We have launched our readers and writers workshops!  We have been learning about what it means to be a reader and a writer.  When we begin reading and writing in kindergarten, it is very common to hear the children say “I can’t do it!”  But now, we have learned that we are indeed readers and writers here in kindergarten.  In reading we learned that readers can read in 3 ways: by reading pictures, reading words, or retelling stories.  We talk a lot about the power of pictures in our books and how to look deeply at a picture to notice and talk about all the detail in the picture that adds to the story.  We learned how to choose books that are interesting to us, and how to care for the books.  We can now choose reading spots and are working towards building our stamina to read independently for 10 minutes.  We also learned that we can read books with partners, and share out thinking about the books that we have read.  We are practicing having “book talks,” where we talk about things that we like, notice and wonder about.

In writing, we have learned that good writers write about things they know and love, write with pictures and words, and add details to their writing.  We have talked about the process of writing, where we begin with an idea, draw it out, add labels and words, and then add details to make it even better.  We will be following this process across the year with all of our writing units.

It is so wonderful to now hear the children have confidence in themselves and see themselves as readers and writers.  We love it so much that we complain when our time for reading and writing runs out.