Composing Literacy Photo Journal Entries Using Language Youve
Learned in EDC424
Slide 2
Materials **and** Activities in Literacy Rich Environments
MATERIALS (to passively view) Alphabet and phonics reminders
Posters with directions, schedules, and tips Labels
(words/pictures/symbols) Books in bins for leveled guided reading
and independent reading (fiction and non-fiction) Author of the
month book bins Comprehension strategy charts and reminders Student
Work Display Guided reading table Writing journals Literacy center
task organizer Job charts Computer center ACTIVITIES *** (to
actively use) Meeting center with weather, calendar, numbers to
manipulate Listening Center Interactive writing activities
(students hold the markers) Easel with poems/laminated big books to
write on, circle, etc. Poetry corner with sentence strips to
assemble poems Word study centers and pocket charts with cards to
move around Writing/editing center with range of writing tools,
paper, purposes Reading/spelling/phonics games to play Comfy space
to lounge & read Puppets with books to act out the dialogue
Using humor, Socializing/Sharing
Slide 3
How are these more engaging than a static word wall or a
phonics poster? What interactive materials might be substituted for
more static materials?
Slide 4
How are these more motivating than a motivational poster? How
do these materials leave space for and encourage reading and
spelling development over the year?
Slide 5
An engaging writing center compared to a poster of prompts
Slide 6
Why is this appropriate for Kindergartners? What does the
teacher know about Kindergarten learners?
Slide 7
Purpose vs. Why this activity? Purpose: What is the literacy
objective here? What is this activity or structure designed to
foster or develop? (use key terms) Which of the 5 key literacy
components are addressed with this activity? (phonemic awareness,
phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension) is there balance
across these? Why this activity???? (use 424 language to show what
youve learned) How did the teacher organize/display/explain it to
make accessible, interactive, and engaging for this particular age
group? (pictures, letters, words, labels/stickers, easy access to
students, manipulatives, inviting, choice) What stage of reading
(emergent, beginning, transitional, intermediate, advanced) or
spelling/writing (emergent, letter-name alphabetic, within word,
syllables & affixes, derivational) does this activity address
and how do you know? Why is this appropriate for this grade level?
What skills are most readers and writers developing at this age?
Use language youve learned in 424 (high frequency words,
directionality, word sorts, fluency, onset-rime, reading
strategies, short and long vowels, etc.)
Slide 8
Alphabet Center (Kindergarten) Why? (before 424) The teacher
can use this activity to engage students in recognizing letters. It
is a fun way for students to learn. Why? (424 language) Recognizing
letters is an important process for beginning readers in the
letter-name alphabetic stage of spelling. This activity lets them
be actively involved in developing an understanding of letter/sound
relationships, initial consonant sounds, and spelling one-syllable
words. Purpose: This activity builds phonemic awareness &
phonics skills by asking children to sort pictures by their initial
sounds and then link to letters that form the word. Different
activities could be designed, depending on level of child and skill
being taught.
Slide 9
Interest Boards on Columns in Kindergarten Purpose: This board
displays students emerging progress as writers of nonfiction while
building vocabulary and background knowledge. Each student wrote
their own name, drew their column, and dictated a fact about their
column that was written down by the teacher.
Slide 10
Blakes Photo & Writing About Columns Why? (before 424) This
activity encourages students interest in a new topic and helps them
create sentences about their pictures to interpret the meaning
behind it. Why (424 language & noticing the message portrayed)
This activity celebrates learning and encourages emergent readers
and writers by focusing on their interests and the things they can
do (draw pictures, write their name, use invented spelling to write
single words, explain their picture in words) and then connects
these skills to later developmental skills like writing complete
sentences to tell a story.
Slide 11
Themed letter word wall (K) Purpose: The poster introduces and
exposes students to new vocabulary that they came up with
themselves. Why? (before 424) This word wall helps readers organize
new words by the first letter and gives them a place to look to
know how to spell the word. (Remember to spell correctly as a
teacher!) Why? (424 language) Students learn beginning letter/sound
correspondence, the concepts of upper/lowercase letters, and each
word is illustrated by a picture to help with word recognition all
which are appropriate for emergent level readers and writers.
Slide 12
Now its your turn. Open your assigned file. Work with your
partners to revise each purpose statement. Underline 423/424
Language. Then, draft a response to Why this Activity?
Slide 13
Slide 14
Weather Chart (Kindergarten) Why? (before 424) Instead of
telling the teacher what day it is, students can read the words and
move the arrows. They can use the pictures to learn the weather
words. Why? (with 424 language) This activity is appropriate for
emergent readers, who can use the picture cues to help connect the
pictures to the printed weather word. The moveable arrows also
enable kindergartners who like to be active to manipulate the
poster and assume control of lining up the arrow with the
appropriate weather symbol. Then, they can practice reading the
corresponding weather word to build vocabulary, even if they can
not yet decode the word.
Slide 15
Onset-rime Chart (all, me, see) Kindergarten Why? (before 424)
Students can refer to this chart and use these words for future
writing and reading. It also reminds students about onset and rime.
Why? (with 424 language) Onset- rime activities help beginning
readers see patterns across many words and helps them understand
how to build new words using similar rimes (or word families). The
words also use initial consonants, initial consonant blends, and
different ways to spell the same sound (e and ee) to help beginning
readers with early within-word spelling and beginning reading
skills.
Slide 16
Leveled Book Baskets Why? (before 424) Leveled readers are
beneficial because students can read easier books to build
confidence and fluency, or challenge themselves with more advanced
books. Why (424 language & noticing how organized) The teacher
not only uses the baskets to separate the book levels, but because
this is a kindergarten class with many students in the emergent
stage of reading, she labels the baskets with tags that include
both the level in words/phrases and colored stickers. This helps
students who can not read whole words to find their books, see the
increasing difficulty by color, and connect the sticker symbols to
the actual spelled out phrase of Reading level B rather than just
the letter. In this way, the teacher provides an age-appropriate
way to challenge emergent readers while also organizing books to
read.
Slide 17
Morning Message Kindergarten
Slide 18
Morning Message Why? (before 424) Morning message is an
important daily routine that teaches many important literacy
concepts and skills. Why? (424 language) The predictable routines
in these sentences helps develop emergent literacy skills because
the structure of the message does not change, only the smaller
pieces. This activity is an example of interactive writing support
for kindergarteners because students have a real role in filling in
blanks, hearing individual sounds, and picking out familiar words.
After the pieces are filled in, the whole class readers the message
while the teacher points to the individual words. This promotes
left-to-right directionality, tracking, and one-to-one
correspondence. Students can also experiment with new vocabulary by
adding different adjectives to describe the kind of day they hope
to have or see how reading can be connected to math.
Slide 19
Slide 20
Last part of Photo Journal Your Vision and Ideas for
Improvement Are all five literacy components represented equally?
What about authentic writing, motivation, comfort level, and fun?
Are the materials static reminders or do they actively invite and
engage students in real reading and writing purposes?
Slide 21
HOMEWORK Work on Literacy Photo Journal Assignment Bring
questions you have about WTW Chapter 6 and Within-Word Patterns
well review key concepts next class