Saturday, June 11, 2011

The ABCs of a Kindergarten Year

Throughout the year, we worked to create enough class big books so each child would have one to take home at the end of the school year. The last class big book we made was the The ABCs of Kindergarten.  

To start the project I wrote down the side of a large piece of chart paper the letters of the alphabet. As a class, we brainstormed different things we had done this year, topics we had learned about, parts of our day, or special events that started with each letter. We tried to make sure we had at least one thing for each letter. At times we had to get creative, such as eXtra ____ for X, but most times we ended up with at least several ideas for each letter.

Each child would select a letter to illustrate for our big book. If they choose a letter with multiple ideas, they could pick their favorite one. So for example, if M had math and music, he or she only picked one to illustrate and write for the book.

After each child completed their page (usually a 12x18 sheet of cream construction paper) by writing the word or phrase (”going to the zoo” or “reading”) and illustrating that idea, I laminated the pages, punched holes in the side, and attached the pages together in alphabetical order to form our final class big book, The ABCs of Kindergarten. Over the years I found that the metal rings that you can buy at any office supply store were the easiest way to bind the books together.  

The book joined the other class big books in the library, where the children loved to read their own work, and on the last day of school, each child was able to select a class big book to take home with them to remember their time in Kindergarten.

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