Lea is becoming increasingly confident with the letters of the alphabet and the sounds they make. As she consolidates this knowledge, she is beginning to apply it to her independent writing. In this activity, Lea sorted the sounds 'c' and 'd' using picture cards in her word study notebook.
Lea worked with a small group to retell the Rapunzel story in two different ways. She thinks this is an example of her best work because: "I liked being Rapunzel and I did a good job of acting." Ms. Alison agreed that these activities are examples of Lea's best work because she supported her group in remembering details about the story as they rehearsed their dramatic performance.
As emergent writers, we are always taking risks in writing. We are experimenting with sounds and letter formations, as well as pencil grip and different writing tools. As the year continues we are learning to make more and more letter and sound connections to express our ideas through writing. In our journals we do our best to add labels, descriptions, or short stories to our drawings. We also participate in free writing sessions where we write whatever we want for one to two minutes and use the writing centre and class mailbox to communicate through writing during free play.
Here is a video of Lea sounding out the words she wants to write and forming the letters she hears to express herself in her journal:
Her journal and free writing work reflect these skills and knowledge:
Lea demonstrated how knowledgeable she is about letter sounds and formations when she collaborated with Zoe to write a letter. She helped Zoe write some of the letters she needed to communicate her message. This example also demonstrates Lea's ability to be cooperative.
In K1AC, we love the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. Students often ask for the story to be re-read and it is always a popular choice for independent reading.
Last week Lea selected this book to read to her Grade 2 buddies after they shared some of their writing with her. The video below demonstrates Lea's development as an emergent reader as she practices "memorized reading" using her memory of the story, beginning concept of word and print, and the illustrations as prompts.
We read a book called "And Here's To You" by David Elliott, which talked about all of the things the author loves. We had a discussion about the things we love and recorded our ideas with words, drawings, and voices.
Lea chose this piece for her portfolio because: "I gave it to my Auntie and she liked it and she put it in her room and she saved it for the whole family."