For the majority of this year I have had a fortnightly themes, such as the zoo, magical creatures, dinosaurs (just to name a few). With each theme I have selected different texts to use as our L3 Procedure Three texts, as well as supplementary texts for students to read independently or to be read as Procedure One texts. Our literacy centres have been loosely based on theses theme and where possible I incorporate the weekly theme into other KLAs. I have absolutely loved using this structure in my classroom. Following a theme has allowed my students to really immerse themselves in a topic. The whole class focus on a particular theme has also seen a deeper understanding when it comes to topic specific vocabulary, which is particularly noticeable in their writing.
I have had (and continue to have) many struggles with implementing L3 in my classroom. It's a teething process with endless ways of doing things, however I can without a doubt see the value of the P3 reading process. This term I have slightly diverted from my theme focus to a text focus. Instead of focussing on an overarching theme and selecting texts in response to that theme I am now selecting a text and basing our literacy centres and supplementary texts on our main focus text.
As this week was the first week back I decided to use quite a simple text from a much loved author in our classroom, Oliver Jeffers. How to Catch a Star is the story of a little boy who would like to catch a star so that he can befriend it. There is little detail as to why the boy would like to be friends with a star and this became quite the unintentional topic of conversation between my students.
I have included my read aloud plan for the text below, with a brief writing focus following each read. In the Procedure Two section I often go back and add additional words and phrases that I explained whilst reading. Once I have a brief overview of a writing task I use a very basic 'fill in as you go' planner for individual writing goals, whole group goals and targeted students who work with me at the jellybean table.
One of my main goals this term is to allow my students more time to develop a piece of writing and see their work through to the publishing stage. With this in mind I complete a Procedure One read on Monday, Procedure Two read on Tuesday and a procedure three read on Wednesday- following which my students complete their first draft of text related writing. Thursday and Friday are for editing and publishing. I used a great resource by Kickin' It In Kindergarten for the first two writing tasks (Find it here on TPT).
Along with our P3 read I based our literacy centres for the week loosely around the text. Each 'can do' activity included in our morning centres related to either the text or space. These activities are allocated to groups based on learning preferences and skill levels. My planning template below gives a brief overview of the activities that are placed in each groups tub along with their 'must do's'.
Some of our activities included:
1. Design your own spaceship (this was a favourite by far)
2. Space Syllables from Fairy Poppins (here)
3. Space Invaders digraphs from Fun in First (here)
4. Researching moon facts using the iPads
My little people have written some fantastic stories about the little boy from the story going on a trip to the moon. They are currently in the editing phase and I am hoping we will reach the publishing stage on Monday. So far I am loving the new rich text focus and I can definitely see it reflected in the quality of my students work, particularly considering it's the first week back after the holidays.
Oh, and don't forget to check out my 'How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers' pin-board on Pinterest (here).
Happy Friday!
Beck xx
