Here's what we were working on in the classroom last week :
Reading : We continued to work on good reading habits last week. We said that readers get stronger by reading more and more (so they should set themselves up to read as much as they can at home and at school), set goals for their reading, and reread to make their reading voices smoother.
At the end of the week, the students got their own book bins and reading spots! This was a very exciting time in 1-Bu. Ask your child where his/her reading spot is!
Writing : We officially launched writing workshop last week! The students have done a phenomenal job picking up the structure and work ethic of writing workshop so far. They are all working on writing stories about events that have happened in their lives. Last week, the students worked on the very beginning of the writing process - coming up with an idea and getting it down on paper. We'll fine tune that a little bit over the next few months, but so far they're going a great job!
Phonics : We've moved onto our next phonics unit, which is based on segmenting and blending three-sound short vowel words to spell and read. We often call these words CVC words. CVC stands for consonant, vowel, consonant. For example, cat is a CVC word because its first letter is a consonant, its second letter is a vowel, and its third letter is a consonant. In CVC words, the vowel is usually a short vowel sound. In 1-Bu, we use a tactile method called 'tapping it out' to segment and blend the sounds in words. Your child can show you how we do this at home. Ask your child to 'tap out' the sounds in cat, leg, and sip. (Your child should use his/her index finger to tap out the first sound, middle finger to tap out the second sound, and ring finger to tap out the third sound.)
Math : In math, the students reviewed numbers and how to compare numbers on a number line. They also learned all about tally marks and how to represent various numbers with tally marks. On Friday, the students explored math tools and manipulatives that we'll be using this year - base-ten blocks, pattern blocks, and geoboards.
Science : We continued to learn about earth science this week by taking a deeper look at patterns we notice. The students noticed a pattern with the sun - we see it during the day and we don't see it at night. With the Liberty Science educators, the students used a website to track how the sun appears to move across the sky. Then, the students created their own sundials and tested them out with flashlights acting as the sun.
Social Studies : This week, the students took a closer look at communities. We talked about the different places that people live in a community and related it to where people live in River Edge.
Technology : The students are becoming pros at logging on to their Chromebooks and navigating their ways to our Google Classroom. So far, we've been focusing on refining the students' trackpad skills. Last week's focus was precision with their clicking. We used an online connect the dots activity to practice the students' counting and precision with clicking on trackpads.
Here are some pictures of 1-Bu last week :