Phonics
We've been busy!!
We have been hard at work reviewing CVC words. CVC stands for consonant-vowel-consonant, and refers to one syllable, short vowel words beginning with a consonant sound, followed by a short vowel sound and ending with a consonant sound. The students are practicing the "tapping" method to both read and spell CVC words. Example, to read the word 'rug' the students look at each letter and determine what sound the letters make followed by tapping out each sound with their fingers, '/r/ /u/ /g/'.
Challenge your child to tap out the following words:
-yet -mop -fox -fun
-hut -rap -pin -hid
The students learned how to identify and mark up closed syllables. A closed syllable must have only one vowel that is closed in by one or more consonants and the vowel makes the short sound (ex. such, hat, it, blend). Identifying words or word parts that follow the closed syllable rule will help students correctly decode unfamiliar words.
Next up was glued sounds, which are also often referred to as welded sounds. Glued sounds refer to letters that keep their individual sounds, but are very closely glued together, making the individual sounds hard to decipher. The glued sounds we focused on include /all/, /am/, and /an/. In each of these glued sounds, the consonant or consonants following 'a' alter the sound the vowel is making. For example, in the glued sound /all/, the vowel sounds like the short vowel /o/ rather than /a/. Similarly, since 'm' and 'n' are nasal letters (sounds that are produced by moving air through the nose), when the consonants follow 'a' the vowel sound is changed although still considered to be a short vowel sound. We practiced reading, writing, and marking up words by drawing a box around the glued sound.
Challenge your child to tap out and spell the following words with glued sounds:
-ham -pan -tall -bam -tan -hall
The students have also learned how to make singular cvc words into plurals by adding the suffix "s". To mark up cvc + s words, the students practiced underlining the base word and circling the suffix. In doing so, the students discovered that the suffix "s" can make two sounds: /s/ (ex. cats) and /z/ (ex. mugs).
Next up are consonant digraphs!!
We have been hard at work reviewing CVC words. CVC stands for consonant-vowel-consonant, and refers to one syllable, short vowel words beginning with a consonant sound, followed by a short vowel sound and ending with a consonant sound. The students are practicing the "tapping" method to both read and spell CVC words. Example, to read the word 'rug' the students look at each letter and determine what sound the letters make followed by tapping out each sound with their fingers, '/r/ /u/ /g/'.
Challenge your child to tap out the following words:
-yet -mop -fox -fun
-hut -rap -pin -hid
The students learned how to identify and mark up closed syllables. A closed syllable must have only one vowel that is closed in by one or more consonants and the vowel makes the short sound (ex. such, hat, it, blend). Identifying words or word parts that follow the closed syllable rule will help students correctly decode unfamiliar words.
Next up was glued sounds, which are also often referred to as welded sounds. Glued sounds refer to letters that keep their individual sounds, but are very closely glued together, making the individual sounds hard to decipher. The glued sounds we focused on include /all/, /am/, and /an/. In each of these glued sounds, the consonant or consonants following 'a' alter the sound the vowel is making. For example, in the glued sound /all/, the vowel sounds like the short vowel /o/ rather than /a/. Similarly, since 'm' and 'n' are nasal letters (sounds that are produced by moving air through the nose), when the consonants follow 'a' the vowel sound is changed although still considered to be a short vowel sound. We practiced reading, writing, and marking up words by drawing a box around the glued sound.
Challenge your child to tap out and spell the following words with glued sounds:
-ham -pan -tall -bam -tan -hall
The students have also learned how to make singular cvc words into plurals by adding the suffix "s". To mark up cvc + s words, the students practiced underlining the base word and circling the suffix. In doing so, the students discovered that the suffix "s" can make two sounds: /s/ (ex. cats) and /z/ (ex. mugs).
Next up are consonant digraphs!!
Reading Workshop
Read to Someone
In addition to building our stamina for read to self, we also worked hard to build our stamina for read to someone. When students read with a partner, they have the opportunity to practice their reading skills, strengthen their fluency, and build their comprehension (as well as have fun with a friend!). The students have learned three ways to read with someone including seesaw reading (I read a book to you then you read a book to me), echo reading (one partner reads a page then the other partner rereads the same page), and choral reading (the partners read at the same time). The students have also learned how to coach one another when they come across a word they are having difficulty reading. Ask your child to share with you our expectations for read to someone and what it means to be a reading coach.
In addition to building our stamina for read to self, we also worked hard to build our stamina for read to someone. When students read with a partner, they have the opportunity to practice their reading skills, strengthen their fluency, and build their comprehension (as well as have fun with a friend!). The students have learned three ways to read with someone including seesaw reading (I read a book to you then you read a book to me), echo reading (one partner reads a page then the other partner rereads the same page), and choral reading (the partners read at the same time). The students have also learned how to coach one another when they come across a word they are having difficulty reading. Ask your child to share with you our expectations for read to someone and what it means to be a reading coach.
Readers Build Good Habits
The students are learning how to be active readers who use strategies before, during, and after reading books. The past couple of weeks we have been focusing on taking a sneak peek before reading a book. This strategy includes looking at the front cover, back cover, and first few pages of a book before reading it. As the students are taking a sneak peek, they predict what the book will mostly be about. While reading the book, the students frequently check their sneak peek and adjust their predictions. The students practiced applying the strategies while reading independently as well as reading with a partner! We have also practiced doing something at the end of the book (i.e. rereading the book, rereading our favorite part, retelling the story, or thinking about the main parts), reading more and more, setting reading goals, rereading to smooth out our voice, scooping up phrases, and looking over the pictures and words to see more. To read more and more, the students received a reading mat on which they are able to stack their books in order from just right books to their more challenging books. They then read through their stack of books, flip the stack over, and read again! Throughout the school year we will practice reading fluently (not like a ninja robot!) by rereading in order to make our voice smoother and scooping up phrases instead of reading word by word.
The students are learning how to be active readers who use strategies before, during, and after reading books. The past couple of weeks we have been focusing on taking a sneak peek before reading a book. This strategy includes looking at the front cover, back cover, and first few pages of a book before reading it. As the students are taking a sneak peek, they predict what the book will mostly be about. While reading the book, the students frequently check their sneak peek and adjust their predictions. The students practiced applying the strategies while reading independently as well as reading with a partner! We have also practiced doing something at the end of the book (i.e. rereading the book, rereading our favorite part, retelling the story, or thinking about the main parts), reading more and more, setting reading goals, rereading to smooth out our voice, scooping up phrases, and looking over the pictures and words to see more. To read more and more, the students received a reading mat on which they are able to stack their books in order from just right books to their more challenging books. They then read through their stack of books, flip the stack over, and read again! Throughout the school year we will practice reading fluently (not like a ninja robot!) by rereading in order to make our voice smoother and scooping up phrases instead of reading word by word.
Retelling
In reading workshop we have been hard at work practicing and strengthening our retelling skills. A retelling usually includes characters, setting, problems, and solutions or the main ideas of the text. It involves telling what is important in the story without telling too much. Retelling helps readers recall what is happening in the story, develop a sense of story structure, and become more accurate at monitoring their understanding. Students are able to transfer this knowledge of story structure to their own story writing. To help students retell a story, we use a strategy called the 5-finger retell. Each finger we put up represents one thought from the story. We will continue to use the 5-finger retell strategy throughout the school year to check for understanding after reading.
In reading workshop we have been hard at work practicing and strengthening our retelling skills. A retelling usually includes characters, setting, problems, and solutions or the main ideas of the text. It involves telling what is important in the story without telling too much. Retelling helps readers recall what is happening in the story, develop a sense of story structure, and become more accurate at monitoring their understanding. Students are able to transfer this knowledge of story structure to their own story writing. To help students retell a story, we use a strategy called the 5-finger retell. Each finger we put up represents one thought from the story. We will continue to use the 5-finger retell strategy throughout the school year to check for understanding after reading.
Decoding Strategies
We are currently reviewing and practicing utilizing the decoding strategies the students learned in kindergarten.
The strategies include:
We are currently reviewing and practicing utilizing the decoding strategies the students learned in kindergarten.
The strategies include:
Writer's Workshop
In writer's workshop the students are practicing a writing technique in which we first think of an idea and then plan our story by touching and telling what each page will say followed by sketching and finally, writing! The students also learned how to revise their writing (fix and fancy it up!) by ensuring they answered the following questions: who?, what?, when?, where?, and how? In addition, students have begun adding labels and/or speech bubbles to their sketches. In turn, this will enable the students to add more details to their writing as well. Labels are also used as a way to help our audience identify the different parts of our sketch. One of our writing workshop expectations is students are never truly “done” writing. We will continue to work on adding more details to further strengthen our stories.
The students have learned various spelling strategies to help them spell tricky words. The strategies include using stretchy the snake (say the word slowly stretching it out as you go, think of the sounds at the beginning, middle, and end of the word, write all of the sounds you know), using known words to spell new words, using the word wall, using their resource folder, and underlining the tricky word and moving on.
The students have learned various spelling strategies to help them spell tricky words. The strategies include using stretchy the snake (say the word slowly stretching it out as you go, think of the sounds at the beginning, middle, and end of the word, write all of the sounds you know), using known words to spell new words, using the word wall, using their resource folder, and underlining the tricky word and moving on.
Math
In math, we wrapped up Topic 14. The focus of Topic 14 included graphing and using data to answer questions. Graphs are ways of organizing and displaying information in order to describe data and draw conclusions about it. The students learned how to collect and display data in the form of tally marks, a bar graph, and a picture graph. In addition, they learned how to analyze the data by answering questions such as, "Which subject did most children vote for? " and "How many more votes did math receive than writing?" Comparing questions are particularly tricky at this age. Any practice students can receive answering more and fewer questions helps strengthen their knowledge of comparing two or more groups.
We are currently on Topic 1: Understanding Addition. A math tool we will be using continuously throughout the school year includes a part-part-whole model. A part-part-whole model is used to display part-whole relationships and assist students in putting together, taking apart, and comparing whole numbers. We will use a part-part-whole model frequently in Topic 1.
Learning to represent addition involves language development - both the verbal and symbolic language of mathematics. Because the focus of this topic is not memorization, facts with sums of 9 or less are provided so that children can use simple counting strategies if needed to find the total.
We are currently on Topic 1: Understanding Addition. A math tool we will be using continuously throughout the school year includes a part-part-whole model. A part-part-whole model is used to display part-whole relationships and assist students in putting together, taking apart, and comparing whole numbers. We will use a part-part-whole model frequently in Topic 1.
Learning to represent addition involves language development - both the verbal and symbolic language of mathematics. Because the focus of this topic is not memorization, facts with sums of 9 or less are provided so that children can use simple counting strategies if needed to find the total.