Spirit Week

What a fun week it was with all of the spirit days!  I have lots of little Hoosiers in my class (that makes me happy)!  Don't worry...I still love those Purdue fans too!  It is great to see the kids have so much fun with spirit week.

Today was a great end to the week.  Our goal was to raise $2000 for our school fundraiser.  The goal was met and Mrs. Klinginsmith was a great sport!  We ended the day at the Homecoming parade.  The kids always look forward to it!

Group Work

Our Social Studies unit this week is:  How Can We Learn From Each Other?
We had a great discussion about how we all work together and learn from one another.  One activity we did today was to find out similarities and differences between our classmates.  The kids had to walk around and ask their classmates questions to find out more about them.  We then talked about how some of us are really good at some things and not so good at other things and that is how we can help each other.  Look at these students hard at work!

Homecoming Spirit Week

Next week is both Homecoming at CHS and GO College Week!  We will support both with some spirit days Wednesday-Friday.  Mark your calendars:

WEDNESDAY (9/23)-Workout Wednesday
Wear your comfy athletic clothes!

THURSDAY (9/24)-Go College!  Support your favorite college!  Wear your favorite college shirt.

FRIDAY (9/25)-Blue and Gold Day!  
Wear your blue and gold and get ready to cheer on the CHS Hounds during the Homecoming parade.

So Much to Share!

Wow!  We have been so busy in Room 4 that I  haven't updated my blog as much as I wanted to.  So...here is what has been going on.

Reading
We learned about setting and characters.  We have read many books and described the setting.  One book I read was Giggle, Giggle Quack by Doreen Cronin.  The kids were then asked to draw a picture to represent the setting. They all did a great job!  Here are a few of our awesome artists:

We also learned to make inferences when we read.  Ask your child what it means to infer.  This is what they learned:  

               Schema + clues from the book = inference

This is a hard skill. We will continue to work on this throughout the year.

Learning New Vocabulary

Our shared reading unit is all about families.  As we read different stories throughout the unit we discuss vocabulary words and their meanings.  This week the kids worked with a partner to practice these words.  They have to use the word in a sentence which shows if they understand the meaning of the word.

Super Spellers!

Spelling is a little different than it has been in the past.  We no longer do a "weekly" Friday spelling test.  We use the Orton Gillingham approach which is a mulit-sensory approach to teach spelling.  Using this approach not only helps kids with spelling but also reading and writing.  I went to a week long training last summer to learn all about the "OG " approach.  I left the training and could not wait to get started!  It opened my eyes to a whole new way of teaching reading, writing, and spelling to my students.  Last year was the first year we incorporated this approach into our 1st grade daily routines and I was amazed at how quickly the kids caught on to the different spelling rules.  Last year I had some of the best spellers, readers, and writers.
Each week you will receive 5 words on yellow cards.  Those are what we call our "Learned Words" or "High Frequency Words."  These are words that occur frequently in reading and most are words that cannot be sounded out.  They are words kids need to commit to memory.  Please cut these out and keep them on a ring or a ziploc bag so they can be practiced throughout the year.  Have the kids spell them,  write them, and look for them in their daily reading.  You will also be receiving a list of "Words to Read" twice a week (usually Monday and Wednesday).  These are words that go along with the spelling pattern or skill we are teaching or patterns we have already learned.   They are words your kids should be able to sound out.  For example, we just finished teaching the digraphs-sh, th, ch, wh.  The kids should recognize words with these digraphs and know that they make one sound together.  We do written spelling work twice a week to to practice what we are learning.  We will send this work home about once a month so you can see the progress.  Memorization of a list of words each week does not help children to become better spellers.  Application in their daily work and writing is where you see true progress.  Please continue to practice the words we send home each week.  It just helps to reinforce what we are teaching in the classroom.

Colts Day and Superhero Day

First...thanks to all for showing your support for the Colts!  Love to see the blue and white!

Thanks to everyone who participated in Superhero day to help lift the spirits of a very special little boy who was supposed to start kindergarten this year at Cherry Tree but couldn't due to his cancer diagnosis.  It is great to see how a community can come together to help others!

Mrs. Selm and her 2nd grade son

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First grade super powers!