How I Combine Both:

Students enter kindergarten at different reading levels-some reading fluently, some having emergent reading skills, and some not reading yet. I use shared reading daily during Circle Time. The read-aloud book, poem, or rhyme pertains to the weekly theme. I introduce the book with a leading question (for example if the book is about food, I ask students what their favorite food is) so that the text becomes meaningful to them. I point out the name of the author and illustrator after discussing what their roles are. Grammar is integrated by asking students to identify any punctuation in the book title once a period, question mark, and exclamation point have been introduced in a mini lesson. We also try to identify any “popcorn words” in the title. Next, we do a “picture walk” to make predictions what will happen in the story. During reading, I ask students to observe the pictures on the page to help them with reading comprehension questions. I stop often to ask students questions about the text to practice and check reading comprehension. Assessment is conducted by observation, an alphabet letter/sound recognition assessment given the beginning of school and midyear, and journals (drawing pictures and writing words and sentences as skills progress).