Week in Review--FIRE SAFETY

This week's poem was all about our eyes and the things our eyes can do!

 

Reading:

-Our sight word this week was the word “can”!

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

 “Identify the Setting”

When we read the story elements are an important part to make the story complete. When students focus on the setting of the story they focus on where and when the story takes place. Having the ability to identify and describe the setting helps students comprehension of other story elements from characters to main events and problem/solution.

 

How can you help your child with this strategy at home?

 

1. When reading a story, watching a television show or movie, discuss the setting and how the setting sometimes changes throughout the story.

2. When discussing the setting, encourage your child to go into detail instead of just saying “inside” or “outside”. Be specific as to where inside or where outside the setting is exactly.

3. Ask your child to describe another setting that would make sense in the story if the author put another section to the book.

Writing:

-I have enjoyed working with the different writing groups for the past two weeks. Each group has a different focus during their independent writing to work on. I have seen so much progress when it comes to writing, it makes me excited to see continued progress the rest of this year.

-We began a chart that we will continue to add to throughout the year called “When I’m done…I’ve Just Begun!”  This chart helps the students add more detail to their pictures and writing in order to build stamina and make a complete piece before moving on to the next one.

-We also focused on how to draw a setting with your writing by using shapes, lines and various colors!

Math:

-This week we opened up our last choice during daily 3 math called “Math with Someone”. This choice is very similar to “Read to Someone” during the daily 5 reading block. The first activity at this choice is a game the partners play called “shape race”. This game has the students take a picture of shape, they identify the shape and count the number of sides on the shape. After counting the sides, they move their chip that many spaces on the game board! We also put a new choice into the “Number Work” option where the student takes a deck of cards, keeps them turned upside down, turns one card over one at a time and reads the number when turning it over. Once the student has identified the number, they count out that number of math manipulatives.

-We also created our "You Can Count on Me" board. Each student counted as high as they could for me in the past week for report cards. I recorded how high they counted and we placed their math magician on the board near that number. The goal by the end of the year is to make it to 100! We have 5 students who have already made it to 100 and are our class "Math Magicians".

Content:

-Our focus this week was on fire safety. We started the week off by reading many books and focused on three important words STOP-DROP-ROLL! We completed a book with vocabulary words that geared around fire safety, those words were fire truck, fireman, matches, fire hydrant and ladder. We discussed what made those items important when it comes to fire safety. We finished the week off by making a fire truck using our favorite shapes that we have practice during math time!

Next week:

 

--In writing, we will get writing partners, talk about using words other than “I like” and beginning/ending sounds.

--In math, we will practice counting objects 0-20.

--In reading, we will focus on all sounds; learn new vocabulary words and a new CAFÉ strategy!

--Our theme this next week is all about COMMUNITY HELPERS!  Don’t forget to complete your child’s “I’d Like to Be” paper!


PRACTICE AT HOME:
Have your child find sight words around the house in various books, magazines, newspapers, on TV or even when you are out at a restaurant or a store. These words are important for your child to master because they are found everywhere! 

Week in Review--APPLES

This week, our poem was called "We Can". We had so much fun guessing the mystery words (one that we haven't even had as a sight word yet) and doing the motions along with the poem! We really got to get up and MOVE this week!

Writing:

-We started writing in our writing groups this week. I meet with a specific group each day and we discuss each other’s writing and find areas of need and praise. After the meeting, each student has set a purpose to focus on when he/she goes to write independently during writer’s workshop until our next meeting.

-We have started to write sentences to go with our pictures and have been focusing on using the sight words we have learned in reading and beginning sounds for unknown words. Some students are moving on to using beginning and ending sounds, as well as stretching out the entire word!

-One other area of writing we have been focusing on is our illustrations. We focused this week on using shapes to create a picture and to add detail to our picture by imagining what else would be in the picture if we were looking at an actual photograph.

Reading:

-Our sight word this week was the word “we”!

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

 

“Name the Characters”

When we read, we often recognize common elements of a story that include plot, character, setting, and theme. We use these elements to help us infer what will happen next. As readers, when we identify and understand these elements, we store this information to help us remember and comprehend what the story is about. This week we focused on the characters in particular. We discussed how the characters can be people, animals or anything that moves/talks and has a special part in the story.

 

How can you help your child with this strategy at home?

• When reading a story with your child, discuss the character. Begin by asking your child who or what the story is about.
• Have your child describe the character in detail. Describing what the character(s) does and how important the character is in the story.
• Ask your child to come up with another character that would fit well into the story. Have him/her describe.

Math:

-This week we continued to focus on numbers 1-20, practiced positional terms and sorted objects by color.

-We also introduced a new choice to “Math by Myself”. Students take a bag of mixed shapes and colors and sort the shapes by color. After they sort by color, they count each pile to see which they have the most of and which they have the least of.

Other:

--We started morning message this week! During the morning message, there are sight words, beginning and ending sounds, numbers and much more missing that the students have to help me fill in. Sometimes, I also have the students circle specific parts of the letter. For example, if we are working on ending punctuation, I would call on a student to find a specific punctuation mark. Or this week, we were focusing on the difference between a letter-word-sentence. I had students come up and circle just a letter, a word and a sentence. The message also acts as a discussion about what is to come in our day or a review of things we have learned. The options are endless with a morning message!

--We celebrated our September "Homework Club" winners this week. The students who turned in all three pieces of homework for the entire month of September ate lunch back in the room with ME on Friday! All students were put back into the club for a chance to stay in all October long!



















Content:

Apple week was a success! We investigated our apples, learned about the life cycle of an apple, the different apple parts, Johnny Appleseed and had fun taste testing apple juice, apple pie, apple muffins, applesauce and of course apples! When taste testing our apple snacks, we recorded whether we liked each piece or not! Be sure to check your child’s paper to see what he/she enjoyed!

Next week:

 

--In writing, we will discuss how to continue to add more detail to our pictures and writing.

--In math, we will introduce a third math choice called “Math with Someone”.

--In reading, we will focus on all sounds; learn new vocabulary words and a new CAFÉ strategy!

--Our theme this next week is all about FIRE SAFETY!  Don’t forget to fill out your family fire safety plan!

PRACTICE AT HOME:

Have your child draw a picture for you. Encourage him/her to add detail to the drawing, to focus on drawing by using shapes and to color each piece of the picture with the correct color from the real world. If possible, have them either label their picture and/or write a sentence to go with it!