Study of Rocks!

This week we are learning about Rocks! I am excited because I was able to gain access to some of the other teacher's rocks and relating materials in the school. On Friday, we read Everyone Needs a Rock, by Byrd Baylor to give the children fun and creative ideas of how and where they can find the "perfect" rock. The fictional and humorous story is a great way to introduce rocks to kindergartners because the story ends with the intention and hope that the audience will go on a search for their own rock. In response to this ending, the children were asked to go on a rock search to find their own "unique and special" rock.

As a suggestion from a retiring first grade teacher, introducing new topics to young children with a fun and interesting book gets the children thinking and predicting ideas about the topic. Further, from a previous course on teaching literacy to young children, I remember my professor stressing how important and effective reading responses can be across all instructional periods of the day. Learning and practicing how to incorporate literature into science, social studies and math is an authentic way for incorporating literacy into a variety of subjects. Exposing children to literacy in areas besides just language arts seems to be a reoccurring value that I have observed in many classrooms.