Words have letters.
Sentences have words.
We have been reading books about Fall and leaves. The children have been representing leaves during choice, finding leaves in the natural world, and writing their own little books about leaves. Connecting our work with leaves to our work during Fundations, I wrote four sentences on large chart paper, providing specific colors and illustrations. I shared the sentences with the children.
I see a red leaf.
I see a brown leaf.
I see a yellow leaf.
I see leaves.
We talked about what a sentence is and what many children already know about sentences. A sentence has words and starts with an uppercase (or BIG) letter. A sentence ends with punctuation, these sentences end with a period. The children noticed what was the same and different about the sentences. They found the letters we've been learning. We then read the sentences together, carefully pointing to each word as we read.
Another way we learn about sentences in Kindergarten is building sentences. Following our choral reading, I invited children to gather on the edge of our oval rug. I shared that every Kindergartener will get a sentence strip; I see a red leaf.
We pointed to and read the small sentence strip. I modeled cutting around each word and placing the words on the rug in front of me - my workspace. It's important to keep your workspace organized, your tools together and your scraps in a small pile. We talked about how I checked my work, rereading the words in my sentence.
With their own workspaces organized, the children cut around each word, carefully not cutting any of the letters off. Putting the words back in order, they had to check their work - pointing to and reading each word in the sentence. With their sentences in order, the Kindergarteners then carefully glued the words along the bottom of their blank canvas - ensuring that there was space for their illustration and that, once again, the words were in order. Does your sentence make sense? Readers and writers always go back and reread or check their work!
There were so many parts to this experience, so many important layers. There was new language. There was a connection to all of the foundational work that has been - and continues to be - put in place. The expert in cutting and gluing, may need more support in the building or reading of their sentence. The child reading fluently, may need support in keeping an organized work space. Or the child reading fluently, may need the reminder to work carefully and slowly, as they have accidentally cut off letters and now their sentence doesn't make sense.
Later in the day, children had the opportunity to draw an illustration for their work. Some children referenced our book Ish from weeks ago, noticing their leaf looked leaf-ish! We talked about lines, how leaves are a collection of different kinds of lines. We reread our sentence AGAIN, recognizing that there should only be ONE red leaf on their canvas. Following the direction was another important part of this experience. The Kindergarteners were brave, as many said they couldn't draw leaves. One child referenced a leaf book from earlier in the day, examining the illustrations before creating his own. Another child talked about the curve of the line around the leaf. Cindy offered the strategy of first tracing with your pointer finger and then using your black art pen, providing practice.
What would be a follow up lesson? Where do you go with this? What do you do with all of their amazing and beautiful work?
I plan to display their leaf work. I have put much of the children's representational work into books this year, but I believe it would be important for our larger community to see the value in building sentences. The idea that you can construct a sentence is just as important as the act of conventional writing. How empowering for a child to say, I built a sentence today. I read, built and illustrated a sentence.
Next week, I would like to reread our sentence chart. Perhaps recognizing more words. We can add these words to a little list or library, a collection of words the children are learning or know. Some classrooms use a word wall, but I find that classrooms become overwhelming with such full walls and I question what children are actually getting from the many posters and charts displayed in their room. Following the rereading of the sentences, I would like to present another sentence strip to cut and build. But, this time, the words will not be in order.
I see brown a leaf.
Oh no! The sentence doesn't make sense. What do we need to do? What order do the words have to go in?
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