September 26

WOW (Work on Writing)

We have a new writing center. Children may work there after their reading centers are completed. There are a variety of activities from which to choose. I added a template for making lists which has been very popular. Max made this list for his work with Minecraft. Love seeing them choose to practice writing!

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September 26

Indoor Recess

I think the children actually look forward to indoor recess. They enjoy the variety of games and manipulatives that I’ve collected over the years. Some choose to work collaboratively, and others enjoy some alone time.

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September 22

Pirate Themed Parent Spot

After we ate Pirate Parfaits (yogurt with blueberry cannonballs), we listened to two fun stories about pirates. In No Pirates Allowed, the pirate discovered that the greatest treasure of all is books! We are so excited that Mrs. Duncan donated the books to our class.

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September 19

Sentences

We have been learning to identify naming parts (subjects) and telling parts (predicates), so that we know how to write complete sentences. The following two activities helped us understand this concept.

We made sentence flip books. There are six naming parts on one side and six telling parts on the other.  You can flip the pages and make silly sentences.

There are naming parts on one cube and telling parts on the other.  Each child rolls the cubes and combines the naming and telling parts to make complete sentences.

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September 13

Story Maps

We have learned four of the components of a story:
Characters
Setting (where and when)
Problem (conflict)
Resolution

We discussed various types of conflicts – between characters, within a character (a decision or illness), or with nature (storm, fire, or flood). We learned that it may take several steps to resolve a problem and that some problems are not resolved. Some books have one problem that the characters try to solve the entire story and others have a different problem in each chapter. When your child reads at home, see if he/she can identify these components. Sometimes they have to look for clues to decide when a story happens. For example: Is it snowing? Are the characters talking about a holiday? What kind of technology is used?

In this project, we created a character and then placed it in a setting. Then we had to create a problem for the character and a way that the character might resolve it.

Category: Reading, Writing | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 13

Science Test

We took our first major test today. When the children finish any test, they pull their just right books out and read. Tests are not turned in and walls are not taken down, so no one feels the pressure to hurry and finish. They often hear me say, “Good work takes time.”

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