Wednesday Wonders!

We had a very exciting beginning to our day as three former students and old friends came in as mystery readers: Natalie, Simi, and Francis! They were my students the last two years and are now in 3rd grade. Simi is also Neha's sister, so we had another reason to be excited! And...Mr. Burger was in the room and got to hear their wonderful reading.

They read Zoom Broom by Margie Palatini. It is the sequel to Piggie Pie, which we did as a readers' theater when they were in 1st grade. They did a wonderful job! I was so proud of their wonderful reading!

When they were finished we asked what 3rd grade was like and if there was a piece of advise they could give the current 1st and 2nd graders. They told them many things but the number one thing to remember was to read and THINK!!!! It was heartwarming to me to hear my current students tell how they used metacognition now in all they do. And....they said metacognition!!!! They can say the word and they know what it means!







In readers' workshop we learned why schema is important. We learned that good readers always activate their schema before reading. We have mental files that we open and close as we read. We learned that using schema helps us to understand the book.

In writing we learned that we need to zoom in on a small moment and expand it by using words to paint a picture. I'm seeing some GREAT, GREAT, writing!

In math, we worked on patterning. Identifying and completing patterns is an important concept for understanding algebra. We also worked on math subtraction strategy: the number right next door. Example:
5-4=1; 6-5=1; 8-7=1. Which you subtract a number that's right next to another (5-4)the answer is always one.

We also worked on problem solving and explaining our thinking.

Tomorrow we have art so be sure and have your art shirt at school.

Have a GREAT night and don't forget to READ....READ....READ!!!