Isn’t this warm Spring weather nice? It is so great to see and hear the students’ excitement about their new outdoor activities. They have so much to share after recess every day as they explore new games together. Last week Team Harmony went for a walk on the bike path, looking for signs of Spring and enjoying each other’s company. The sun sure felt great! I hope you and your child have had a chance to visit our KidBlog for all the amazing posts about the different signs of Spring we have found. Thank you!
This week in Reader’s Workshop, the students continued investigating non-fiction elements. They continued receiving direct instruction and practice in non-fiction reading in our guided reading groups, which we call Book Clubs. They also continued looking for non-fiction elements in magazines and articles that we now have in our classroom for everyday use. The students really enjoy reading “National Geographic for Kids” and the magazine “My Big Backyard.” Since we have no school next week, the students will take home their books on Friday. Please check their backpacks as some students might have left their Book Bags at home. We will pack extra books as well, and the students will have some additional free choice and also some extra “Just Right books” that we have not read together in class yet. They will also take home their Personal Readers. The Personal Reader is for fluency practice. Please encourage your child to read and re-read the fun poems and songs. Thank you.
In Writer’s Workshop, the students continued working on revising and editing their creative narratives. In this process, the students add extra interesting details and choose a variety of words as they tell their stories. They also check on COPS. We are almost ready for publication. These stories will be unveiled at our team-wide Reading Restaurant on June 2nd (tentative date). More information regarding our Reading Restaurant will follow as we get closer but this week, the students on our team visited Horizon House for their annual Reading Restaurant. Instead of serving food, Horizon House “served” stories that the students have written throughout the year. We were seated and presented with a menu of different stories. They had waiters and waitresses taking our “orders”. We could leave a “tip” to the author by writing comments about their writing pieces. We can’t wait to do our own Reading Restaurant!
In math, we have continued our probes in math fluency. As a class, we discuss the importance of not sharing the results with other kids on our team as all children learn at different rates. The results are between the child, the parents and the classroom teacher. Please discuss this at home with your child so we can teach tolerance and kindness to all. If there are any concerns or questions, please feel free and contact me.
Lastly, I am sending home “Vacation Journals” this week. These are voluntary. If your child wishes to write and draw about his/her time off from school, we would gladly hear about it when we return. Of course, your child can stay in touch with everybody through our KidBlog page. I am looking forward to reading many new and exciting posts next week. There are also many interactive books and poems on our podcasting and wiki sites. Click here for the podcasting site containing poems and audio books. (Links on the left) Click here for the wiki. (Interactive read alouds are in literacy). Please explore these next week.
When we return we have a new 1st grade girl join our classroom. We are so excited to have a new friend join our learning community. Today, we were busy making a “Welcome” card. We also had the classroom re-arranged to fit another desk. Thank you Wayne for helping us move furniture around late last night. You are the best!
Have a great rest of the week and a restful vacation.
Regards,
Maria McCormack
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