Here's what we were working on in the classroom last week:
Reading : We talked all about fluency last week. In school, we often refer to it as 'reading like a story teller.' A great way to practice fluency is by re-reading books that you know the words to quite well. That way, you can focus on things like making your reading sound smooth, using expression, and giving the characters voices. If your child has a book that he/she likes to read over and over, have him/her practice his/her fluency while reading it.
Writing : We started the publishing process for our small moment stories last week. We began by talking about effective story endings. Many of the students were ending their stories with 'and then I went home,' but not anymore! We're working on staying within the small moment so that the ending wraps up the story. The students also worked on finding the hearts of their stories and expanding them to include lots of description. After that, they worked with writing partners to figure out parts of their stories that needed more clarification.
Math : Last week was a big week in math! We learned all about frames and arrows and telling time to the half hour. By now, your child should have a pretty good grasp on completing frames and arrows problems.
Science : We took a trip up to the Discovery Lab last week and started talking about our next science unit - weather. In the Discovery Lab, we focused on wind. We learned about what causes wind and then we looked outside for evidence of wind (since we can't see the wind itself).
Here are some pictures of 1-Bu last week: