Hello Families!
How have you been enjoying this Spring weekend?? Here is everything happening this week and a little beyond...
NO SCHOOL MON. 1/20: To honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr!
NEW READING BUDDIES: I am so excited because we hooked up with Sejal's 2nd grade class for Reading Buddies! We will be meeting every Tuesday starting this week for a period and our students will be partnered up with 2nd graders to share books, discuss books, celebrate reading and create friendships!
BOOK BAGGIES: Book baggies are going to be going home for the first time on Monday. Normally you will be helping your kids choose books using their reading book menu on Monday mornings, however, since this is our first time we will be doing it as a class. Your child will be bringing home the baggie filled with a total of 4 books to start. They will have 3 on level books and 1 "push" book which is the next level up. For their first reading of the books it would be helpful to sit with them so that they can grasp the patterns in their books. Here are some helpful tips:
Read the title with your child. Talk about the picture on the cover - what do they think the book will be about?
Have your child do a "picture walk" - reading the book and using language to describe what's happening through only the pictures on each page.
Help your child figure out the first page's pattern.
Now, listen to your child use all of their superpowers to figure out the rest of the book. If they are stuck with a tricky word you can encourage them to use the picture, use the first sound in the word, think about what would make sense.
If your child gets frustrated, help them. Reading should be enjoyable!
Remember, after one or two readings of a book your child may have the book memorized. That is a good thing and a strong strategy that will then allow them to focus on other things they need to learn to be good readers - fluency, storytelling voices, making meaning.
They should be holding onto their books for an entire week and reading those books to anybody who will listen or even stuffed animals (who always love to listen!)
Some extra things you could do after your child is super comfortable with a book are: 1) Take sentences out of the book on strips of paper, cut it into words and have your child re-create the sentence 2) Make a list of all of the snap words in a book 3) Have your child write a new ending to the book 4) Take non-snap words out of the book and see if your child can come up with rhyming words or word family words.
There is no school the following Monday after this week of books so the choice will be to exchange books this Friday or the following Tuesday.
NEW WATER DISPENSER: Avery's parents, Elizabeth and Rahsaan, have ordered us a new water dispenser! Thank you! It should arrive this week.
TRIP TO THE JEWISH MUSEUM: Will be on July 29th from 9:30 - 11:30. Sign up sheet will be posted outside for a total of 8 chaperone adults.
WHAT WE ARE UP TO:
In phonics we are going to be learning about blends and digraphs and will also continue to work on our word wall words (snap words.)
In writing we have begun learning about persuasive writing. We read a book called We March, by Shane W. Evans. It is about a family preparing for and then joining the March on Washington in 1963 where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. The book is a perfect touchstone to show the power of words to make change and shows the signs being made and carried in the protest. We brainstormed and charted things that we want to change at home, in our school and in the world and the kids have been working on creating signs. We are learning that in order to make change we cannot state what not to do, but instead we need to think about what people should do to make that change.
In reading we are building our bigger reading muscles. We have learned how to use a reading mat to collect a pile of books we will be reading and read them each twice. This week we are going to work on figuring out the patterns in books that will then help us read every page and know what our books are about. And as I said above - we are starting Reading Buddies! Hurray!
In math we are working on Geometry. This week we will learn how to use geoboards (kind of square individual peg boards that you stretch rubberbands on to create shapes.) We will also be recording our math thinking through some journal problems and will be working towards learning new ECAM games focused on numeration.
In social studies, we will have Stacie coming on Tuesday to do a review of all the songs and concepts she has taught so far. We are also diving into Fairy Tales and will be thinking about the big question - "Do all fairy tales have a happy ending?" which will lead us to understanding perspective. For example, one may say that The Three Pigs has a happy ending but it depends on which perspective you have - the pigs may be happy but the wolf would say otherwise!
And while we play we continually work on understanding when things are a bummer, a problem or a disaster and how to fix a bummer on our own.
We will be finishing Fudge-a-mania this week and then will be starting a brand new chapter book! Stay tuned on what it will be!
Have a great week!
Love,
Lynn