Here Are My Eyes!

Below is our performance of the poem of the week!



Math with Someone

This week during math we practiced an activity that I will put into our Math with Someone basket for Daily 5 Math. The students each had a set of ten manipulatives and a stack of cards with the numbers 0-10 written on them. They were to pull a card from the stack, identify the number and add that many of their manipulatives together. Before they moved to the next card, they counted how many manipulatives together and then started over!

 

Word Work!

We have started Working with Words a.k.a. Word Work during our Daily 5 block. The favorite choice seems to be using the dry erase boards to practice writing upper and lower case letters, sight words, class names and words found around the room. The second choice has been using the magnetic letter pans and creating sight words and words around the room using the letters. We created an I-Chart to go along with Word Work and I had several students model good and poor choices when choosing this choice. The students have enjoyed having a third choice during our Daily 5 rotations.

Shopping for Books!

Today was our second chance to "shop" for books to keep in our book boxes for Read to Self. In the beginning, I am doing somewhat of a modified version of my ultimate plan for shopping for books. Today, each student took two books out of their book box to go into the store. We then took turns finding a good fit book to choose for our book box. Students have modeled and practice what finding a good fit book means and know what to look for when choosing books. For the most part, the biggest reason they choose a book at this point in the year is by answering the question "Does it interest me?" If the answer to that question is "Yes!" then they have found a good fit book to read!

Number Recognition & Counting

During our 60 minute math block, we have been working on several key items so far this year. One of the big concepts has to do with number recognition and counting. Every day towards the end of our math block, I have students find the corresponding number and color combination at their seats. Each table has a tub of maninulatives and are to count out the correct number and color that I have posted on the board. When they have found all three colors/numbers, they raise their hand and count each group for me. They are then allowed to "play", or as I call it "explore" with the manipulatives unti all the students have been checked.

CAFE Strategies

Below are pictures of my CAFE board. We have placed three different reading strategies on our board so far this school year. The first strategy we learned was 3 Ways to Read a Book. This strategy is important, especially for beginning readers, it gives them confidence in learning to read. They are pro's at reading pictures in books! The second strategy we learned falls under the fluency category, Sight Words. We have a new sight word that we practice reading and writing every week. Sight words are important for these young readers because they are found in all types of text! The third strategy we have learned is Check for Udnerstanding. This strategy is easiest to practice when I am reading a story aloud to the class, but is easy to do when just reading the pictures too! The reader is taught to ask themselves a question before turning the page and continue reading. This question is to help the reader check that he/she understands and is comprehending the story. The question can be about the characters, key details or even predicting what might happen next. We practice this strategy during read alouds and remind ourselves that by asking questions we are practicing Check for Understanding!