Words Their Way

Here are some pictures of students doing some buddy sorts. They are doing a great job!

Reader's Workshop

In Reader's Workshop the students are continuing to learn about all the ways good readers can think and talk about the books they are reading. We continue to emphasize that good readers don't just read the words, they think about the words they are reading. We are working hard at finding places in our books to ask questions (I wonder why...), notice feelings we may have, make predictions, and do some envisioning. The students are now moving on to jot their thinking on small post-it notes that are kept in their book bags. You may notice that their books they choose to read at home have these post-its on them. Ask them what they were thinking! Soon, students will keep a Reader's Workshop notebook in their bags to write about their reading/thinking. I can't tell you how proud I am of their love of reading AND talking about their reading and the overall motivation that I see.

Fun Challenge!

Here's a fun little challenge related to our learning this past week for those interested. Please ask your child the following two questions. (No telling the answers!) Send me an email with their responses. If they are correct for at least one, they will get a little prize.

1. When others said "separate", Martin said "__________________".
2. A body part or behavior that helps an animal or plant is called an ______________. Can they give you an example?

January Holidays

We spent a lot of time learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. before his birthday. We read several books about his life and talked about how important he has been to our nation. We also discussed ways that we could help make the world a better place as first graders and then the students made adorable Martin Luther King, Jrs. of their own with their writing attached.
Today we discussed Chinese New Year (which is Monday the 23rd) and I read two realistic fictional stories about this special day. During one story we really practiced our envisioning skills as the main character, Sam, was outside in Chinatown watching a dragon parade. The students created their own colorful paper "dancing dragons" of their own.

Mystery Reader #9

Last week we had our 9th Mystery Reader. Kelly's mom, Mrs. Palmer, came to read to us a story about keeping healthy and avoiding germs with a cute story called "Felicity Floo Visits the Zoo"! Kelly's mom told us about her cool jobs working in labs where she got to mix chemicals and wear safety goggles, and about her job now working at the Health Department. Thank you for reading to us Mrs. Palmer!

Penguins!

Last week we spent a lot of time learning about penguins in class. We created a schema chart and filled it in then read several nonfiction books and added some new learning to the chart each time. Students worked on their own nonfiction books to include a table of contents and a diagram with labels. We also learned about the heights of various penguins and worked in cooperative groups to measure out the actual heights and draw and color in the penguins. The kids had a great time doing this. We created a class tree map (Can, Have, Are) to tell about penguins as well.

Help Wanted! (Pretty please?)

Hi everyone,
I am looking for some volunteers (perhaps 2) to volunteer for one day (probably a total of 2 hours) to work in the copy center to help me laminate and put together some new Math Tubs. I would really appreciate it! Please send me an email if you are willing to help me with this task. I am thinking sometime next week! If you are a regular volunteer and would be willing to give up your time in the classroom for a day to work on this for me, that would be great too. I look forward to hearing from you!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Before vacation we had our 8th mystery reader! Patrick's dad - Mark Kearney! He came to read us a fun story about elves called Ringle and Dingle. He also came wearing his bee keeper equipment and got to show us what the different items were used for. The kids were so interested! Thanks so much for reading to our class! (And he does not drive garbage trucks; he sells them. Error on the clue poster!)