Updated -11/23
We had a great day...busy from beginning to end!
We shared time with with our third grade buddies this morning making our
indian headbands forthe feast tomorrow. We made an indian stick game and
learned how to play and score. We'll be taking it home on Tuesday so we can
take it along on Thanksgiving and teach others how to play!
All of our classroom decorations will be coming home tomorrow...and so
will supply boxes so that they can be cleaned out and refilled with supplies
which are needed to transform our room into CHRISTMAS.
Some supplies are needed for projects and were posted on the homework site
about 2 weeks ago. Please gather them over the holiday and send in NEXT week
by Friday, Dec.4. Thankyou!!!
Enjoy a no homework week...read with/to your child over this break so
they don't slide backwards, because that doesn't take long to happen.
FYI about reading
Reading today did cover a new story so that on Monday you can re-read the
stories that the children have praticed thus far in their reader. Oral
readingis an important component of the whole reading process. Reading
together in unison, sharing the text -each read a page, and reading alone all
will help to build a strong foundation for comprehension. Remember that
comprehension is linked with speed. Speed is the key piece to gaining story
meaning. That's why re-reading a story helps the children to interpret the
print better. That's also why expression gets better-because there's
ownership of the story line. Never understimate the power of re-reading a
story more than once or twice.
TRADE BOOKS on the other hand are to be read to broaden vocabulary, build
background and for enjoyment. These stories may be longer in length than the
READER stories, so they may only be read one time and you can talk about the
story, ask questions to prove understanding and build recall skills. Because
trade books have more information and text, they can be used for higher level
reading skills, like main idea, favorite character, problem in the story,
problem resolution, recall of facts...just to mention a few!
So when you are reading with your child remember that the reader is a book
they should be able to read smoothly with minimal intervention from you. The
TRADE BOOK may require you to share the story, read it TO your chld, or they
MAY be able to read it all by themselves (which is OUR GOAL FOR THE YEAR!!)
RESPONSE SHEETS FOR TRADE BOOKS should be getting more printing on them as
the childre expore the use of words they can spell and as their ability to
tell their OWN OPINION gets better. DRAWINGS on these sheets should also show
growth after almost 60 daysin 1st grade. People should have hair, clothing
non-stick-like figures, colored neatly and appropriate colors, background -
sky,sun, clouds, ect. All of these are areas that show EFFORT being put into
assignments. We talk things through in class before we work on a project and
the children konw the expectations. You'll need to raise the bar for the 2nd
quarter, knowing that the bar is being raised in the classroom too!
