Please keep in mind that this week is a short week of school. There is no school on Thursday, September 25th or Friday, September 26th.
I feel like 1-Bu got into the groove last week. Beginning of the year stuff is over, and we're moving right along to the 'real' stuff. Here's what we've been working on:
Reading : Last week we talked about different kinds of readers. Some readers only read the pictures, some readers only read the words, and some readers read both the words and the pictures. We spoke about how the goal is to carefully read the words and the pictures, but that sometimes the words of a book may be too hard and, in that case, we can still carefully look at the pictures in a book to figure out the story.
We also spent some time talking about 'bumps in the road' during reading workshop. Sometimes readers have distractions and we spoke about possible solutions for problems they may face when trying to read in the classroom. For example, what should they do when someone close to them is reading out loud and is distracting them? What should they do if they need to go to the bathroom, but Ms. Buttery is busy reading with other students?
Writing : We're continuing to practice proper letter formation and handwriting skills. We've also been doing some interactive writing, writing the class letter you saw at Back to School Night and working on our Class Rules.
Math : The students worked on their first math open response this year, in which they investigated various ways to count a pile of counters. They did a great job working cooperatively and explaining their thinking! The students also learned how to play a new math game called Top It.
Science : We no longer have caterpillars in our classroom, we have chrysalises! Over the weekend, the caterpillars must have eaten enough and all changed into the next stage of the butterfly life cycle. Now the students are anxiously waiting for the butterflies to emerge! Hopefully they come out before the long weekend.
Computers : 1-Bu went back to the computer lab again last week to take a beginning of the year reading assessment. It took a little bit of getting used to, but the students did a great job sticking with it.
Here are some recent pictures of 1-Bu: