Here's what we've been working on in the classroom :
Reading : We continued on in our schema unit last week and learned all about text-to-self connections. Readers make text-to-self connections when they read books and they are reminded about things that have happened to themselves. For example, in the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, when I read about the character Chyrsanthemum getting teased about her name, it reminds me of when I was little and my classmates teased my about my last name. I remember how terrible I felt when I was teased about my name, so I can understand why Chrysanthemum stops liking school and cries at home.
When reading with your child, talk about if the book reminds him/her about anything in his/her life. This week we'll talk about making sure that the connections we think about are meaningful, in that they help us have a deeper understanding about the book.
Writing : I am so impressed with the students' how to pieces! Most of the students are done with their pieces and are ready to publish them. We'll publish our pieces early this week and then gear up to start our next writing unit, which gets back into writing personal narratives (or small moment stories, as the students know them).
Math : Last week was a big week in math as we embarked on our next unit. We started off the week by learning a little bit about place value using base ten blocks. Ask your child about base ten blocks - how much is a flat worth? a long? a cube? We also learned all about the greater than, less than, and equal to symbols.
Phonics : So far, we have gone over the long a and the long i sound. The students are beginning to recognize and apply long vowel patterns. When your child is doing word wall homework, please make sure that your child is making an attempt to use a long vowel pattern if a word has a long vowel sound. (I don't expect them to use the correct long vowel patterns yet. For example, if they write cote instead of coat, that's okay for now!)
Valentine Project : Please keep in mind that this project is due on Monday, February 11th. While that seems like a long way away, it will take your child a considerable amount of time to complete. Your child should be doing all of the tracing, cutting, and writing him/herself. Please work with your child to help manage his/her time.
Here are some pictures of the students in the classroom this week: