Reader's Workshop
In reader's workshop we have been practicing identifying why an author wrote a text and giving specific examples from the text to support our inference. Like readers who choose to read various texts with a purpose in mind, authors also have a main purpose for writing a text. Discovering and identifying the clues to determine what the reader thinks the author's purpose is for writing the selection helps the reader infer the meaning and decide how to approach the text. Authors usually don't tell readers why they wrote their selections; the readers have to figure that out and give evidence from the text to support their thinking. The three types of author's purpose we have been focusing on include persuade, inform, and entertain.
Reader's Theater
Reader's theater is play scripts that students can perform in the classroom without the need for props, costumes, or a set. According to research, reader's theater scripts are an excellent way to promote fluency. By using reader's theater scripts, we encourage students to read with expression and to practice important fluency attributes, such as pause, inflection, and intonation. We have begun to implement reader's theater into guided reading groups to give students essential practice in oral reading fluency as well as to build confidence in their presentation skills.
Phonics
Challenge your child to read the following words: bolt mold bind most child mind host fold mild jolt | In phonics we have been learning about closed syllable exceptions. As the students have previously learned, a closed syllable includes only one vowel that is closed in by one or more consonants and the vowel is short (ex. stomp). Similarly, a closed vowel exception includes only one vowel that is closed in by one or more consonants, but the vowel is long (ex. cold). There are five exceptions to closed syllables. The exceptions are also referred to as glued sounds. However, even exceptions sometimes have exceptions! While syllables with -ost and -ind are often pronounced with a long vowel sound like in the words post and kind, sometimes the vowel is short such as in the words cost and wind (as in air blowing). |
Writer's Workshop
The goal when teaching procedural writing is to help students write with their audience in mind providing explicit details and careful sequencing to allow the reader to successfully complete the task. The students are working on finishing their final drafts of How To Build a Snowman, which includes a title, materials page, illustrations, and step by step instructions. Many students are now in the process of writing his/her own procedural text using the conventions we explored and then practiced as a class. Next up is persuasive writing!
Math
In math, we wrapped up Topic 5: Addition Facts to 20. After reviewing doubles, doubles plus 1, and making 10 to add, we began learning how to add three numbers. Adding three numbers in any order is possible because of the grouping property, or associative property of addition. Because the order in which you add the numbers doesn't matter, children can choose two addends at a time, applying any strategy that works for them.
This week we will begin Topic 6: Subtraction Facts to 20. In Topic 4, students used the relationship between addition and subtraction to solve problems. In this topic, children extend their understanding of this relationship to larger numbers. For example, to find 13 - 5, children can think "5 plus what number equals 13?" This thinking is possible because of the inverse relationship of addition and subtraction. If a + b = c, then c - b = a and c - a = b. Think addition is a powerful way to think about subtraction facts. If the relationship between parts and wholes is understood, subtraction facts will be much easier to master.
100th Day of School!
We finally reached the 100th day of school! To celebrate, the students participated in numerous activities. In math we counted the total number of items we collected for the food drive. To do so, we divided our items and broke up into small groups. The students then skip counted their pile of items by 2s, 5s, and 10s. After, we came together as a class and added our group totals to find out how many items we collected in all. We collected well over 100 items for the food drive!
The students also completed a 100 day writing activity, drawing activity, and additional math activity.
The students also completed a 100 day writing activity, drawing activity, and additional math activity.