Happy Holidays!

What a fun, busy week we had!  We learned about winter holidays and traditions, made gingerbread houses, performed our Gingerbread Baby play, and had pajama day.  Below is a snapshot of our week.  I hope you all enjoy this holiday season with your family and friends.

Warmly,
Katie

More Gingerbread!

We are fully immersed in our Gingerbread Man unit!  This week, we spent time practicing our Gingerbread Baby play.  We read The Gingerbread Girl and compared it to other versions of this tale.  Friday afternoon, we worked on a special gingerbread man/woman activity. 

This week during Reading Workshop we:

• learned that rereading a text helps improve our reading fluency.
• learned about Flippy Dolphin, a strategy that reminds us to try both vowel sounds in a word we don't know (if one vowel sound doesn't work, flip it and try the other vowel sound).
• reviewed that readers pay attention to the words and the pictures because the pictures tell us parts of the story that the words might not.
• learned to ask ourselves three questions when we think we have figured out a word: Does it look right?  Does it sound right?  Does it make sense?
• reviewed that when you are stuck on a word, you can go back to a page you know, get a running start, and reread up to the part you are stuck on.  Sometimes, getting a running start is all we need!

This week during Writing Workshop we finished publishing our pattern books.  We learned to edit our books for correct spelling of word wall words.  We reviewed that the pictures need to look accurate and help our reader figure out the word that changes on each page.  On Monday, we will share our books with one another.

This week during Math we:

• learned about measuring.  We learned that long ago before rulers and other measuring tools were invented, people could have used body parts to measure.  We used paper cutouts of our feet to practice measuring tables in our classroom.
• practiced subitizing. 
• built paper gingerbread houses out of different shapes.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• colored a mystery number grid picture.  Students started with a number grid and had to listen to my directions about what color to use to color different numbers.  When we were done, the children saw Rudolph on their number grids! 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Next week will be very busy.  We will make gingerbread houses on Wednesday, perform our Gingerbread Baby play on Thursday, and have pajama day on Friday.  We will also spend time learning more about winter holidays and traditions.  I can't wait!

Have a nice weekend!
Katie

The Gingerbread Man

Last week during Reading Workshop, we launched our Gingerbread Man unit.  Throughout this unit, we will read several different versions of The Gingerbread Man.  Through these books, we learn more about characters and the beginning, middle, and end of a story.  We will spend time comparing and contrasting the different books.

Last week, we read The Gingerbread Man, by Jim Aylesworth, The Gingerbread Baby, by Jan Brett, and The Gingerbread Bear, by Robert Dennis.  We learned that, although the books follow a very similar pattern, they have several characters that are different and they end differently.  This week, we will read The Gingerbread Cowboy and The Gingerbread Girl.

During Reading Workshop last week we also learned that:

• readers get ready to read a book by looking at the pictures.
• readers get better at reading by rereading the same book multiple times.
• there are five letters in the alphabet called vowels.  These letters make two sounds.

During Writing Workshop last week we:

• learned that writers can write an opinion pattern book.  They can think of something they like or dislike and write reasons why in a pattern.
• reviewed that some sounds are made with more than one letter.  
• chose a book that we want to publish.
• learned about editing.  I gave children an editing checklist and we edited our chosen book for finger spaces, capital letters at the beginning of each sentence, and punctuation at the end of each sentence.  This week, we will edit our books for correct spelling of word wall words.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Last week during Math we:

• reviewed shape attributes and played a game called Find the Block.
  
• played Guess my Number.  Children were given several clues to help them determine the mystery number.
• played Monster Squeeze, a game to help us practice comparing numbers with "greater than" or "less than."
• worked on building patterns with craft sticks.  We recorded these patterns in our new math journals.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Last week during Science we continued our study of rocks.  We spent time looking closely at river rocks and sorted them by different attributes.

For the next two weeks, we will spend time talking about winter holidays and traditions.  I look forward to learning about your family traditions.

Best,
Katie

We are Kind and Helpful!

This week, the children learned that one way we can be kind and helpful is by donating items to a local food bank.  As children have brought in their donations, we have counted the items and graphed the number of items donated by our class.  Families, thank you for all the donations you have been made!

This week during Reading Workshop we:

• learned to read a shared text, I am Thankful.  We reviewed that readers point crisply under each word as they read, and they hop from one word to the next.
• used the book I am Thankful to learn the words "am," "for," and "my."  We also used this text to play "guess the covered word."  Children used the pictures to think of words that could make sense for the covered word.  We then uncovered the word to determine which word matched.  This lesson helped children practice using Eagle Eye (pictures), Lips the Fish (saying the first sound in the word), Stretchy Snake (saying all the sounds in a word), and thinking of what would make sense.
• learned that when we get stuck on a word, we can go back to the part we know and reread it to get a running start.
• learned that readers can use sticky notes to mark how a part of a story made them feel.  We can share those parts with our buddy during buddy reading.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

This week during Writing Workshop we:

• learned that the last page in a pattern book can be different than the rest, just like the pattern books we read.
• learned that since pattern books have the same words on each page except for one or two words that change, we should be able to write at least one book every day.  Many of the words in our pattern books are on our word wall.
• learned that when we are having trouble thinking of a topic to write about, we can browse through the pattern books in our classroom library to get ideas.
• added to the I am Thankful book we read during reading workshop.  Children wrote two pages about what they are thankful for.
• reviewed that the pictures in our pattern books need to help our readers figure out the changing word on each page. 
  
  
  

This week during Math we:

• practiced counting-on as an addition strategy.  Children rolled two dice, named the die with more dots, then counted on from there.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• noticed patterns on a number-grid.  Through our observations and discussions, the children learned that when you go across a row, the digit in the tens' place stays the same while the digit in the ones' place increases by one (except for the last box which changes to the next decade).  When you move down a column, the digit in the ones' place stays the same while the digit in the tens' place increases by one ten.
• practiced reading and finding two-digit numbers on a number grid.  Children worked on using the patterns they learned about the number grid to find numbers efficiently. 
  
   
• practiced solving subtraction number stories and writing the corresponding number models.
• used Cuisenaire Rods to learn about the visual representation of numbers 1-10.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

This week during Science we continued our study of rocks.  Our little scientists did an experiment in which they observed what happened to three different types of rocks when they were immersed in water.  They then compared the dry rocks to the wet rocks.   They love science time!!

Since we only have two days of school next week, I will not post to the blog next week.  My next post will be at the end of the school week that follows Thanksgiving break.  I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends.  I am so thankful to be the teacher of so many amazing children!

Thankfully,
Katie