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One Year Later, A Grant Success

Grant recipient Katie Zuehlke’s story

Thanks to a recent grant from NKA, I was able to

implement a classroom project titled “Reading as Writers’

and Writing as Readers’ ”.  This project addressed a

need I discovered during the implementation of writers’

workshop in my kindergarten classroom. Through my

own observations and research from author Katie Wood

Ray, I found that young writers greatly benefit from

studying quality children’s literature as well as having

a specific audience for whom they write.

The overall objective of my project was to improve my

writing instruction in kindergarten and provide a

balanced, developmentally appropriate writers’

workshop experience. Specifically, one goal was to demonstrate

writing techniques through authentic children’s literature. With my grant funds, I purchased children’s literature to assist with my writing mini-lessons. The books were organized by authors as well as a “writing resource” tub to assist the young writers on a daily basis. We emphasized the many enhancements in our writing as we followed the lead from these outstanding authors. As we read books in our classroom, we began looking at them through the eyes of a writer. We repeatedly asked ourselves how we can make our writing better because of this particular author. What does this author do that I can do as a writer?

The second project goal was to provide my kindergartners with a specific audience to direct their writing. Throughout the year we were continually making our writing readable and understandable to others. We shared our writing with a variety of audiences such as peers, 4th grade book buddies, and other teaching staff. We made “writing for our readers” a priority in our classroom. In the spring, we began our “Books for Babies” project where we wrote a small moment story that was typed and illustrated onto a blank board book. In June, our board books were delivered to the Buffalo Hospital and newborn babies were given a special gift from the kindergartners when they left the hospital.

I am confident my “Reading as Writers’ and Writing as Readers’ ” project provided daily, age-appropriate writing instruction in kindergarten. The learners were prepared for living a writerly life while developing the value of outreach in our community.

Katie Zuehlke

zuehlke@lakedalelink.net

Have an idea. Need the funds to follow your dream through. Get a Grant.

Deadlines for next years grants are March 1, 2010.

Grant Applications are available in our Forms and Downloads page.

Late Breaking News

NKA is pleased to announce that we have been contacted by kindergarten teachers in Colorado and Tennessee   who are wanting to form state kindergarten teacher associations. We  will be meeting with them as time permits. If you live in either of those areas and are interested in this endeavor, please contact: 

Liz Blek, President, blek@svusd.k12.ca.us