Clementine

We have read two books from the Clementine series.  We can't wait to read the next three books.  Miss Dineen reads the books to us during snack time. 

Today we went to the author's website to learn more about her.  Her name is Sara Pennypacker.  She lives in Massachusetts.  We sent her an email to tell her how much we like her books!

Happy Birthday

We celebrated RS's 6th birthday. His mom and brother brought some treats and a funny book!

STAR Books Begin

The first STAR (Students Together Are Responding) book will begin its rotations today. In the front of the book there are a list of discussion questions for you and your child to use after reading the "Jungle Bullies" book.

Please keep the book for a night or two and then return it to school so that others can have a turn.

A Peek at the Week of September 17-21

There is no school on Monday in honor of the Rosh Hashanah holiday.

The school year feels like it is really underway now!  Following the routines and schedules is becoming more automatic. 

Reading Workshop:  This week we will work on previewing a book as a comprehension tool.  We will be discussing how "strong readers" use the title and cover artwork to get themselves ready to read.  We will also learn the technizue of a 'picture walk' which is when you use the pictures to tell yourself a story/make predictions about the story.

Some guiding questions you may want to use with your beginning readers: 
-What do you think of when you read the title? 
-What do you see on the cover?  What does it remind you of?
-What is happening in the pictures?  What do you think is going to happen?

Writing Workshop:  We began our "Small Moment" unit last week.  Our focus for last week was to write short stories about our families.  This week we will be writing friendship stories.  These small moment stories will be about a funny time with a friend, meeting a new friend, a memorable playdate, etc.  Basic sentence structure will be modeled.  We will also discuss ways to start a story.  Beginning a story is often the hardest part of the writing process. 

Word Work:  Last week was the first official week of our Word Study program.  In our classroom we call them "Rainbow Groups" because the groups are named after the six rainbow colors.  I apologize to the blue & purple groups.  I realized on Tuesday that the list I sent home was all pictures and no written words.  That was a mistake.  This week we should all be on track. 

Math Workshop:   This week's topics will include:  Comparing Numbers, Ordering Numbers, Describing Patterns, and Identifying the "repeat" of a Pattern.


Homework
Monday 9/17
1.  Read for at least 10 minutes

Tuesday 9/18
1.  Read for at least 10 minutes
2.  Fall Word Work

Wednesday 9/19
1.  Read for at least 10 minutes
2.  Math:  Scoops!  (patterns)

Thursday 9/20
1.  Read for at least 10 minutes
2.  Review words for tomorrow's spelling test

Have a great week!

Happy Birthday

CN's mom brought in a treat and shared a fun book!

Highlights of the Week September 14

•  In art we made a group project called a collaboration.(WC)
• We went to meet the new Spanish teachers.  (RC)
• We learned lots of songs in music.  (MD)
• On Tuesday we had our class pictures taken.  (AD)
• In gym we played Pinball.  (WD)
• We are learning to be Strong Readers during Reading Workshop.  (SD)
• Recess was awesome this week because the weather was awesome.  (GG)
• In art we learned how to make our drawings better and better.  (LM)
• I learned how to play Mancala.  (GM)
• This afternoon we are going to celebrate my birthday! (CN) 
• In gym we ran really fast to not be out of our warm up.  (BO)
• In gym we ran outside in two big laps.  (GP)
• We did the pacer test in gym.  (DP)
• We went to music and sang lots of songs.  (MRS)
• Recess was fun.  Some kids played a pretend game.  (RS)
• We got new sections on our Reading Workshop binders.  (AS)
• We went book shopping in our classroom.  (VS)
• We went to gym and did new games.  (LS)
• We picked out good books in our classroom.  The books are called "Just Right" books.  (ES)
• Just Right books are perfect for you to read.  They are not too hard and not too easy, but Just Right.  (BT)
• This week we had our first fire drill practice.  (BV) 
• This afternoon we are going to have visitors during Math Workshop.  (WB)
• We wrote family stories during Writing Workshop.  (JB)

Computer Zone

Today we will try out a brand new math program called Dreambox.  We are going to work with Ms. Hefeld, the district technology coordinator, who will teach us how to get started with this program.