Nicole, I agree with what you said: that the focus in kindergarten is letter and sound recognition and basic decoding skills. I think that part of the problem is programs such as Harcourt. In my district we are mandated to follow the Harcourt series, according to a pacing guide. Harcourt uses a lot of texts with repetitive phrases, sound words, etc. They are simple texts. These simple texts often times get repeated four times over the course of three weeks. While I understand that a lot of learning can take place with these simple texts, I don't feel that the program is balanced. These programs need to provide more texts that we can dig deeper into to teach these comprehension strategies. I would be so happy to reread texts with deeper meaning. I truly feel the publishers are underestimating the thought processes these young students are capable of. Not only that, but it would be great for them to learn these strategies along with learning to read so that they can always have the ability to self-monitor...oh, in a perfect world :)
Krista Kindergarten/FL -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dan & Nicole Lavinder Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 7:41 PM To: 'Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group' Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Comprehension strategies and Harcourt This is my first year in kindergarten after six years in the upper elementary grades so I feel experienced enough to jump in on this topic. When teaching 4th grade I always felt like the kids were coming to us weak in comprehension skills--great word callers but couldn't tell me what they'd read about; much less have a conversation in a book club. Now that I'm in kindergarten the focus is on letter and sound recognition (and sight word recog.) that sometimes I think we underestimate the thinking skills that our little guys and gals can engage in while listening. So, I am working very hard to incorporate higher level thinking strategies during my reading instruction and read alouds. Now if only I could get my teammates to jump on my bandwagon:-) Nicole in NC _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.20.2/1272 - Release Date: 2/11/2008 5:28 PM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.20.2/1272 - Release Date: 2/11/2008 5:28 PM _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
