A hard working teacher submits the following questions:

In my school district the Fundamental 5 is our instructional delivery focus. There are some elementary level examples of framing a lesson in the book (The Fundamental 5, Cain & Laird). I’m a kindergarten teacher and I have some questions.

Do you have any kindergarten examples of framing the lesson?

Do you have any suggestions about what to post throughout the day and week in different subjects taught in a kindergarten classroom (reading, writing, handwriting, math, science, social studies, etc.)?

What about the fact that many kindergarten students cannot read the lesson frame posted on the board (especially at the beginning of the year)?

Thank you in advance for your answers.

LC Response

Fantastic questions. When it comes to kindergarten classrooms, there are common sense adjustments to typical lesson framing practices. Adjustments, not abandonment.

First, if we were to embrace the “Students can’t read yet” argument, then anything written and posted in a Kindergarten classroom would be a waste of time and board/wall space. We know that is not true.

Second, the teacher is going to frame the big concepts.  That might entail “The Morning” concept and “The Afternoon” concept, or it may be content driven.  Think, “When the students are pulled to the floor for a whole group lesson,” that is likely a frameable concept.

Third, the Lesson Frame will be written in very concrete language and may (or often) include pictures and icons.

Fourth, the closing questions will have a higher percentage of demonstration activities than the upper grade levels.  For example, “Does my letter look like the letter on the board?”

Fifth, the teacher will still write the Lesson Frame on the board. She will still point it out to the students and she will still talk about it and read it to her students.  In this way the Lesson Frame still serves to prime the learner’s brain, explains the expectation of the lesson and provides a text-rich, literacy supporting learning environment.

Finally, just because the student can’t read, doesn’t mean that we don’t model reading.  The Lesson Frame is an authentic way to embed reading instruction and practice throughout the day, every day.

I hope this helps and I look forward to working with your team again.

Think. Work. Achieve.

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