Meaning Matters

written by Lauren Mitsis

A little trip down memory lane…

I don’t remember reading poetry as a child in school. A colleague and I had a good laugh reminiscing over the literacy program used during my childhood reading instruction. I recently saw it with a new launch. It certainly did not contain any poetry or poetic language. Things are different now!

In college I remember sitting at a coffee shop and discussing poetry with friends. I never read poems “for fun” before these coffee shop days. What made me want to read them now?

                   - Fun

                   - Friends

                   - Feelings

What do you think makes your children want to read poetry?

                    - Fun

                    - Friends

                    - Feelings

In today’s classroom, poetry appears throughout the day and the year. Poetry is showcased in students’ writing and read by students during language arts, math, science and social studies.

Poetry is a great source to explore:

            - phonemic awareness

            - rhyme

            - alliteration, assonance, consonance, similies, metaphors and more

            - vocabulary

            - improving vocabulary

            - comprehension strategies

            - making connections to other ideas

Poetry is an effective way to entice reluctant readers to read. As Georgia Heard wrote in Awakening the Heart, “Poetry, like bread, is for everyone… everyone has poetry inside of them.”

Reading poetry makes literacy more easily accessible than reading an entire book. It can be a shorter amount of text and organized in an inviting and more approachable manner. It may already be arranged in “sections” or stanzas.

Teachers help students learn to notice poetry in themselves while speaking or writing. Teachers and peers draw attention to their own poetic language and acknowledge it as such. We notice it in our literature and within other poems we read.

Point of view and inference can be challenging to teach. Poetry invites interpretation. Having a discussion about meaning is engaging and powerful when using poetry.

Poetry happens during:

              Writer’s workshop

              Guided reading

              Shared reading

              Read aloud

Poetry is another great way to gain content information. Reading nonfiction poetry encourages practice in reading informational texts, a critical component in the Common Core Standards. Joseph Brushac is on one of my favorite poets, who writes about native Americans. He’s an amazing storyteller and writer!

3 Easy Ways to incorporate poetry in the classroom

1. Poetry folders- read a poem during read aloud each week and add it to the poetry folder or use poems from shared reading

2. Daily 5- once a week during read to yourself, chose poetry

3. Library- add poetry books to your classroom library

What are some of your favorite poetry books?

Here are some of mine:

 Love that Dog by Sharon Creech

- appeals to upper elementary students

Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman

- fabulous for reader's theater and choral reading

Toasting Marshmallows by Kristene O’Connell George

- amazing for sensory images

Grapes of Math by Greg Tang

- so fun for math concepts and perspective

The Dream Keeper and other Poems by Langston Hughes

Miles of Smiles edited by Bruce Lansky

Click, Rumble, Roar: Poems about Machines selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins

Sometimes I Wonder if Poodles Like Noodles by Laura Numeroff

A Jar of Tiny Stars Poems by NCTE Award Winning Poets

Written by Kim Turgeon

Many years ago an effort was made in the city I teach in to connect the local preschool teachers with the kindergarten teachers and to provide shared professional development. This no longer happens and I now feel somewhat disconnected from the preschool teachers' perspective. I wish that I better understood what was happening in their classrooms and I wish that they had a better understanding of what our kindergarten expectations are.

Preschool children enter kindergarten each having very different preschool learning opportunities. Some students enter with a wealth of academic experiences while others enter with very little or no preschool academic experience. What skills should a kindergartener have when entering school? 

5 Tips For Preparing Children For Kindergarten

1. Phonemic Awareness: It is more important to me that children enter kindergarten with solid phonemic awareness skills, than knowing their letters and sounds. I find it very interesting that over the past 10 years my literacy assessments have shown students scoring higher on letter ID and letter sound assessments and lower on the rhyming assessment and phonological awareness counting. Research has shown a strong correlation between children's phonemic awareness skills and literacy success (http://www.meaning-matters.org/apps/blog/categories/show/1352895-reading?fb_sig_network=fw&fw_sig=19722a7ced88fa48887f85f992894302&fw_sig_access_token=9963aaeed87631b79a487369ed62f9021c42bb5f&fw_sig_api_key=ynwfbf8k2f7dn9jssqvcguxv&fw_sig_is_admin=0&fw_sig_permission_level=0&fw_sig_permissions=none&fw_sig_premium=1&fw_sig_session_key=3903109a6990ed6c0ce6ca02fe07a2626479600c20b624c26bcf068aebc0ec5f-81883776&fw_sig_site=81883776&fw_sig_social=1&fw_sig_tier=0&fw_sig_time=1336955266290&fw_sig_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.meaning-matters.org%2F&page=3). When children have solid phonemic awareness, learning letters in kindergarten comes quickly.
2. Fine Motor Skills: Please provide many opportunities for children to develop their fine motor strength. There is a program called the Fine Motor Olympics that provides game like activities that develop fine motor skills. It is fabulous! http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/Panfilo-63333-Fine-Motor-Olympics-Hand-Function-Writing-Qualifications-olym-Education-ppt-powerpoint/.  If you are going to have children write, please encourage them to write top to bottom. There is so much debate about starting handwriting in preschool. I have to say, I have come full circle on my thinking in this area; children are writing earlier and earlier and they are developing bad habits that are challenging to break. Once a child develops an improper pencil grip and bottom top stroke for forming letters, it is very challenging to correct. Gentle reminders and activities that reinforce top to bottom pencil strokes are appropriate in preschool and put beginning writers at an advantage.
3. Vocabulary: Vocabulary and comprehension are two critical components necessary for reading. Children with weak vocabulary and comprehension skills are at a disadvantage with regard to possessing critical reading foundation skills from the start (Gillam & Johnston, 1985; Roskos, Tabors, & Lenhart, 2004; Snow et al., 1998). Choose rich literature to share for read alouds. Using sophisticated storybooks is one of the best opportunities for young children to learn vocabulary and complex sentence structures needed for competent oral language use. With multiple readings, children have many valuable opportunities to learn unfamiliar words in the context of language.
4. Count, Count, Count!! (This one does not pertain to literacy...but I had to include it): Children need to count much more than we have been providing them opportunities to do. After being trained in Kathy Richardson's math assessment and instruction, I realize many children are getting the "right answers" but do not have a true understanding of key math concepts. Often we see counting as a very basic skill and do not allow children the time develop good number sense and the ability to subitize.
5. Provide a Print Rich Environment: Don't worry about children learning to read independently. Do provide an environment that is print rich. Simple changes in the classroom environment can make a world of difference. When you write children's names, write them with the first letter capital and the other letters lowercase.  Put labels up around your room or even home (i.e. sink, library, piano, blocks). Put copies of songs and chants on chart paper for children to see as you sing.

With the Common Core and Race to The Top initiatives, I assume preschool teachers wonder how kindergarten curriculum is changing. Kindergarten has evolved from being a pure time for play and socialization to more structured lessons in reading, writing and arithmetic, but as the Gesell Institute for Human Development states: Kindergarten has changed, but children haven’t. We can build foundational skills in developmentally appropriate ways.  

To make meaning when reading, students need active accurate recognition of words so they can focus on deeper understanding. How do you build this recognition? Using, building, noticing, and playing with words!

Students need:

1. Exposure to words within context during:

- Read aloud, shared reading, guided reading

- Poetry

- Songs

- Shared writing, journal writing, story telling, writer’s workshop

2. Opportunities to practice manipulating letters and sounds

- Using manipulatives such as letter tiles, clothes pins, plastic eggs, unfix cubes, and milk/ juice covers

- Sensory opportunities such as writing in sand, painting with in a sealed ziplock bag, or writing on pieces of large sandpaper with your fingers

Teachers and students draw attention to word patterns, rhyming words, words that sound the same but are spelled differently, and words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently.

What could words with friends look like?

Got eggs?

This is a fun fine motor and word study activity. Put onsets on one side and rimes of the other side of the egg. Students twist/ turn the egg pieces and say the words they make. This activity is easily differentiated by using specific colors for various levels of difficulty or specific colors for particular word patterns/ rimes.

Surprise Inside

For eggstra fun, add letters inside the egg that are written on individual pieces of paper. Students build words that focus on a similiar word study pattern, similar to the rimes on the outside of the egg.

Clothes Pins

Clothes pins are an easily adaptable manipulative. Write vowels on both sides but hold the clothes pins in both directions so students can clip in different directions. Then the letters will appear with the correct alignment.

Making Words adapted

Donald Bear is the leader in Making Words. To have students explore a specific set of words, you can create a list of words that you'd like students to build. For example, build an. Now make man. Build am. Now make aim.

Got Milk?

Using milk or juice lids is an easy way to create inexpensive letter tiles. It's also a nice way to send home a lettter/ word sort and not worry about letters getting lost. Write one letter on each lid and your students can create rhymes, change words by adding or deleting letters, and build new words.

What are some ways your students or children like to play with words?