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What all do you do for Lang. Arts in K?


amselby81
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I'm thinking about next year. I definitely want to do phonics/reading and writing. Is there anything else I should have? I saw Wordly Wise for K on CBD.com, and I think I might look into that some more. Some extra work with vocabulary can't hurt anything, right? I just hate the extra cost, since you have to buy the $62 parent guide. Do you think vocabulary is necessary? Is there a way to incorporate it w/o buying something like Wordly Wise? Maybe an online curriculum or website with ideas?

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I don't think that you need it.

 

However, realize that there is more to LA than just the three tasks that you mentioned. :) A good program includes things like sequencing, comprehension, listening skills, using words to express ideas, etc.

 

Vocabulary is something that will come from phonics and reading in the beginning. You could approach this more formally, but as I said, I don't think you neet it. :)

 

HTH

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Anytime my dd doesn't know a word in something we are reading, either how to read it or what it means, I write it on an index card. The cards go into a stack and I pull 3 off the stack each day. She gets a check in the upper right corner if she can read it and a check next to where I've written "meaning" in the upper left corner if she can tell me what it means. The cards go into her "word card envelope", which we go through each day, until she gets three checks in each corner. Then they go into an index card box. Every so often, we go through the box to see if she remembers them. If she remembers them, they go to a special keepsake box in her room and are considered "stored in long-term memory".

 

We used OPGTR for phonics/reading and it had a lot of good vocabulary words in it. There was never a shortage our whole K year.

 

HTH,

Kathy

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For kindergarten, I think formal reading and writing are all that's necessary for language arts. My dd does a phonics lesson, reads 2-3 phonics readers, and then writes a sentence from the reader. While she's writing, I discuss sentence conventions: capitalizing the first word, adding a punctuation mark at the end, when to use a question mark, period, or exclamation point. Since she isn't a fluent reader, I don't see the point in formal spelling or grammar.

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Do you think vocabulary is necessary? Is there a way to incorporate it w/o buying something like Wordly Wise?

 

It feels a bit like everything up to age six is really just vocabulary. I teach it by reading a lot, good, hard, old books, and explaining all the interesting big words. I teach it by reading non-fiction as much as fiction. That and phonics and learning to count to a hundred is all I do for kindergarten. It's worked out fine for my children so far. I have kids with adult vocabularies who all were reading basically whatever they wanted at or by age six.

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I don't teach vocabulary in early elementary. I just read out loud good books above their reading level. That teaches them vocabulary in context.

 

My K'er next year is doing phonics/reading, handwriting, and math. Anything else he does is just tag-along with big brother.

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For kindergarten, the only formal language arts curriculum we use is phonics and handwriting.

 

We read lots and lots of books (picture books, science books, story books, etc.), draw pictures, color, dictate stories and just have fun with language. We make our own books with plain paper and a stapler, and the kids draw pictures, then tell me a story to go along with them. I still have homemade books that my 11th grader made in kindergarten, and it's hilarious to read them now!

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We are just doing phonics/reading and writing for K. I actually have WordlyWise and have done the K program with my boys since my oldest was 3. They really like it-they ask to read the stories and like the activities that go along with each. If you decide to go with it PM me as I'll be selling it soon for far less than $62! (I can't post items for sale just yet-I don't have fifty posts yet.)

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My dd loves Wordly Wise because in the grade K and 1 levels it is just like storytime. I introduce the words to my dd and then as we are reading the story she shows me the picture cards that correspond with the vocabulary words.

 

With that said, WW is very easy. I would say that K level is more appropriate for preK. Here is a blog post from when I started using it and at the bottom of the post I listed the first 10 words that are covered.

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