Open House Thank You!
I truly enjoyed seeing all of you at Open House last week. Thank you in advance for your support this year. It's going to be great! Remember, please reach out to me if you have questions or want to share something from home!
Reading Workshop
During reading workshop, our focus has been on accuracy and decoding long and tricky words. The students have learned they can take off prefixes and suffixes and flip the middle vowel sound, to name a few strategies for decoding longer words. Meaning is also important when decoding new words. If they read a word and don't know its meaning they must stop to think about what would make sense in the text, then check the letters to help decode the word. We are also working on retelling as we read with partners. Students have marked pages they want to discuss with sticky notes to remember important points for their partner conversations. This is very tricky for most students, and we will need much more work in this area!
For read aloud, I am reading Gooney Bird Greene, by Lois Lowry. The students are keeping track of this chapter book by recording their thinking in their Readers' Notebooks. The children are writing what they are wondering, thinking, and noticing about the story and supporting their thinking with evidence from the text. We are also using this book to identify character traits. We hope to finish this book next week. Then, the children will chose from activities to demonstrate their comprehension of the book including identifying one of the character's traits, identifying ideas the main character taught about writing stories, and identifying the author's message in the story. We are excited to celebrate finishing our first chapter book read aloud.
Word study and high-frequency sight words
We have compared short vowel and long vowel /u/ and /o/ spelling patterns over the past two weeks. Through our word study activities, your child should know that short vowel sounds are commonly found when the pattern is CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant). They should also know that the “sneaky” silent /e/ at the end of words CVCe) AND vowel teams (CVVC) make the vowel say its name! The children are expected to differentiate between the spelling patterns and know the rules for each pattern. They have recorded their explanations of the sorts and read their words the past two Fridays. Today they did it on their own! I hope you have seen these and look at them with your child. Ask your child to explain his/her spelling patterns and rules to you!
Math
The students are learning how to think in many different ways about adding numbers. They are also working hard to explain their thinking through math talks. The children are learning language such as decomposing (taking apart) numbers and composing (putting together) numbers to solve equations. They are looking for equations they know to solve equation chains such as 8+6+2+8=? Students can solve this equation in various ways, such as make a ten by adding 8+2, then add 6 then 8. Or, they can use the doubles 8+8 first, then add 6+2, then put the two sums together. Ask your child to tell you how s/he would add this equation string.
Writing Workshop
The children are beginning to notice craft moves published authors make when writing personal narratives, which we all small moments. We are studying the work of published authors and naming their craft so students can try these things in their work. They are setting goals for themselves as they write. Some students are working on crafting beginnings, some are working on endings, some are working on using stronger more precise words in their work. Ask your child to tell you what s/he is trying to make his/her writing the best it can be.
Social Studies - Culture and History Theme
We have been reading our social studies book and writing the new vocabulary we are learning in a special booklet about Culture and History. The students have learned concepts including: guardian, law, time line, vote, citizen, and communities - urban, suburban, rural. We read about customs, traditions, and culture. We also learned that inventors and scientists help communities. Next week the children will take the assessment for the Culture portion of this unit.
I truly enjoyed seeing all of you at Open House last week. Thank you in advance for your support this year. It's going to be great! Remember, please reach out to me if you have questions or want to share something from home!
Reading Workshop
During reading workshop, our focus has been on accuracy and decoding long and tricky words. The students have learned they can take off prefixes and suffixes and flip the middle vowel sound, to name a few strategies for decoding longer words. Meaning is also important when decoding new words. If they read a word and don't know its meaning they must stop to think about what would make sense in the text, then check the letters to help decode the word. We are also working on retelling as we read with partners. Students have marked pages they want to discuss with sticky notes to remember important points for their partner conversations. This is very tricky for most students, and we will need much more work in this area!
For read aloud, I am reading Gooney Bird Greene, by Lois Lowry. The students are keeping track of this chapter book by recording their thinking in their Readers' Notebooks. The children are writing what they are wondering, thinking, and noticing about the story and supporting their thinking with evidence from the text. We are also using this book to identify character traits. We hope to finish this book next week. Then, the children will chose from activities to demonstrate their comprehension of the book including identifying one of the character's traits, identifying ideas the main character taught about writing stories, and identifying the author's message in the story. We are excited to celebrate finishing our first chapter book read aloud.
Word study and high-frequency sight words
We have compared short vowel and long vowel /u/ and /o/ spelling patterns over the past two weeks. Through our word study activities, your child should know that short vowel sounds are commonly found when the pattern is CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant). They should also know that the “sneaky” silent /e/ at the end of words CVCe) AND vowel teams (CVVC) make the vowel say its name! The children are expected to differentiate between the spelling patterns and know the rules for each pattern. They have recorded their explanations of the sorts and read their words the past two Fridays. Today they did it on their own! I hope you have seen these and look at them with your child. Ask your child to explain his/her spelling patterns and rules to you!
Math
The students are learning how to think in many different ways about adding numbers. They are also working hard to explain their thinking through math talks. The children are learning language such as decomposing (taking apart) numbers and composing (putting together) numbers to solve equations. They are looking for equations they know to solve equation chains such as 8+6+2+8=? Students can solve this equation in various ways, such as make a ten by adding 8+2, then add 6 then 8. Or, they can use the doubles 8+8 first, then add 6+2, then put the two sums together. Ask your child to tell you how s/he would add this equation string.
Writing Workshop
The children are beginning to notice craft moves published authors make when writing personal narratives, which we all small moments. We are studying the work of published authors and naming their craft so students can try these things in their work. They are setting goals for themselves as they write. Some students are working on crafting beginnings, some are working on endings, some are working on using stronger more precise words in their work. Ask your child to tell you what s/he is trying to make his/her writing the best it can be.
Social Studies - Culture and History Theme
We have been reading our social studies book and writing the new vocabulary we are learning in a special booklet about Culture and History. The students have learned concepts including: guardian, law, time line, vote, citizen, and communities - urban, suburban, rural. We read about customs, traditions, and culture. We also learned that inventors and scientists help communities. Next week the children will take the assessment for the Culture portion of this unit.