Joyful Pathways to Accelerated Literacy

Nellie Edge Blog

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kindergarten - Fun family learning

Summer Learning Fun

September 17, 2016

Summer Learning Fun: Playing in Your Own Back Yard. Parents—consider this an invitation for your child to connect with nature in their own back yard this summer. Happy exploring! N.E.

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Children Discover the Dramatic Power of Their Voices

September 15, 2016

First, introduce nursery rhymes through the age-old tradition of the rhythmic chant, carefully articulating and modeling the rhythm and sounds of the language.

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kinder stars Year-End Celebration

The Kinder Stars Year-End Celebration:

September 15, 2016

With high expectations, we reach for the stars with the lives of our children. The Kinder Stars classroom is set up for the last performance and party of the year.

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End-of-Year Celebrations Bring Closure

September 15, 2016

A hug magically turns children into First Graders: Kindergarten teacher Barbara Sagen gathers the children around her, and together they remember many of the magical things they have shared during the year. On the last day of school, they remember being the “Three Billy Goats Gruff” and other animals and characters from stories…

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games in school

End-of-Year Family Ritual:

September 15, 2016

Parent volunteers trace and cut out a set of wings from railroad board for each child. “After the children paint their wings with bright colors and designs (and sometimes feathers and glitter) we attach two elastic straps to hold these on their arms

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The Heart of Kindergarten:

September 15, 2016

Over the years, my kindergarten colleagues and I have shared many vignettes of memorable classroom rituals, traditions, and celebrations. For us, school has always been a “celebrative place.”

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Accelerate Literacy within a Love of Language

September 15, 2016

Accelerate language and literacy in your classroom with Nellie Edge Read and Sing Big Books™! They are designed to immerse children in meaningful language that has rhythm, rhyme, and repetition. These traditional English and Spanish folk songs and rhymes will build skills and confidence in students at all stages of language and literacy development, from internalizing the sounds and patterns of language to fluent independent reading!

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Invite Parents to Color Big Books and Language Charts

September 15, 2016

Easy Coloring and Laminating Guide for Black and White Big Books. Unless coloring Big Books is therapeutic for you, we encourage you to enlist volunteer help.

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scientific writing

Scientific Writing Begins

September 15, 2016

Scientific Writing Begins With First-Hand Experiences: Observing Nature, Collecting Leaves, Exploring the Poetry of Leaves, and Reading Fiction and Nonfiction to Build Background Information.

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Collecting Leaves

Newsletter Collecting Leaves

September 15, 2016

We began our study of Fall or Autumn this week. We went for a walk around the Lewelling grounds and found many signs of the season. We found red, yellow, orange, brown, gold and purple leaves.

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bird study in kindergarten

Our Bird Study Culminates in a Family Research

September 15, 2016

Children are immersed in bird literature, poetry, songs, dances, and – of course – bird watching. Each child selects a bird to study and goes home with an envelope of books for family research. A week later the children return with a book they have written and illustrated about their special bird.

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Science Literacy and the Kindergarten Child

September 14, 2016

All young children deserve to experience a collection of books that they can enthusiastically sing and read from cover to cover – books that are a part of our shared cultural heritage.

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Give Children “I Can Read” Experiences:

September 13, 2016

All young children deserve to experience a collection of books that they can enthusiastically sing and read from cover to cover – books that are a part of our shared cultural heritage.

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poetry notebook pages

Using “I Can Read” Anthology Notebooks in the Classroom

September 9, 2016

Nothing supports a child as a successful reader, writer and speaker more than a rich storehouse of memorized language. It is this familiarity with the English language that allows the child’s decoding to be error free and their reading to be fluent.

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weather poems

Wondrous Words about the Weather:

September 9, 2016

Wondrous Words about the Weather: A Poetry Ritual. Children love to memorize, recite and perform language from their Poetry Notebooks (a.k.a. I Can Read Anthologies). Consider including the memorable language of the weather as you celebrate language with your children.

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