Morning Meeting
After a period of silent reading, the class meets together on the rug. This time is a truly special part of the day for the class: Mrs. Berry brings out her guitar and we sing different songs and read poems. While on the surface they serve as a way to engage the students' interest and build our community, they also serve several other much deeper purposes as well: The reading of the lyrics as we sing encourages fluency; movements we act out to the lyrics build motor skills; soliciting rhymes from students builds phonemic awareness; and singing aloud together helps build confidence performing in front of others, as well as in speaking aloud.
Student Favorites:
-How Much Wood Can a Woodchuck Chuck?
-The Cat Song
-5 Green and Speckled Frogs
-The Frog Song (Japanese)
-Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes (English, Spanish, Arabic, and Japanese)
Student Favorites:
-How Much Wood Can a Woodchuck Chuck?
-The Cat Song
-5 Green and Speckled Frogs
-The Frog Song (Japanese)
-Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes (English, Spanish, Arabic, and Japanese)
Schedule
Once the singing and poetry reading is over, we go over our schedule for the day together. We point out each event as we stick it to the schedule board so students get both an audial and visual view of the day. Going over the schedule is very important: It not only helps establish a predictable routine on which students can rely, but it also serves to reassure those who might be uncomfortable not knowing when certain events will pop up during the day.