Website Update!

The website has been updated with a video of Anjali reading The Bedtime Story. Click on child of the day 2, then her name, and enjoy!

The website has also been updated with a new academic vocabulary jeopardy game. Go to the website, click on games, then click on multiage jeopardy. The other games are also for academic vocabulary and all three are GREAT for helping your child understand these critical words!

You can access the website by clicking on the link to the right: Community of Learners. Have fun!

Thrilling Thursday

Anjali was our child of the day and read the book A Bedtime Story. She chose this book because it reminded her of when her parents read to her. Her video will be up on the website tonight or tomorrow, so be sure and take a look.

Also, take a look at the website under student writing. Natalie has a new story up called The Rainstorm. You'll love it!

We finished the book Grandfather Twilight and I asked the kids what do we know about asking questions. The essential understanding I wanted to leave them with this week was that readers ask questions before, during, and after reading. I was amazed at some of their understandings and it will give them a good basis for next week as we read The Sweetest Fig. Next week the essential understanding I want them to understand is readers ask questions for many reasons: clarify meaning, speculate about text yet to be read, determine an author's syle, intent, content, or format. They focus attention on specific components of the text, locate a specific answer in the text or consider rhetorical questions inspired by the text. The children are off to a GREAT start!

February Mystery Readers and Reading Videos

Click on the website link to the right and then click on Mystery Readers. The February mystery readers video is up. Thank you Mrs. Mittal and Mrs. Taylor for bringing smiles to the kids faces! We LOVE mystery readers. Email me at sandrastringham@u-46.org if you would like to be a mystery reader!

The videos of Aayush and Gabrielle reading are also up. Go to the website, click on child of the day 2 and listen to some great reading!

Enjoy!

Tuesday AND Wednesday happenings!

Gabrielle was our child of the day yesterday and read the book The Ugly Duckling. "I chose this book because it teaches you a lesson. You should be nice to everyone!" She really enjoyed this traditional tale and did a great job reading it. Look for her video on the website later tonight.



Aayush was our child of the day today and read the book The Whistle Tooth. "I chose this book because it reminded me of when I lost my tooth and tried to whistle." He did a great job, too! Look for his video later tonight also.

In reading we went back into the book, Grandfather Twilight, and tried to answer some of our questions. Many of them we had to infer. What a GREAT discussion we had! Once again...WHY didn't I have my video camera on?!?!

In word work we found out that if a word has the /k/ sound and if the second letter is e, i or y, the letter k has to be used. We knew this because last week we found out the c makes the /s/ sound when it's followed by e, i, or y, so the letter k has to be used at the beginning of those words. (kind, Kyle, keep) We also learned that if the word makes the /kw/ sound, it's spelled with qu. Another "rule" we discovered was ck is only at the end of the word...not the beginning.

We reviewed sentence fluency in writing. What great stories! In fact, one was so good, I had to send the author and his story to the principal!!!! Ryan read his story to Mr. Burger and he is now illustrating it. I can't wait to get it up on the website.

Juniors spent math working on fact families and using their new fact triangles. Seniors worked on complements of ten. We will be reviewing this again tomorrow.

Have a GREAT night!

Marvelous Monday!

Alexis was our Child of the Day today and read the book My Sloppy Tiger Bedtime. She chose this book because it was funny! Look for her video to be on the website later tonight!

In reading we began reading Grandfather Twilight and learned that expert readers ask questions before they read. Tomorrow, we will read the book, and while doing so, learn that readers have questions as they read and after they read.

In Word work, we listed words that began with the /k/ sound. Our next step will be to sort these words and see what spelling patterns we can discover.

In writing, we reviewed Lead and Stretch and Ba-da-bing sentences.

We also had a mystery reader today!


Mrs. Taylor, Natalie's mom read Stellaluna! What a GREAT book! Thank you!

Math was very busy as juniors learned about name collection boxex or equivalent names and seniors learned about patterns. We also practiced math facts because we have to know our addition and subtraction facts FAST! Please work on these at home (addition and subtraction....not multiplication and division!)

Tomorrow I will be at a Roadmap meeting at the district office and we will have a substitute. There won't be a blog entry till Wednesday!

Keep an eye out for the weather!

Fantastic Friday

Simi was our child of the day and read the book Anansi and the Talking Watermelon. She chose this traditional tale because she liked the trickery in the story. We all enjoyed listening to her...look for the video on the website.

Aayush published a story on PhotoStory and you can take a look at it on the website under Student Writing.

In reading, we learned that asking questions leads to gaining information and as we learn new information, we have more questions. We also learned that questions spur more questions. Next week we will learn that readers ask questions before, during and after reading a book.

In writing we learned about "ba-da-bing" sentences which tie in with our Lead and stretch technique to adding details to our story. When writing sentences we can follow "ba" (what were your feet doing at the time) "da" (what do your eyes see) and "bling" (what were you thinking at the time) What fabulous stories I've been reading! I can't wait to publish them.

In math juniors worked on the math menu while seniors began division. We tied it to our problem solving strategy of drawing a picture to solve a problem.

Have fun at the fun fair tonight!

Thursday Tales

Grier was our child of the day and she read another selection from Poppy. Look for the video to be up on the website tonight or this weekend.

In reading, the students asked more questions about my jar that revealed more answers as well as more questions. In writing, we continued on with the writing strategy of Lead and Stretch. During math we worked on problem solving and learned that drawing a picture and knowing our doubles facts can help us solve problems.

We also went to art and music! What a busy day.

Stay warm!