Week in Review--Valentines AND Presidents

Writing:

 

-We started the week off by reviewing and saying goodbye to our Unit 2 on writing a true story (they are still able to practice this during writer’s workshop if they choose to do so) and hello to our new Unit 3 all about writing a “how to” or informational writing piece. We brainstormed a list of things we consider ourselves to be “experts” in. A few of the ideas were brushing our teeth, making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, riding a bike and washing the dishes. We then took one of those ideas and created a class “how to” book together using the words –first, next, then, last, finally- to help us with our writing and keeping the steps in order. This type of writing is now a choice during Writer’s Workshop!

Math:

-We continued to focus on subtraction this week. We reviewed how to use maninpulatives, a number line, our fingers and lastly our mind! The students have two opportunities to practice subtraction problems during Daily 5 Math. There are options in the Math by Myself  and Math with Someone choices to practice math flash cards using one or more of those ways to solve a subtraction problem. I also sent home a bag filled with the same subtractions problems for the students to practice at home!

-Another standard we practiced this week was comparing two objects/items based on their length and weight. We looked at various pictures and discussed which one was “longer vs shorter” or “heavier vs lighter”.

Reading:

-We had TWO sight words this week-- “said, good”.

-The CAFÉ strategy we worked on this week was the strategy.

“Back up and Reread”

Many times when reading a story, adults get to a point where they realize they do not understand what they are reading. Somewhere during their reading, they lost concentration and therefore the meaning of the story. When this happens, as adults we realize we have lost comprehension and we stop, back- up, and reread.  Children are no different than we are.   They need to be taught the strategies good readers use to be successful. 

How can you he p your chi d with this strategy at ho!e"

1.   Model this strategy for your child. When reading with your child, stop to check for understanding. "If your child has difficulty answering the “who and what”, remind your child to back up and reread. Tell your child to read slowly and think about what is being read. After doing this, stop and check for understanding again. Remember, modeling is one of the most effective teaching strategies.

2.   Remind your child that using the two strategies, check for understanding and back up and reread together will help with remembering and understanding the story. 

3.   Often it is easier to understand the text when you read it slowly.  Encourage your child to read slowly, follow th text with finger if it helps, and truly think about the meaning of the words & story.

Content:
We had a full week back to school, with the exception of one two hour delay day. Yay! It felt good to finally get back into our normal daily routine and have the entire day for learning and fun! This week we learned about Valentine’s Day, love, friendship and we also mixed in some learning about presidents. We wrote a class valentine to our school asking them to be our valentine. We then created our very own valentine bumble bees to go along with the letter. We then switched our focus to learning about presidents past and present. We started our learning off by talking about the role of the President and who he is. We talked about our current president, as well as focused on two former presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. We made a class Popplet detailing what we already knew and what we had learned throughout the week.

Practice at home:

Have you been working on your WRITE-O? Be sure that you are sitting down WITH your child to complete the writings. Do not tell him/her how to spell words, rather help them streeeeeetch the words out and write down the sounds they hear! This is how they are learning to become independent writers. The only words that MUST be spelled correctly are sight words!