February Update

It is hard to believe we are almost at the end of February!  We have been working on adding details and adjectives to our writing. 

Last week we worked on some informational writing.  We read about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  Ask your child to tell you some important facts about each president.  We did a class writing about Washington.  The kids then did an independent writing about Abe Lincoln.

Thank you to all the parents who joined us for a Valentine party.  It is always a day the kids look forward to.  Thanks for making it such a fun day.  Check out our pictures of us working hard with our buddies and having fun at our party!

Delays, Delays, Delays

I am starting to wonder if we will ever have a full week of school!  This has been a crazy, cold winter.  I feel like I am "tweaking" our schedule everyday.  I am going to try to get back into a routine and post once or twice a week to the blog.  Right now, we are all having a hard time getting back into a routine.

I am not sending a homework sheet anymore.  I felt like it was a little waste of paper.    Instead, I will send an email each week with the homework listed.  Let me know if you have questions.

Here are a few things we are working on in Room 4:
*  Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives
*  Long vowels-spelling words are getting a little harder.  I told the kids they may need to spend a few extra minutes each week studying for the spelling test on Friday.
*  Asking questions when we read-I hope you have all taken some time to read through the information I sent home for reading homework.  We are working on retelling a story with details so kids should be able to tell characters, setting, details of what happened, problem, solution, etc.  The more they practice, they better they will get.  I appreciate the support at home. 

Please continue to work on the Fluency folder each week.  I am seeing a big jump in many scores.  It truly has helped all kids.  Thanks again for taking on this roll at home.

Hopefully this cold weather will be on its way out soon.  Until then, stay warm!!

Busy in Room 4

I apologize if you have wondered what has been going on in Room 4.  It has been a busy few weeks and the kids have worked hard.  Here is a quick summary  of  some things we have been working on:

Writing:

• We created an editing checklist together.  Everyone has a writing goal that they work on each day as they are doing independent writing.  Some things on our checklist are: 

           1.  I used neat handwriting.
           2.  My sentences make sense
           3.  I used correct punctuation.
           4.  I started each sentence with a capital letter.
           5.  I can write a paragraph with 5 or more sentences.
           6.  I use the word wall to help me spell words.

Reading:

• We are working hard on retelling a story with lots of details.  We do whole class retelling of some of the big books we read in shared reading. It is a little more difficult to do independently.  As you are reading with your child at home, stop periodically throughout the story and ask some questions.   Who are the characters?  What is the setting of the story?  What is the problem?  How did the problem get solved? 
• If you are reading a nonfiction book, ask these questions:  What is the topic?  What is the main idea?  What are some supporting details?  What are some key vocabulary words?  What are some text features they used?  (maps, bold words, captions, etc.)

Science: 

• We are finishing up a unit on liquids.  We have been reading and working with different liquids to see how they are the same and different.  We have been talking about properties of liquids.  The kids have learned some big vocabulary words.  Ask your child to tell you what these words mean:  translucent, transparent, viscous.   They are real scientists!

Check out our pictures below as the kids did some partner reading and retelling together!

Hard at Work

Each day during our guided reading groups, the kids rotate through Daily 5 stations.  They are doing one of the following things:  listening to reading, reading to self, working on writing, doing word work, or reading with a buddy.  Check out these hard workers!

Happy Halloween!

All day today I was asked, "Are we going to do fun stuff today?"  I said, "I thought we did fun stuff everyday!"  I guess they were wanting some sort of a party.  Unfortunately, we don't do Halloween parties but I did try to make the day fun for them.  We had drawings throughout the day for fun prizes. 

The kids are pretty good at making connections when they read so we read The Littlest Pumpkin.  The littlest pumpkin was disappointed because he thought no one was going to pick him for Halloween.  The kids had to write about a time they were disappointed.  They did a great job!  Be sure to stop by and check them out.  They will be hanging outside our door.  As we were reading, we made some predictions along the way.  So...we had to wear our super silly prediction glasses to help us think.  Don't they look so cute! 

The Last Couple of Weeks

Did you wonder what happened to us???  I am at that point where I feel like I am always about 5 steps behind.  I promise we are working very hard in Room 4.  I thought maybe I should find a few minutes to share the fun stuff we have been doing.   Last week (or maybe even the week before) we were so lucky to be able to attend the Carmel High School Homecoming Parade.  That is always something we look forward to. The kids had a great time...and it gets them out of the classroom for a little while:)  Here are a few pictures from that fun day!