emergent reading and writing

we get mail from a fish every day

We have a pet fish in the classroom.


His name is Blue.




He has an extraordinary talent.


Blue writes letters.


Every night, after everyone goes home. Blue somehow wraps his fins around a marker, and writes a letter to the kidlets.





As I said, a very talented fish.


We read Blue's letter together everyday, looking for popcorn words, word chunks, alien words (that do not follow earth rules), and being excellent readers.




After a few weeks of writing letters to the kidlets, Blue felt that things were not really fair.


He was writing a letter every night.  And you know, it can't be easy to write with only fins!


And he never got a letter back.  He was fairly blunt with the kidlets.  He made it quite clear that he expected a letter every day.  Fair is fair.


The kidlets thought that Blue's request was quite reasonable.


The daily helper gets to choose what to say to Blue.  Everyone in the class helps stretch words to hear the sounds, and then tell me what letters to print.  Some kidlets know where in the class to find words that we need for our letter.  Others have the spelling of words "parked in their brains". We all chip in, because that's what Blue wants.


He's that sort of a fish.


And we love him for it.









11 comments

  1. Aannnnnnd now I know how to frame my morning message next year. Perfection!
    ~Heather
    The Meek Moose
    The Meek Moose on TpT

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a lot more fun to channel a fish than to write a morning message every day.

      sandi

      Delete
  2. Cute idea! The kids must be thrilled getting to write back!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We carry on a conversation with a fish. It keeps us all amused!

      sandi

      Delete
  3. Love it! Who can blame him, poor fish, I'd expect a letter back everyday too. I'm gonna need to borrow the alien word reference, it hits the nail right on the head for me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alien words work - the kids get it. Words that don't follow earth rules.

      sandi

      Delete
  4. Love it! I would give my right arm to teach K next year and be doing this stuff along with you. You are the best.

    Kimberley
    First in Maine

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    Replies
    1. I would LOVE to work with you. We would have so much fun!

      sandi

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  5. That is SO cool, Sandi! Now I want a fish, just like Blue, for my classroom:)
    Sometimes our district lets us visit other classes (they pay for our sub). If we have that opportunity next year, can I come and visit you?

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  6. A talented fish is a good thing to have in the classroom.

    sandi

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  7. If you buy a Blue - make sure that he is a standard looking (no distinctive marks) beta fish. You never know when you have to make a quick trip to the pet store to purchase a replacement Blue! My door is always open, and you are always welcome.

    sandi

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