Classroom Newsletter Oct. 25, 2013

Language Arts

Writers’ Workshop – The word “to” was introduced.  We now know I, a, the, is, it, in, and to.  The children continue to work on stretching out words to see how many sounds they can hear.  We also did a fun writing activity after reading Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley.  We created our own monster and then wrote about one thing we wanted people to notice.  We are learning that good writers “paint a picture” in the reader’s mind by using descriptive words.

Guided Reading – We reviewed the sight words listed above.  Word rings will come home on Tuesdays.  Thank you for practicing sight word recognition with your child at home.  Please continue to send these word rings back to school by the following Monday so that I may add new words.  A new book is introduced each week which focuses on the sight words introduced.  The children practice reading to themselves and to a partner.  We talk about how repeated practice improves fluency.  Each week the children choose one book to bring home which they have been practicing at school and would like to share with you.  Paper copies of books brought home may be kept at home, so that children can build a collection of “just right” books both at home and at school.

Fundations – On a daily basis, we drill the letter sounds introduced – t, b, f, m, n, a, c, i, u, o, g.  We practice hearing these sounds at the beginning of words, generating words of our own as well.  We work on recognizing these letters in different fonts, so that we will always recognize them in our reading.  We also review previously learned letters through sorting activities and letter fluency practice sheets.  I find these sheets very helpful and encourage you to review letter recognition and sound recognition at home.  We “sky write” and use mini- whiteboards to practice these letters, learning where the letters start and which letters begin in a similar fashion (ie. a, c, o, g, and d are plane line round letters).  We look at sentence writing, reinforcing where we use capital letters and periods.  Every week the children hear a story about “Echo the Owl”.  We work on our comprehension skills as we retell the beginning, middle, and end of the story, recalling characters, setting, problem, and solution.

Phonemic Awareness – We continued work on sorting words having one, two, or three syllables.  We did a special syllable activity with Halloween words.  

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.
• We worked on the concept of more than, less than, and the same as.  Using counters, we showed a target number and then changed the quantity to be one more, one less, or the same as.
• Calendar Math continues to provide us with rich mathematical   discussions each day.  We are learning to recognize numeral dot patterns on dominoes 0 – 9.   We added to a collection of objects in the Daily Depositor each day which helped 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.

Science and Health

• We began talking about our five senses.  This week we focused on exploring our sense of sight.  Children mixed colors using food coloring and water as well as playdoh.  They explored prisms, kaleidoscopes, and color paddles.
• We discussed how our senses help us learn.

 Literacy Centers

• We did several Halloween activities.  The children made a Halloween color word book.  They worked on a Halloween syllable graph.  We made a class book of what we would be on Halloween.  The children dictated their sentence to me and then had to cut out each word, scramble their sentence and put it back in the correct order on their paper.  They are learning to use sight words they know as well as beginning sounds to help them as they learn to read.

THANK YOU

Many thanks to Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Rudynai and Mrs. Smith for joining us on our field trip last week.  We had fun learning about our community!

Halloween Party

Our Halloween parade and party will be on the afternoon of Thursday, October 31st.  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.  Families are welcome to join us in our classroom after the parade.

Class Pictures

I have pictures to begin posting on our classroom blog but am waiting for the complete set of permission slips.  I will send home extra copies next week.

October 11, 2013

Language Arts

• Writers’ Workshop – The children have written about favorite memories of the Topsfield Fair and other fun fall activities.  Journal entries each week will be 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 – We reviewed the sight words, “I”, “a”, “the”, “it”, “is” and introduced the word “in”.  Thank you for sending back the word rings by Monday so we have them ready for our Guided Reading time on Tuesday.  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 have been 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 a new aspect of our reading program.  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” soon and will share more details later.  I am very proud of how well the children are doing with this new program and am excited by the possibilities it opens up for our daily reading time.

• Fundations – We have been working on the letters Tt, Bb, Ff, Mm, Nn, Ii, Uu, Cc and Oo.  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 continue to work on important skills during our calendar time.  Several activities help to develop an understanding of tens and ones.  The children continue to enjoy the "challenge" questions we ask each day.
• We have been working with the numbers 1 - 10 and doing activities using vocabulary such as "more than, less than, greater than, fewer than".  Children are often asked to explain their mathematical thinking.  They are beginning to realize that there is more than one way to solve a problem and enjoy sharing new ideas.
As always we continue to practice numeral writing.

Science and Health

• We continued working on our observation skills as we went on a leaf walk and then drew detailed pictures of the leaves we collected.
• We have been discussing the 4 rules in our Olweus bullying prevention program.  We will not bully others.  We will help students who are being bullied.  We will include students who are left out.  If we see someone being bullied we will tell an adult at home and an adult at school.

Literacy Centers

• In preparation for our field trip, we did several different activities exploring the community of Topsfield.
• Thank you in advance for helping the children to complete the family activity about a favorite place in their community.

Looking Ahead

Our Halloween parade and party will be on the afternoon of Thursday, October 31st.  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.