The children have been hard at work as we tick down the days to the end of 2016!
Here is an update for you!
The children practiced writing Friendly Letters to the President, including the date, greeting, a friendly message, closing, and signature. They were so excited to address their envelopes to the White House and include their return address in the top left corner. Our fingers are crossed that we will receive a reply!
One reading skill we practiced during reader's workshop was identifying the mood and tone of the story. We looked for clues in the colors on the pages, the word choice of the author, illustrations, and carefully chosen punctuation. Another skill we worked on was looking carefully at the dialogue in a text to determine what deeper understanding we can pull from it. Sometimes the dialogue will expose the feelings or point of view of a character, or the dialogue could move us through the story by moving us from one scene to another. The dialogue also helps to bring the characters to life!
Mrs. Wasik stopped in to talk to our class about the concept of Sketch-noting. This is a great way to transfer verbal concepts into drawings that will help us deepen our understanding. She showed us that all we need to be able to do is draw straight lines and curved lines, and the pictures will evolve. The children loved practicing the idea of sketching their ideas to help them build and recall the big ideas we encounter.
During our writing lessons this week, we moved on from friendly letters to practicing writing invitations. We made sure to include who, what, where, why, and when, as well as any additional information our guests may need to know.
It was the week of code! The children LOVED coding using the apps Bee-Bot and Light Bot. The children were excited to "plan" the code, and then watch and see if it transpired the way it should! They would cheer when the code was correct! The children kept asking throughout the week when they could code again- feel free to have them practice at home, too!
The children reviewed briefly for their citizenship test! Here they are sorting the leaders of our town, state, and country government, and matching the groups of people that help them!
It was Isabella's week to shine as our star student! We were happy to welcome Mrs. Velazquez came in to demonstrate a really neat experiment showing us how baby diapers work. They poured the material that you can find inside a diaper into a cup, and then added water. We watched as the water was absorbed by this material and expanded into a fluffy type of substance. It was clear to see how the absorption of water would help to prevent spills!
We are so lucky to have such a bright, sweet, caring, and helpful student in our class this year! Isabella is the first person to jump up to help a friend or lend a hand. She brightens up our classroom every single day! You had a great week, Isabella!!
We took some time at the end of the week to reflect on our reading goals. We thought about how our past goals were progressing and rated this progress with a 1, 2, or 3. Some of us have achieved the goal! It was time to also think about a new goal we would like to work on. There have been so many wonderful new skills in reading workshop lately, it was hard to pick just one! It is great to strengthen the children's understanding of their own learning and to give them ownership through this goal setting process. It is amazing what kids can do when you let them try! They often achieve above and beyond expectations!
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