Curriculum Update

Language Arts

·      Writers’ Workshop – Journal entries each week are about something true – a memory, a place, an activity, an object, a favorite anything.  We discuss the different ideas authors choose to write about as we read books in our classroom.

·      Guided Reading – The sight words, “I”, “a”, “the”, “it”, and “is” have been introduced.  Thank you for sending back the word rings by Wednesday so we have them ready for our Guided Reading time on Thursday.  The children have four of the paper copy books in their “Good Fit” book bags which they practice reading during our Daily Five Reading time.  Now that we have enough books to work with and more are regularly introduced, I will be asking the children to pick one book each week that they feel they have practiced enough and would like to bring home.  This book can be kept in a collection of books at home for their continued practice.

·      The children are very excited about reading in our classroom.  I have been implementing components from The Daily Five by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser into our classroom routine.  The Daily Five provides a structure for teaching reading which fosters literacy independence in the early grades.   We first talked about how to select a “good fit” book.  The children each have a special bag in which to keep these books.  A “good fit” book is one chosen by the child because of interest or a specific purpose.  The child should be able to comprehend what is happening in the book even if they are primarily “reading” the pictures or retelling a story which they have heard before.  At least three of the books in their bags must be books in which the child can read most of the words so they can practice fluency.  After working on book selection, we moved on to establishing a routine for “Read to Self” time.  During this time, the children take their book bags to a spot by themselves, they get started reading right away, they read quietly the whole time, and they stay in their spot.  We discussed the importance of building up stamina and being able to read independently for longer periods of time.  During this time, the children know that my job is to read with children.  Because the rest of the class is working quietly and independently, I will be free to work with small reading groups and individual children.  The next aspect of the program is called “Read to Someone”.  There are specific goals beyond what we have previously done with partner reading.  I will be introducing “Read to Someone” in the near future and will share more details later.  I am very proud of how well the children are doing with “Read to Self” time.

·       Fundations – We have been working on the letters Tt, Bb, Ff, Mm, Nn, Ii, and Uu.  Each day the children work on identifying these letters and sounds and on forming the letters through a variety of different activities.  We have been learning how to identify how many words there are in a sentence, how to begin and end a sentence, and how to change a word(s) in a sentence.

Math

·      We have been working on reading and writing the numerals 1 – 9, using 1-1 correspondence to build and count out the correct number of objects to match the numerals.

·      We worked on pairing sets of objects with other sets of the same quantity.

·      Calendar Math provides us with rich mathematical discussions.  We are learning to recognize numeral dot patterns on dominoes 0 – 9.   We add to a collection of objects in the Daily Depositor each day which helps us learn about place value and develop an understanding of ones and tens.  Graphing has also been introduced.  We continue to practice days of the week, date on the calendar, and numberline activities.

·      We practice the correct formation of numerals.

Science and Health

· We have discussed what a scientist does and have worked on developing our observation skills.  We learned how to use a magnifying glass and recorded what we observed.  We will be starting our unit on the Senses.

· We have been discussing safety rules, specifically, the importance of knowing name, address, and phone number, going places with a buddy, and checking first before going places or making changes in our plans. Class meetings will now focus on developing an understanding of the 4 rules in our Olweus bullying prevention program.

Literacy Centers

·      We have done fall activities, including school buses, apples, and leaves.

·      Future literacy center work will include activities about the community of Topsfield and community helpers.  We will also be doing activities for Halloween.

Homework

While homework will be sent home weekly throughout the year, it is not necessary for it to be returned to school the very next day.  We do like children to get into the habit and routine of doing homework and returning it to school.  However, we understand that it may not always be possible to complete homework the night it is received.

Looking Ahead

Our Halloween parade and party will be on the afternoon of Thursday, October 30th.  On this day, please send in your child’s costume in a bag with his or her name on it.  No weapons of any sort are permitted with your child’s costume.  The Halloween parade will begin at 2:00 in the front of the school.  Following the parade, we will return to the classroom for our party.  Room mothers may be contacting you regarding items needed.