In our Al's Pals curriculum, a recent lesson has focused on "Power Words." Power words are words that you can use that have strong meaning. They are kind, polite words and may be used when you want something, have received something from somebody else or when you make a mistake. They are words to use with everyone. After Al came out to talk to us about these words we brainstormed a list of some power words. Some of the power words we talked about were "please," "thank you," "you're welcome," "excuse me," "I'm sorry," and "would you like to play with me?" The children talked about different situations when they should use these words. At the end of the lesson, Al taught us a song called "Power Words" where we learned the sign language for some of these words.
Afterwards, the children worked on a writing assignment which had them thinking about a time when they used a power word. They drew pictures of what took place when they used these power words and came up with a sentence to go along with it. At this point in the year, many children are working on sounding out one word in their sentence (the rest is written for them). Lastly, "talking bubbles" were added and the children came up with what words were spoken by all people drawn. We talked about how authors sometimes use these "talking bubbles" to say what the characters in the story are thinking or speaking. These writing pieces can be found outside our room on our classroom bulletin board.
Take a closer look at your child's writing when you attend a conference in the upcoming weeks.
Just a reminder: Report cards went home today. I would like to meet with all families to discuss your child's progress and show you some of their work. Please make sure to sign up for a conference time in the next two weeks. I look forward to meeting with you soon.
