Word+splash

I did a word splash with my kindergarteners today. We read Snowy Day yesterday and talked about Ezra Jack Keats. Today I wanted to read Whistle for Willie but decided before I read to them I would do a word splash. I gave them three words, dog, whistle and hat. First I wrote one word at a time and ask them what was the first thing that came in their head when I said the word. I got many answers, for example, whistle, a lot thought of the train whistle on the polar express, the whistle that the gym teacher uses and toy whistles. It was the same for all the words. Then I told them to think of a story with those three words and they told me orally what their story was in whole group. I sent them to their seats to write. This took a lot of time because of the new vocabulary that surrounded the three words that they wanted to use. After writing I read each of their stories and them gave them Ezra Jacks Keats version. This lesson was divided up into three parts during my afternoon.