Reading:
Our CAFE strategy this week was focused on CROSS CHECKING. When reading a book for pleasure or for information, chances are you will come to a word or two you are unsure of. You probably will use the accuracy strategy of cross checking without even thinking about it, because it is second nature to you as a reader to read accurately. Accuracy is not second nature to children learning to read. It is something that needs to be taught using a variety of strategies. Your child has been introduced to the accuracy strategy of cross checking. It is important to slow readers down when they come to a word they don’t know and teach them to apply the strategy of cross checking so they are able to fix the meaning and not just skip the word. Cross checking requires a person to constantly think and monitor meaning. It is a strategy for ensuring the words and pictures read make sense and match the letters on a page.
How can you help your child with this strategy at home?
1. Listen to your child read. When he comes to a word he is unsure of, remind him to cross check. Ask:
- Does the word you are reading match the picture or letters written? (they cross their right arm over their body)
- Does it sound right? (their left arm crosses over their body making an X)
- Does it make sense? (both arms come down with hands pointing to the ground) *Doing physical movements with each question helps children to remember the questions.
2. If your child is having difficulty with this strategy at home, break down the process:
- Have her stop reading when meaning breaks down.
- Tell her to look at the letters and say the sounds or look for word chunks in words.
- Remind her to use the pictures to help.
3. To make your child aware of using this strategy, give him a piece of paper and tell him to make a tally mark each time he uses the cross checking strategy.
Our vocabulary words this week were:
- Survive
- Temperature
- Mood
- Sly
- Communicate
- scent
For our Thursday review lesson we took two of our words and created a video in Educreations using the picture of the word and illustrating a picture that describes what the word means. While we created the video we also described what the word means in our own words. We worked with our iPad partner and each did one word.
*We have the free version of this app so I am not able to save the videos to share. If you sign up for a free Educreations account, I can share your child's videos with you. Let me know if you decide to do this and I will get you set up.
iPad Fun:
Reading
- Our iPad choices this week consisted of listening to videos about an insect of our choosing using Pebble Go and then saving a picture from the website to our camera roll and opening the picture up into another app called Pic Collage. We used this app to label parts of the insect and/or other facts we learned about the insect.
- We used another favorite app this week called Book Creator. We created insect books. There was not a specific direction for the students to take, they were allowed to write whatever type of insect book they wanted. They could write an information teaching about one or more insects, they could write about their favorite or least favorite insect and why, they could write about a book just strictly about different types of insects...the ideas are endless!
- As always, we had Reading Eggs, QR listening books and Epic! as the other choices when we completed our first tasks!
Math
- This week we continued our Math Journals with the vocabulary word “addends” and completing one entry of Number of the Day.
- We also have a new choice during iPad choice where we scan a QR code that gives an addition sentence to 10 with a missing addend. The students then open up the DoodleBuddy app and complete the problem practicing their ways to make ten!
- We also have our choices from previous weeks to complete tens/ones using the Number Pieces app and scanning QR codes to reveal subtraction and ten frame problems.
Writing:
We continued working on Opinion Writing this week. We learned about writing a movie review by writing two different class reviews. We wrote a review on the movie Horton Hears a Who and the movie Frozen. Towards the middle of the week we wrote another review after watching a movie trailer for the new movie Zootopia. A little over half of the students have seen the movie and the rest have not, but the trailer definitely helped us form an opinion. We were all laughing so hard, that our opinions were pretty clear that we loved the movie...or at least the clip we watched.
Students also began writing their own opinions this week by first starting with the planning page and then transferring their ideas to the opinion page. Once they finished on the opinion page, they added their final writing to Book Creator before beginning a new planning page.
Math:
We learned and practiced ways to make the number 10 this week. We started off by creating a visual using a rainbow picture to help see the connection between all of the numbers 0-10 and how they are put together to make the number 10. We continued on throughout the week practicing and playing different games to learn and review those ways. The end goal is being able to give the way to make ten without counting and/or using math tools. Students should be able to know that 6 & 4 always make 10, 7 & 3 and so on.
Our vocabulary word this week was the word “addends”. We learned that the two numbers that are added together in an addition sentence are called the addends of the problem. .
Content:
This week was all about bugs and insects! We have had fun learning the difference between a bug and an insect!
- Monday we completed another entry into our butterfly observation journal. Our caterpillars are getting bigger and we were rolling on the floor laughing when we realized the little things we see in the jar are poop. So funny!
- Tuesday, we created a buggy bug jar of our own. It is way too chilly for us to go outside on an insect hunt (which we were really hoping to get to do) so we improvised and made our own bug jars!.
- Wednesday, we completed another butterfly observation journal. They are really getting big now and we think they might be forming their J hangs soon!
- Thursday, we took a look at several new apps that we will practice next week!
- Friday, we completed a craft to go along with a book we read earlier in the week called There Was an Old Alien Who Swallowed a Moon. We read this book in particular because the illustrator of this book is visiting our school next week. We created ourselves as aliens and to incorporate our insect week, we painted a picture of a ladybug. We will post these in the hallway and title the board There Was a Kindergartener Who Swallowed an Insect. We hope the illustrator loves our twist on his book!
PRACTICE AT HOME:
While reading a story at home, practice cross-checking. Purposefully mess up a few words when you are reading and see if your child can help you cross-check.
Next Week:
- In reading we will focus on Skip the Word and then Come Back
- In writing we will continue our third unit Opinion Writing.
- In math we will learn about ways to show two different ways to make a number 1-9.
- Our theme next week is all about the author Eric Carle!
Important Dates/Information:
- 4/29 Spring Carnival
- 5/5 Muffins for Mom
- 5/10 Field Trip to Indy Zoo
- 5/16 Kindergarten Graduation 10:00AM
- 5/17 Field Day 1:00PM
- 5/19 Talent Show
- 5/20 Last day of school!
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