September 27, 2013
Language Arts
· Writer’s Workshop – In response to reading Wilfred
Gordon MacDonald Partridge by Mem Fox, the children wrote about a special
memory. After a lesson which modeled how
to listen for the beginning sound in a word and to label a picture, they were
asked to write at least one letter sound independently which described their
picture. The rest of their writing was
dictated. This week we wrote in our
journals about another special memory.
The children know that journal entries must be true. Again, the children wrote at least one
beginning letter sound to go with their picture. The rest of the entry was dictated.
· Guided Reading
· Fundations – We have been working on the
letters Tt, Ff, and Bb. The children
sorted objects beginning with B, T, and F.
They practiced writing the letters as well. This week we worked on Mm and Nn. Please continue to refer to your Home Support
Packet regarding important information about how you can help your child at
home. To help children practice fluency,
we used a letter fluency practice sheet.
The children pointed to each letter and said its name, continuing in a
left to right direction. We practiced
until we could say the letters accurately and quickly. As a variation, some of the children
practiced pointing to each letter and saying the letter sound. You may continue to practice this activity at
home. Fluency while reading is an
important skill which we will be working on all year long.
Math
· We have been working on important math
skills during our Calendar Math time each day – days of the week, months of the
year, counting, number recognition, vocabulary, and problem-solving.
· We have been working on the numbers 1 – 5,
recognition and number formation.
Vocabulary and routines for our new math program are being introduced
and established.
Science and Health
· We are learning how to use our observation
skills like a scientist. We have been
recording things we have observed, making sure to include important
details.
· We reviewed the importance of the buddy
system.
· The children were introduced to Olweus, our
bullying prevention program. After a
discussion of what the term bullying means, the children were introduced to the
first rule of bullying, “We will not bully others.” Students understand that bullying is being
mean or hurtful on purpose, it happens over and over again, and it involves an
imbalance of power. We will have weekly
class meetings to discuss the four rules of bullying prevention and will have
many opportunities to discuss and role-play what to do to prevent bullying and
what to do if ever in a situation where bullying is involved.
Literacy Centers
·
We
illustrated an apple poem in which we needed to recognize several color
words.
· We did a fine motor activity using a push
pin to outline a picture of an apple.
· We worked on our cutting skills as well as
our understanding of story sequence as we illustrated a short poem about what
happens when we eat an apple.
Volunteers
Many thanks to all
who have volunteered to help in our classroom.
In case you did not sign up to volunteer but think you might want to
consider helping at some point this year, here are the volunteer times:
Monday – Writer’s
Workshop 9:45 – 10:30
Friday – Literacy
Centers 9:45 – 10:30
Please do not feel
you need to commit to every week. Let me
know your availability, and I will fit you into a schedule. If you would like to volunteer to help at
some point this year but can’t make any of these times, please let me know and
we can work something out. If you plan
on volunteering in our classroom at any point this year, even as a chaperone,
please go to the office to complete a CORI form. This process does not take a long time. Just bring a license with you when you come.
I am working on a volunteer
schedule for October and will send it home this week. Volunteers will start the week of October 7th. Going forward, if people know in advance
which dates will work best for them each month please let me know. Also, it would be helpful for all volunteers
to have a listing of phone numbers and e-mail addresses in the event you would
like to switch your volunteer time.
Please let me know if I can include your information on a master list of
volunteers.
We are off to a
great start! I look forward to working
with you this year.
