Welcome Back!

What a great first week back the children had!  They settled into routines quickly and picked up right where they left off.

This week during Reading Workshop we:

• reviewed expectations for read-to-self and buddy reading time.
• reviewed that readers get their minds ready to read a book by doing a picture walk.
• learned that when there is one vowel in a word and it is in the middle of the word, it makes the short vowel sound.
• reviewed that readers make sure what they think a word is matches what the word looks like.
• learned that in pattern books, sometimes the author changes the pattern in the end to make it the opposite of what the rest of the book was about.

This week during Writing Workshop we launched our small moment unit.  We learned that:

• writers can think of something they've done and write about it.
• writers can get ready to write by telling their story across their fingers.
• writers pick one small moment to write about instead of telling everything they did in a day.
• writers can write their story across several pages.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

We also did our midyear writing prompt this week.  Students had to write a story, without any help from a teacher, about something they've done.  At conferences next month, we will look at the writing prompt from the second day of school and compare it to this writing prompt.  The growth is impressive!

This week during Math we:

• practiced measuring using paper cutouts of our feet.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• practiced counting tally marks and using tally marks to show a given number.
• played a game to help us practice addition facts.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• played a game in which we built two-digit numbers using base ten blocks (tens and ones).
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Enjoy the weekend with your amazing children!
Katie