Literacy is like a homemade apple pie.
My mission with your child this year is to make apple pies. (No not the real pies, although that would be fun, if you would like to volunteer for baking let me know). The task I have is to prepare your child for the next step in their lives. Literacy is the apple in the pie, without it, the pie is just a bunch of ingredients mixed together. Literacy will lead your student to learn about any and everything in the worlds. Literacy will give your child the tools needed to learn for the rest of their lives. Preparation: This year, I will be your child’s teacher, or if you will their baker. I will be preparing them for what’s to come. I will also be relying on previous knowledge which they should have been prepared with for this year. Then I will be building upon that knowledge. The experience is never over, and the preparation will continue forever. Just like when you are baking your apple pie. You have to constantly be preparing for what’s next, like presetting the oven, having your recipe out, and any ‘special’ ingredients.
Environment: When making a pie, one needs to have an oven, time, and all of the ingredients needed to bake the pie. Not only what goes into the pie is necessary, but the tools that are used to make the cake; the bowls, the mixers, the measuring cups. Students need to be surrounded by helpful tools that will guide them to be a better reader, writer and person. In my classroom I will have a library for their own personal use, to go along with frequent visits to the school library. I plan on taking them on a field trip to Borders, where they can explore the store, and possibly sit down and read a book that grabs their eye. In my class I will allow time everyday for reading. This time (just like you need time to gather ingredients) will be spent reading individually, reading as a group, and reading as a class. We will use flashcards to help them with sight words and play games that help connect how to sound out words. Other helpers, and teachers, possibly parents to help are more than welcome, and I would love the help. Just like, Chefs have helpers to assist in the baking process.
Making the Pie: When baking, ingredients are added together in order to end up with the precise taste. In my classroom we will be adding more knowledge and enjoyment to make your child the very best that they can be. Some activities that they will be involved in are journaling, reading activities and D.A.R.E. time. But also they will learn to incorporate reading and writing to other elements of life. For instance, if the student is interested in science, being a strong reader will help them read the passages, and discover new information. Their writing skills will then help them to write down what they find, and give it a new twist or a different voice. An additional tool for the students will be the classroom word wall, where any words that the students have trouble with will go up on the wall so the students can refer to it frequently. Each student will also be allowed to make mini word walls these can be made on folders, so that they can always have words that they find hard available to them. This is also a great idea at home, to have a piece of paper on the refrigerator with words for the student to see and look at.
Baking the Pie: Time is the key essential for the pie, just as with your child. Every student will need their own exact amount of time to develop their own strategies as to how to improve their reading and writing. The students will also need time to find something that they really enjoy reading about it could be a topic, or an author, but eventually they will find something that they are interested in. Baking an apple pie with love is crucial. Your child also needs this love from me, from other mentors in my classroom, and most importantly you.
Let's bake this Apple Pie Together!
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