2011+Goal+3

** Goal Statement: Plan and implement fun and interesting activities that focus on developing spoken language. **
B5.1, B5.2, B5.3, B5.4, B7.1, B7.2 || Research different activities that promote oral language and trial them; Look online Ask colleagues Read professional development books || In December/January look online and trial 3 activities, write reflection. In February/March make conscious effort to record discussions/ideas from colleagues, trial 3 activities and write reflection. In April/May use resources from library trial 3 activities and write reflection. ||
 * ** Standard Addressed ** ||  ** Strategies for Implementation **  ||  ** Success Criteria - Evidence **  ||
 * B2.1, B2.2,

__** In December/January look online and trial 3 activities, write reflection. **__
I looked online and found some theatre sports activities, I was originally looking for activities that could be used during the scheduled part of my day that I call "Movement". I found some good activities, that needed modifying for Kindergarten, that would be suitable for both Movement and developing oral language. Once the students became used to the routine of movement, they then began to create their games, with complex rules that they needed to explain to their friends. We have a growing list of movement games that include a large number of student created games.



[] []

__**In February/March make conscious effort to record discussions/ideas from colleagues, trial 3 activities and write reflection**__.
I spoke with my colleagues on a number of times about activities that could help develop spoken language. (1) Janet Claasen suggested using the "photo Library", which is a box of photos of different groups of either objects and places, during my literacy centers. I used this first when we were working on a unit about housing, and the box of photos really helped to develop the students oral language around houses. With this success I have used the other sets of photos to do similar oral language development with the students.

(2) Eileen Knobloch kindly leant me an activities book, //Great Games for Young Children// by Rae Pica, that she bought over the summer. It has fun games for children. I read the book and selected various games to use during my scheduled part of the day that I call "Movement", I chose activities that would help develop oral language.

(3) During a discussion with my team I was inspired to modify my small group reading centers to include more picture walks prior to reading the text. This has been one of my favorite suggestions, particularly for the developing readers who are not only developing their skills of letters and sounds and one to one text matching etc but they are learning a second or third language. These picture walks sometimes take up the whole session because they have been so productive. Picture walks have really helped with developing oral language as well as reading skills.

__** In April/May use resources from library trial 3 activities and write reflection. **__
(1) One of the units in Writing is Story Telling. While reading the Lucy Caulkins Units of Study I was inspired to have the students do more oral story telling. One day I recorded the students telling a story. I then added it to the blog and had the parents listen to it and have the families as a group activity discuss the events of the story and help with adding more details. This was necessary I felt as the stories the children told were very disjointed and difficult to understand. The students returned from holidays and we practiced telling the story to each other and I then recorded the same story, this time the stories had improved greatly. Sequencing, details, staying to one topic all greatly improved. And the students agreed that by reviewing the story, making sure the sequencing was in order, adding details and staying on topic greatly improved their stories. Not only this, it gave them a wonderful opportunity to practice oral story telling. If I were to do it again, I would have changed the order I did some of my lessons, next time I would provide more opportunities, prior to telling the stories, to look at picture books and practice telling the story in those first.

Oral Story telling. Students are practicing the skill of telling stories with details that will interest the audience. Please listen below to our stories. Soon we will revisit our stories and see how we can add more details to our stories. media type="custom" key="8894560" 
 * Excerpts from the class blog**: []
 * First Entry**


 * Email to Parents: 1/19/11 **

Dear Parents,

During December and January, KLL students practiced telling oral stories.

Soon we will revisit our stories and see how we can add more details to help our audience picture the story in their minds, just like a movie, and we want to practice telling the story with a clear beginning, middle and end.

If you have time over the next few weeks, please go over the story with your child several times so they can practice the sequence of events and think about details of the event that would be fun to add to the story. Details may include; who was there, weather, time of year, night or day, their feelings, what it looked like, something funny that happened, or if there was a problem that got solved etc. The aim of this activity is not to memorize the story, but to see how the story can develop and improve once we add specific details and order the events in a logical way. This should be a fun activity where everyone in the family can participate in building the story. http://teachers.saschina.org/llimpisvasti/student-projects/ Scroll down to find your child's story.

We will start recording after Chinese New Year and we will also be practicing in class. I will keep you posted to let you know when we complete the second version.

All the best,

Lindel

Dear Parents,
 * Email to Parents: 2/7/11**

School is back on Wednesday, I hope you have all been having a fun and safe holiday.

I would like to remind you about the home work request I sent out earlier regarding oral story telling:

We have bee practicing telling stories. Your child has recorded a story and soon we will revisit our stories and see how we can add more details to help our audience picture the story in their minds, just like a movie, what we want to practice is telling the story with a clear beginning, middle and end.

Please visit the class blog, listen to your child's story then go over the story with your child several times so they can practice the sequence of events and think about details of the event that would be fun to add to the story. Details may include; who was there, weather, time of year, night or day, their feelings, what it looked like, something funny that happened, or if there was a problem that got solved etc. The aim of this activity is not to memorize the story, but to see how the story can develop and improve once we add specific details and order the events sequentially. This should be a fun activity where everyone in the family can participate in building the story. Click here http://teachers.saschina.org/llimpisvasti/student-projects/ and scroll down to find your child's story.

I am looking forward to hearing the revised stories.

All the best,

Lindel


 * Email to Parents: 3/4/11**

Dear Parents,

What a huge week it has been.

On Wednesday we made strawberry smoothies in class. On Thursday we invited KBE and KLD to the computer labs and we celebrated our story telling and writing abilities. KBE and KLD were very impressed with our oral stories and our written stories. You too can see the updated version of our oral stories on the blog http://teachers.saschina.org/llimpisvasti/student-projects/, along with photos http://teachers.saschina.org/llimpisvasti/photos/. On Thursday we also enjoyed a tour of the PAC and learned about the job responsibilities of the Performing Arts Center Manager. And for your enjoyment we recorded this week's poem "Hickory Dickory Dock" http://teachers.saschina.org/llimpisvasti/poetry-slam/

Wishing you all a lovely weekend,

Lindel

Oral stories Take 2  Recently we have been practicing telling oral stories. We reviewed the oral stories we did earlier and we came up with ways to make them even better, such as; better lighting, speaking louder, adding more details, planning the story so it makes sense and follows a sequence. Please listen to our stories below and see how much we have improved! media type="custom" key="8894552"
 * Second Entry **