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.
To kick off our learning of this week’s word families we watched a video that had us reading and learning new words that end with the vowel pairs -ai and -ay. We built words in both families and to review both word families we watched a Google Slide that showed the word, students had to read the word and then we checked our answer by clicking to the next slide that showed the picture. It was so much fun! We love doing this activity!
Our vocabulary words this week went with the book I Love Bugs!. We loved learning all about the words creep, flutter, weaves, swoops, blink, crawl. For our vocabulary review this week we took the words and folded them into a basket. Students took turns taking a word out and we played charades! They weren't allowed to talk or make any noise when acting out the word. It was a fun game! Can you guess what word goes with which picture below?
Our new sight words: good, put
**Be sure to keep the white sight word cards from week to week and continue to practice all of them as new ones are sent home every week.
Our Poem of the Week:
iPad Fun:
Reading
- iMotion: We used a new app this week where we showed our learning of the butterfly life cycle using the app iMotion. It was so excited to take pictures of each stage of the life cycle and then watch it all be put together into a slow motion video. Later in the week we took our video and We uploaded our finished product into Google Classroom!
- iMovie: After completing our stop motion butterfly life cycle video, students took the video and added it into iMovie. Once there, they completed a voice over to explain the life cycle along with their video. What fun!
- Long Vowels:: Second round of iPad was extra practice working with words that have long vowels and bossy e’s in them.
- Reading Eggs/QR Books: Third round all students completed lessons in Reading Eggs and/or listened to stories on “tape” using QR codes inside picture books.
Math
- Book Creator: This week students used the app Book Creator on their own by adding a journal entry of the activity number of the day! We have been doing number of the day as a whole class since the first week of school and they are now experts and are able to do this on their own! They rolled a dice to find their number, wrote the number, the number word, drew the dice, tally marks, number of shapes and number line! They finished the activity by recording their voice explaining their thinking and what they did with the number of the day.
- Popplet: We learned all about decomposing numbers last week and composing numbers this week. Students used math tools and the app Popplet to show off what they have learned about breaking numbers apart and showing various ways to make the same number.
Writing:
Writer’s Workshop this week, we continued learning about our new writing unit Opinion Writing. We started the week by learning different ways to begin our opinion papers. Up until now, most students start their opinions by using the words “I like….”. We talked about how that is a good way to start but we can even challenge ourselves as writers even more to add a different beginning. We learned to use “My favorite_____. Pizza is _____. The best_____. The worst____. I think _____. I believe____.” as possible ways to begin our writing.
Later in the week, we shared books from our book boxes and offered our opinions on them to the class. We took pictures holding our books and put those photos together in a pic collage to display in the room for anyone to view if they are struggling on coming up with an idea of what to write. A few students went to the chart and chose a book someone else suggested and wrote a review on it this week! Students also helped me a couple of days by reading my own writing and finding that I forgot to add a part or two that was needed in my opinion writing. For example, in one writing I wrote my “reason” on my planning page but I didn’t add it when I wrote my final page.
To finish off our writing unit, we read a story called “Hey, Little Ant!”. In this story a ant tries convincing a little boy to not stomp on him. At the end of the book the little boy has his show up in the air and you do not know if he chose to smash him or let him go. We completed an opinion writing piece to decide which one we think the boy should do! Check a few of them out below!
Math:
Math this week we learned all about the vocabulary term compose. We learned that when you compost numbers, it means you put two numbers together to make a new number. We practiced composing and decomposing numbers and shapes this week by putting two or more numbers/shapes together to create something new and also decomposing by taking those apart.
Content:
This week was all about Insects!
- Monday--We completed another entry into our butterfly journals.
- Tuesday--We learned the difference between bugs and insects and then made our own bugs and insects jar!
- Wednesday--We had Miss Edmondson come and talk to the class this afternoon during our content time.
- Thursday--We had the author/illustrator Laurie Keller visit our school and she taught us how to illustrate a few of her characters.
- Friday--We completed another butterfly observation, this time they were all in their chrysalis!
Social Emotional Learning (SEL):
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
This week’s SEL focus was learning about INTEGRITY. We learned what the word meant and each day we talked about how we can best show integrity in any situation we are part of. We watched a video where the character learned how it is important to say yes or no in different situations and we talked about how that ties in with integrity. I showed the class a photo of me and told a story that had different scenarios where students were not showing integrity. As I told those parts I would crumple parts of the paper and by the end my entire paper was crumpled into a ball. We talked about how as teachers and parents we teach them to know right vs wrong but we can’t be with them all of the time and we trust them to remember what is expected and when they don’t it makes us feel sad and crumbly inside. We also read a story written by the author Laurie Keller called Do Unto Otters where it teaches about how to treat others. It was a great week of learning!
A few discussion questions to talk with your child at home about this topic:
-What are a few things your parents/teachers have taught you that you should never forget?
-How would your family/teachers feel if they saw you doing something you shouldn’t be doing? What could you do to fix that?
-When was a time you showed integrity?
PRACTICE AT HOME:
Have your child practice composing with objects around the house. Have him/her take various items and put them together to form something else.
Next Week:
- In reading we will focus on “Skip the Word and then Come Back””
- In writing we will continue working on Opinion Writing
- In math we will learn all about addition stories.
- Our theme next week is all about the author Eric Carle..
Important Dates/Information:
**Go to our classroom webpage if you want to see important dates on a calendar! I will update this classroom calendar as dates and events come about.
- 4/19 ABC Countdown to Summer Begins! Be sure to keep your calendar handy and/or check our classroom calendar on our school website to be in the “know” of what letter and celebration is each day.
- 4/24--Mid-Spring Break NO SCHOOL for no missed days of school through 4/7
- 5/5--MME School Carnival 6-8PM
- 5/9--Field Trip to the Indianapolis Zoo *Please send in your child’s money ASAP.
- 5/11 & 5/12--Muffins with Mom
- 5/22--Kindergarten Graduation 10AM
- 5/24--LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
