Life as a Super Reader Continues

I'm really not sure what was going on last year during this reading unit, but it was simply not this good.  Our kindergarten team has worked hard to brainstorm the best possible ways to deliver these lessons. And we're doing well! 

Our class has continued to find mysterious packages left by Spiderman. Sometimes they're delivered by other staff members who "just saw a flash of red while the package was tossed in their direction," sometimes they're left by our book basket, sometimes they're hidden partially behind the SMARTboard... but however they get to us, the kiddos are always super pumped!

You'll recall from my last post that we got Pointer Power. Since then, we've learned about Picture Power, Snap Word Power, Partner Power, Reread Power, and how all of our powers combined make us the best readers possible. Check out some of the photos from these great lessons, along with a little explanation of each:

PICTURE POWER:

Students were reminded that they need to search pictures in books carefully for clues about what the words might say.  Spiderman left us a class set of Highlights Hidden Pictures for students to look closely throughout the picture for things they might not notice at first glance.

SNAP WORD POWER:

Students were given POP ROCKS to feel the 'snap' to remind them how quickly they should recognize their sight words.  We practiced pointing to words in a Level A book, making sure we were pointing at the correct words as we said them aloud.  We were able to check our pointing work with the snap words we know, like "the," "a," or "is." If we weren't pointing at the right word as we said it aloud, we knew we needed to try again.

PARTNER POWER:

In this package, Spiderman left us a picture of Batman and Robin, various cards showing important partner pairings (Charlie Brown & Snoopy, Milk & Cookies, Toothbrush & Toothpaste, Peanut Butter & Jelly, Spongebob & Patrick, etc.) and TWO CAPES! We began by discussing Batman & Robin and the importance of having a sidekick. Then I randomly distributed the cards and students found their matches.  This helped open discussion about how partners are much more powerful together! We learned that partners can help each other defeat villain words and have fun in the process.  Now, each reading workshop, the most hardworking partners earn the capes!  

REREAD POWER:

For this power, Spiderman left us a class set of books. When I said, "Wow, Spiderman can write a book, so we can too!" Davarious chimed in, "YEAH! And he didn't even use stick figures for his pictures!" Ha, ha. Good old Spiderman. Author, artist, teacher, ... well-rounded superhero.

Anyway, this set of books was designed based on Mo Willems's Elephant & Piggie book, We are in a Book! If you haven't read it, it's a wonderful book that breaks the third wall. The entire book is a discussion between the characters and the reader, and how hilarious it is that they can get the reader to say anything they want by putting it in the book.  The book ends with the characters asking the reader to read the book again.  I initially thought we could just read this book to get the kids excited about rereading, but it didn't really tie into the superhero theme... why would Spiderman leave us an Elephant and Piggie book? Also, it didn't give the kids something to keep. So, I made one for us using Spiderman and Batman as characters instead of Piggie and Elephant.  Check it out and get your own copy by clicking the picture below:

POWERS COMBINED ARE BEST:

For this lesson, our package only contained one piece of paper. Spiderman left us our very own comic! (FYI: Marvel has an amazing tool that lets you create a comic, that's how I designed this. You can make your own here: Create Your Own Comic).  If you like the one I made, you can print your own by clicking the image below:

Happy reading, Super Readers!