Poetry and Sharing Reading in Kindergarten

 

Shared reading is definitely one of my kinders' favorite part of each day. They love poems and songs, so I use them to help my students: make connections, build phonics skills, identify text features and love reading!(Rog, 2011). Each week we have a sight word poem that we read multiple times and every time we interact with it we have a different focus.

 

When I introduce the poem to the students, I read it aloud modeling appropriate fluency and expression. We also discuss the big ideas in the poem and make personal connections. When I read it the second time, the students echo me after each line. 

Stikki Wax is a popular item in my class and we love to use it highlight specific words. During this reading of the poem, we find rhyming words, sight words, long vowels, short vowels, etc. Then we use the Stikki Wax to identify these special words. 

Of course, we read the whole poem again, but this time I have parts of the poem in a pocket chart on sentence strips  I use words, phrases and sentences and students will take one of these and match it with the poem on the Smartboard (see picture above). 

This time when we read the poem, I have a student lead the tracking and of course they get to pick the pointer of their choice. Students are invited to identify sight words, rhyming words that they recognize in the poem. One of our favorite activities is the guess the covered word.  I cover some of the words with sticky note and students will try to predict the word. If it is a high frequency word then we try to spell it, like the child in the picture above. 

Each week, students will take the poem home in their Sight Word Poetry Journal. They will read the poem with/to an adult, identify their sight words and add an illustration. 

This has been a weekly literacy activity for four years in my class and every year the students love it!