other highlights from this week include a fire drill. We didn't use the real alarm for the first drill. There will be another drill later in October, where students will hear the sound of the alarm. One thing that this group of students did an amazing job with was the attendance when we arrived out our class meeting spot. Way to go!
In math, we continued exploring colour patterns. Students are really starting to get the hang of these!
Other highlights from this week include a fire drill. We didn't use the real alarm for the first drill. There will be another drill later in October, where students will hear the sound of the alarm. One thing that this group of students did an amazing job with was the attendance when we arrived out our class meeting spot. Way to go!
In math, we continued exploring colour patterns. Students are really starting to get the hang of these!