Balanced Literacy in the Classroom
 

In our JK class we have begun learning the letters of the alphabet.  When a new letter is introduced the students practice a form of tracing the letter.  The student must make a coloured line with a crayon inside a larger letter and then trace over their first line with five or six other colours.  In this manner the student is not colouring the letter but practicing forming the letter using lines.

The SK students have begun forming their letters using the Handwriting Without Tears program. We will also read stories that have many of the letter we are working with in the story.
The SK's have begun bringing home their little word books that we read in class each week.  Some of the little books are shared together in class in the form of a Big Book.

Both classes have participated with shared writing sessions where we have created class lists.  One example of this is the JK's sharing what they were thankful for before the Thanksgiving holiday.
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