Last week, you should have received an email from the office about Visitation Day, which is this Thursday, October 2nd. Please make sure that you use the link in the email to sign up for a slot to visit our classroom. If you did not receive this email, please let me know.
Here's what we've been working on in the classroom:
Reading : Last week was a very exciting week in reading workshop. The students got their individual book bins and selected their own leveled books. These are the books that the students will be reading during independent and partner reading time. The students also chose their reading spots for independent reading. Rather than reading at the tables (like they did the for the first few weeks), the students are now spread around the classroom. Not only is this more comfortable for the students, but it also makes it much easier for them to focus on reading when there aren't four other people reading right next to them.
Writing : We, officially, launched writing workshop last week. Writing workshop follows the same basic structure as reading workshop. We start off by getting ready, which means the students get their writing out. Then, we go to the rug for a mini-lesson, during which we will focus on a strategy or skill. After that, the students go off and write, and hopefully put that strategy/skill into use. Finally, we meet back at the rug for a share, during which we highlight some things that went well, or didn't go well.
Math : The students learned all about tally marks last week. We did a few activities to practice using tally marks in 'real' life. One day, we gathered data about what clothing everyone was wearing. Another day, we played Rocks, Paper, Scissor, and tallied how many times each object won.
Science : As you saw at the top of this post, we released the butterflies on Wednesday. We also spent some time going over insects' body parts.
Social Studies : Last week, the students took some time familiarizing themselves with the atlases that we are going to use this year. We also started talking a little bit about communities.
Here are some recent pictures of 1-Bu: