Happy December!

Where has the time gone?!?  It's hard to believe we've been in school for close to 60 days.  With December comes new units of study in reading and writing.  Both units involve a focus on pattern books.    We got a head start on these units last week.

In Reading last week we:

• learned that most of the books we are reading have a pattern that is followed on every page.
• learned that once we figure out the pattern on the first page, we can read the rest of the book!
• practiced taking picture walks through books to get our minds ready to read the words.  By looking at and talking about the pictures ahead of time, the children have an idea of what some of the words might say.
•  learned to use all our reading strategies to help us read books.  Children have a toolbox of strategies they can use such as looking at the pictures, getting their mouths ready by saying the first sound in a word, and rereading a sentence that we get stuck on.
• used sticky notes to mark new learning in a book that we can then share with our reading buddy.

 In Writing last week we:

• learned that we are authors just like the authors of the books in our classroom library.  The authors of the books in our library write pattern books, and we can too.
• wrote two class pattern big books: one with the pattern "We like to ______." and one with the pattern "We ________ at recess."  These books were added to our classroom library for children to read.
• brainstormed ideas for pattern book topics and discussed how we can look through the books in our library to come up with ideas for our books.
• wrote our own pattern books!
•  made a pattern book for a child who will be joining our class on Monday!  Each child made his/her own page for the book.

  In Math last week we:

• solved number stories.
• solved "pocket problems," which are pretty similar to number stories.  With "pocket problems" I put a certain amount of an object in a bag, such as 5 plastic bears.  I then add or take away a certain amount, and the children have to determine how many bears are in the bag.
• learned about probability terms certain, possible, likely, unlikely, and impossible.  The children had a lot of fun coming up with events that are impossible.  I really got a glimpse of those creative minds!
• practiced measuring objects using linking cubes.  After measuring objects, students compared their lengths and ordered them from shortest to longest. 

December book orders were sent home this past week.  They are due back on Friday, December 7 so you can receive the books before our holiday break.  As a reminder, you can order the books online.  You can access the website directly through this blog by clicking on the tab above.

Have a lovely week!
~Miss Dutremble