This week is School Spirit Week! Please refer to the email you got from the office for information about this week. Each day has a different theme and a different suggested outfit to go along with it. (If you don't have the email, look under the 'important dates' section of this website for a daily breakdown of what to wear.)
Please remember that next Monday, October 13th is a 12:45pm dismissal for the students. On that day, please give your child a 'snunch' (a larger snack than usual).
Here's what we've been working on in the classroom:
Reading : Now that the students have their own book bins and reading spots, we've really been able to settle into reading workshop. Last week, we talked about various ways that the students can build their reading stamina and practice reading for longer and longer periods of time. We said that it was important to build our reading stamina because the longer you read, the more practice you get with reading, and the better of a reader you become! Here are some of the strategies we went over last week - sticking with one book so that we can 'dive deep,' looking closely at the pictures to discover new meaning, and giving different characters different voices (the students like this one the best).
Writing : Writing workshop has also settled down now that the students have their writing folders all ready to go. (Thank you for all of the help you gave your child in getting his/her writing folder done. They look great!) Last week we spoke about how we want to stretch our stories out across pages, rather than just writing one page stories. After me telling a lot of one-page stories in comparison with multi-page stories, the students realized that multi-page stories were much more interesting. In order to write their stories across pages, the students have to really think about what happened, sequence the events, and include description/details.
Math : Last week, the students learned about number stories and the number grid. The students enjoyed practicing how to move on a number grid by playing Rolling to 50.
Science : We focused on the characteristics that determine whether an animal is an insect or not. Ask your child to tell you what an animal needs to have in order to be classified as an insect! Insect have six legs, 2 antennae, and three body parts (the head, thorax, and abdomen).
We got a chance to use our knowledge about insects when we went to the Discovery Lab with Mr. Corcoran. The students learned all about ladybugs and were able to observe a real, live ladybug close up.
Here's 1-Bu in action last week: