Puppy Pallooza!

I am so excited about this unit! I am really focusing in on sight words and really developing my little readers this month.  I wanted to make it interesting, engaging and fun for my kids. So, I bought each child a puppy puppet.  I then decorated the classroom with puppy pictures and I wrote a message to my students on the white board that said we would each be adopting a new friend. Once we read the message, the kids were full of questions. I think they thought we were going to get a class pet. I even had one child ask if I had bought them a fish! 
I had them close their eyes and my educational assistant and I placed the puppies all over the carpet. The children opened their eyes and I could tell they were excited! 
I went on to explain that these puppies were VERY special and they could only be fed a special way because these puppies are a very special breed. They are WORD puppies and you can only feed them by reading sight words to them and by reading books. The kids were intrigued and believed (or played along).  
I gave each child a strip of manila paper (their collar) to decorate and print their puppies name on it. I said I would laminate the collars and then we would put them on their puppies the next day. After the collars, all the children brought their puppies to the carpet and I read them the story, Rocket Learns to Read by Tad Hills. This story fits in GREAT! 
I also filled our bookshelf with various dog themed stories.

Our list of Learning Targets 

The story that fits in perfectly! 

Reading to our puppies, which "feeds" them! 

Puppy tucked into a chair pocket

My principal came in and watched the whole lesson. She really enjoyed it and said it was wonderful to see how engaged the children were and it was so nice to see that even after almost 20 years of teaching,  I was just as excited about it all as the kids were and she could tell. 
I also told the children that they had to earn the right to adopt and keep their puppy for forever. When the kids heard that, they instantly wanted to know how to earn the right to take their puppy home. So that's when I brought out the LEARNING TARGETS for this whole "project." I read the targets to the children and asked them if they think they would be able to meet those targets? All of the children agreed and want to work hard to earn the right to take their puppy home. Right now all the puppies have to stay at school in each child's chair pocket. The children hug and kiss their puppies at the end of the day and tuck them into their chair pockets. It is so adorable!
Coming up we will have Puppy centres! I will add photos of this next time! This is so fun!

Discovery!

My kids have suddenly become interested in the Word Wall! Hooray! It's like a new discovery has been made! The only problem is they think every word they need will be there! LOL! It's kind of adorable when they look at you in stunned silence when you tell them the word they are looking for isn't on there! The look is kind of a "oh great what do I do now?" kind of look! 
SO, we talked about the word wall and what kinds of words are on the wall and what to do when the word they need is not on the wall. So far, I am very pleased with their progress and gives me hope that their writing will begin to improve! At least they are suddenly interested in writing. 

I love how they help each other find words! 

Adult writing translation:  My favourite animal is a dog. Do you know why because I am not allergic.

I used to be allergic to strawberries but now I am not allergic. 

My Favourite part of the spooky bus was everything!

I like bears. They are cute. They are black. They have cubs. They are brown too.

I like deer. I like that they have fights. 

I like muskrats because they live in holes. 

I am proud of my little writers! Right now I am focusing on the content of their writing and getting a complete thought down on paper. I am also helping my children to learn the difference between beginning work, acceptable work, proficient work and mastery work. I have exemplars on the wall and they can compare their work to the ones on the wall to see where they think their work falls and then they can see what they need to do to improve their writing.  I also have a little writing conference with each child to discuss their writing and how to improve. 

We also have an author's chair where the children can share their writing with the class group and everyone listens and can offer suggestions and comments. It is so sweet when they give each other positive comments.