Tuesday Tales

Antonio read the book Househunting today. He chose this book because it reminded him of when his dad asked if he wanted to move.

We began the study of questioning as a reading comprehension strategy today. I read the book The Wise Woman's Secret and learned that the secret to wisdom is asking questions. I also held up a jar that is very, very, special to me and having them ask questions as to where, what, etc. about the jar. I want them have a concrete experience as to what asking questions involves as a reader and we will soon see that one question leads to another.

In word work we brainstormed words that began with the /s/ sound. Tomorrow we will sort the words and create a "rule" as to when we begin our words with s or c.

In writing we looked at two versions of one story and discovered that our words need to create a picture in the mind of the reader. In version two of the story we highlighted the words that created that picture.

Take a look at the website under student writing. Gabrielle is the latest student to have a story published using Photo Story.

In math, juniors learned about the addition/subtraction table as a tool for solving problems. We will work more on this later. We also worked on turnaround facts. Seniors worked on a unit assestment.

Stay warm!

Fabulous Friday

Nicole read a few pages from the book Poppy by Avi. I'll have the video up this weekend, but when you listen to her....you might hear a slight lisp. She lost a tooth this morning!!!! Look at that beautiful smile now. She did a great job and I chose the book this time because of what a wonderful job she did (along with Grier, Meghan, and Nicholas) in her literature discussion book club as they discussed the book together. I wish I had my video camera that day to film the deep conversations they were having.

I probably won't have Nicole's video up until the weekend, so keep checking. To access reading videos, click on the link to the right: Community of Learners Classroom Website. This will take you to the home page on the website. Then click on Child of the Day 2. There you will find Meghan, Kyle, Natalie, Blake, Alisha and Neel when they read their books. Click on their name and the video will appear.

Those students who have videos under Child of the Day, I'm either going to redo them or delete when we get a new recording of them reading. There was a problem uploading and downloading to the website and some now don't have sound. I do them at home now and everything works easier and cleaner, so in my spare time :) I'll try and get those corrected.

More student work available: Once again if you go to the classroom website and then click on student writing, you will see two new stories posted: Sofia and Alyssa. Just click on student writing and then their name. Enjoy!!!

We'll have more next week to post as Gabrielle, Nicole, and Aayush turned in finished stories to me today. Once I download their pictures to photo story, they can read them and then I'll publish them to the website.

There is also a video up on our website under classroom pictures of our Valentine's Day party. Enjoy!!!!

Thrilling Thursday!

Neel was child of the day and read Stone Soup. He chose this traditional tale because it has trickery in it and he likes to trick his sister! He did a great job reading. Look for the video on the classroom website later tonight or tomorrow under Child of the Day 2.
We worked more on characterization and learned that our voices help bring a character to life when we read. In writing we worked on word choice: our words have to create a movie in the mind of the reader. We also went to music and art.

But the BIG event was the Valentine's Day party! Thank you to our room mothers: Mrs. Ruiz and Mrs. Taylor for planning such a fun time for the kids. And thank to all the mothers who were able to come in and help: Mrs. Nicastro, Mrs. Reish, Mrs. Leuzzi, and Mrs. Patel. I'll have pictures up on the website this weekend. Thank you again!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wonderful Wednesday!

Alisha was Child of the Day and she read Little Red Riding Hood. We enjoyed listening to this traditional tale. Take a look later tonight on the website and listen as she does a great job reading!

We read the book Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters and listed character traits of each of the main characters. We reviewed the list when we finished and created a sentence using the trait, plus proof from the book, to describe a character. As an example, Nyasha was generous when she shared her food and was brave when she went into the chamber with the two headed snake.

We also did our first word ladder today in word work workshop. We did one together, then they worked on their own, then we reviewed it together. It is in their take home folder today. Word ladders are a great way to get kids to look closely at the letters in words.

In writing, we reviewed transitions from the books we have read this week. We then read a poem and highlighted how the author showed transitions. (show...not tell!).

In math, juniors worked more on the function machine and What's My Rule? Seniors worked more on multiplication arrays. We also had library today.

Don't forget tomorrow is Valentine's Day and we will be celebrating in the afternoon. Be sure and include everyone with your valentine cards.

Stay warm!

Tales from Tuesday!

Blake was our child of the day and he read a book by Jan Brett: Hedgie Blasts Off! He decided to read this book because he knows how much we like Jan Brett books and Hedgie the Hedgehog! Check the website later tonight or tomorrow for a video of Blake reading so you can enjoy it too. Click on the classroom website to the right (Mrs. Stringham's Community of Learners), then scroll down to the button labeled child of the day 2, then click on Blake. Natalie is there, too!

We finished reading Princess Penlope's Parrot and inferring character traits. We also learned a lesson about ourselves in how we want others to react to us. During reading workshop time I was very pleased with a book club discussion of the book Poppy by Avi. Nicholas, Grier, Meghan and Nicole (3 seniors and 1 junior!) did a great job talking about the characters and their character traits and how they reacted to each other. It was a great discussion of the book and again, halfway through, I wished I had filmed it!

We read the story The Green Secret and began our work on vocabulary. We also read the book Tuesday by David Wiesner and learned that one way we can organize our writing is through the use of time. We will work more tomorrow on transition words.

In math, juniors learned about the function machine (see if they can describe it to you!) and seniors worked on arrays and multiplication.

Don't forget we are collecting new and gently used books for the Book Worm Angels to donote to the Chicago Public Schools! I've donated some from the classroom where we have triplicates and from home. Step up and make a difference!

Drive carefully in the snow!

New Video on Website

Be sure and check out the website and see a video of Natalie reading The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Click on the link to the right (Mrs. Stringham's Community of Learners), then click on Child of the Day 2. You will see a video of Natalie reading, plus one of Kyle and one of Meghan Reading.

Enjoy!

Great beginning to the week!

Natalie was our Child of the Day and she read The Boy Who Cried Wolf. She liked this book because it teaches you never to lie and always tell the truth.

We had a busy first day of the week. In reading we read Princess Penelope's Parrot and we are inferring character traits. In word work, I introduced their five new words then they went off to work on their word work menu. In writing, we read Snowflake Bently. We are working on the trait of Ideas, and learned that our experiences plus reading about a topic equals IDEAS!

In math, the first graders found out that they already know quite a few math addition facts: +0, +1, doubles, and the then ten facts. I highlighted these on a math fact sheet and they discovered that there really aren't too many more to learn. They know about turn around facts, and that cut the list down, plus we discovered strategies: if you know 5+5=10, then you know 5+6=11 because it's one more. If you know 5+5=10, then you know 5+4=9, because it's one less. That really cut our work down.

Second graders were introduced Friday to multiplication where they had to create arrays. Today, we worked on groups: If you have 5 boxes and 4 are in a box, how many do you have altogether? They are learning that multication is repeated addition. We will work more on understanding multiplcation this week. Please don't ask them to memorize multiplication facts. They need to understand first what you are asking them to memorize. When they get the understanding down....memorization won't be a chore!!! Ease up!!!