Sensory Images and Poetry

We have been writing poetry in kindergarten.  We don't write the rhyming kind of poems. Those are much too challenging for kindergartners.  We write free verse poems and just write our thoughts and ideas.  To help get our thoughts going, we try to engage our senses.  We talk about things we feel, see, smell, touch, and taste.  Last week, we were able to engage all of our senses as we made rolled sugar cookies in class. 

I have to say, I think the tasting part was our favorite!  During our writing time, we used the sensory chart we had created to help us brainstorm a class poem.  Here is our rough draft.

When we are writing poetry, we talk about the difference between a phrase and a sentence.  We decide where to put capitals and punctuation.  We also make changes in our poems as we re-read.  Writing poems as a whole class is always interesting.  You never quite know what you are going to get, or the direction a class will take a poem.   I will be sharing more of our poetry work in the coming weeks!

Happy writing!

Mental Images

This week we have been diving into our work with mental images and poetry.  So, why am I showing you pictures of math manipulatives and workmats?

We read a story this week about a dream city.  The city had beautiful patterned walls and three buildings.  All of the buildings were different.  I asked the kids to close their eyes and picture what this city might look like.  Then, we built the city we had imagined.  As I'm sure you can guess, all of the walls and buildings were different.  No two cities were alike.

This lead us into the conversation that our mental images are different because our experiences are different.

What are mental images and why do we teach this in kindergarten?

Mental images are the pictures we paint in our minds.  If we are reading a story without pictures in the book, we sometimes picture what is happening in the story.  It's like a movie taking place in our brains.  As we hear stories, and make pictures in our brains, we are making connections.  The images we create are also linked to our memories, deepening those connections.  Creating mental images helps reading comprehension, enhances our memories, and lets us really appreciate the texts we read. 

Your kids will hear the term "mental images" throughout their reading curriculum in school.  As you are reading to your kids at home, ask them to describe their mental images.  Have them paint the pictures they are seeing in their mind.  Create, make connections, and comprehend!  It's what reading is all about!