Getting in the Swing of Things

School is in full swing.  The kids are becoming experts in their reading and math rotations.  We have also built up our stamina (how long we can work independently) in reading, writing, and math.  They are also very well versed with our CAFÉ board.  You should take the time to ask them about checking for understanding, back up and reread, cross checking, and tune into interesting words.  We have actions for each of these reading strategies and the kids are really starting to understand when to use these strategies while we are reading.  This week, we spent our comprehension time working together on all four of these strategies.  I read the books Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathon London and Beatrice Doesn’t Want To by Laura Numeroff.  Together we practiced using the four reading strategies.  Next week, the students will be given their check for understanding bookmarks.  These bookmarks help remind the students of the questions they need to be able to answer after they read 3 or 4 pages of a book.  At the end of the story we are reading we MUST check for understanding as well.   Also next week, we will continue to learn how to use our ipods in the listen to reading station.

One day a week we see Mrs. Dicus our reading specialist.  She teaches a short mini-lesson and then we work on the computers while the teachers work in small groups with students.

 I am so thrilled to announce that our Chromebooks have finally arrived.  I want to thank our amazing principal, Mr. Williams, for taking the time to write the America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education Grant.  This $10000 grant allowed us to purchase Chromebooks for our students.  We already had 2 computers in our classroom.  With this grant, we now have 7 computers for student use in our classroom.  These student computers will be utilized during reading and math rotations.  We use the computer program Lexia, MobyMax, and More Starfall in our class during rotations.  I sent home the login information for MobyMax today.  It is in your child’s blue homework folder.  They can utilize our subscription to this site at home. 

This week we also learned about the constitution of the US.  We read the book We the Kids by David Catrow and listened to the Preamble song on School House Rocks to help us visualize the meaning of the constitution.  We also learned that the United States Flag is a symbol.  We talked about what the flag means.  In addition, we discussed The Pledge of Allegiance and its meaning.   Next week, we will learn about some more United States symbols.  We will finish our unit off next week by making “flag” cookies.

 

Watching the School House Rock video "The Preamble."

A HUGE THANK YOU to all of you that placed a Scholastic book order.  Our class earned over 3000 bonus points.  We also added a huge collection of new books to our classroom library.  This is so important.  We go through more books than you think during the school year.  Each year we lose numerous books due to the natural “wear and tear.”  The kids love getting new books!!!  So thank you thank you thank you!!!

All of the new books we added to our classroom library.