More than Reading Blog

Friday, February 11th, 2011, was our 11th day at school and we had 11 boys and 11 girls in our class. The 11th day at school fell on the 11th of February because we missed three days of school due to cyclone Yasi.

It was a double coincidence because on that 11th day we also had 11 boys and 11 girls at school (with 3 absences).

Calendar time - double coincidence - Friday February 11th 2011.

In counting ‘How many days have we been at school?’ on our 100 grid, coincidences sometimes occur – but this one is pretty special.

What coincidences have you experienced?

Has it ever struck you that there are magical moments happening in your early years’ classroom?

On Tuesday, Sandy reads the morning message. “Mrs. Swan. You’ve made a mistake! One sentence doesn’t make sense – a word is missing.” Later, during shared reading of the morning message, texta in hand, Sandy inserts a carat and adds the missing word ‘the’ into our sentence. It’s a magical moment! Sandy thought for herself and solved the problem.

It’s magical when the children re-read their 5 or 6 journals at the end of the year and see their amazing progress in just 10 months.

Colin is astonished when he looks back at his first journal, “Did I write this? I can’t even read it.”  

* Can you read what Colin wrote (below) in his February journal?

* We’ll send a free copy of  Teaching Strategies for Literacy in the Early Years to the first person who sends in the correct translation of Colin’s February journal sentence by January 31^st 2011.

Colin's first journal - February

Colin's fifth journal - November

Magical moments surface when children are immersed in activities that encourage discovery, interaction, cooperation, repetition – when children realize they can do something they couldn’t do before.

Misty mixes blue and yellow paint and discovers green – her joy in discovery is heard by all.

Izzy breaks new ground along her literacy journey as she writes: ‘I have an adventurous bear…’

We see magical moments in children’s art, in their writing and reading. We hear it in their talk. We observe it in the myriad of interactions between children and between children and their environments.

We celebrate
When we see/hear ‘magical moments’ in the classroom, we share them – we celebrate the magic. We share how children are thinking for themselves. We share how children are doing things for themselves. We share how the ordinary changes to extraordinary.

What is a favourite magical moment from your classroom?

Coming next: Starting the School Year

The purpose of this blog is to share ideas and strategies for effective literacy teaching and learning in the early years. It’s a privilege for us to work with young children – to experience their originality, creativity and excitement in learning. Let’s share magical moments from our classrooms. Come along for the ride – add your comments and we’ll learn from each other. 

Coming next: Early Literacy – Magical Moments

Coming soon: Starting School series including… 
*organising my room 
*establishing activity areas
*all the little bits
*the first day…