Reading
The theme in reading this week was Being Yourself. As a class, we spent a lot of time talking about what this means and why it is important for children to be proud of who they are. This week’s story, Meet Rosina by George Ancona, was about a young, deaf girl who lives a life very similar to lives of other children. Students were fascinated and excited to discover how much they had in common with Rosina! They were also excited to learn a little bit of sign language!
This week, students were responsible for 2-5 reading centers. They included:
Art Center: Students created name tags using American Sign Language finger spelling. (Ask your child if s/he can spell out his/her name!!)
Grammar Center: We have been working hard this week to identify the subject and predicate of a sentence. The subject is who/what the sentence is about. The predicate tells what the subject is/is doing. (It is usually the “rest” of the sentence.) This week, the grammar center asked students to “blindly” pair subjects and predicates together to make silly sentences. Students then copied the 3 silliest sentences and illustrated a picture to match each one.
Listening Center: Students listened to this week's story on CD and then wrote a few great sentences telling two ways they are alike
Writing Center: Students worked to develop their dictionary skills by finding, writing, and defining this week’s vocabulary words.
Graphic Organizer: Using the books read in small reading groups, students complete the graphic organizer to record the main idea and details of the story.
Spelling
This week, we reviewed short i and focused on the i_e pattern. This pattern creates a “long i” sound (iiiiiiiyyyy). The _ (underscore) represents a consonant. The e in these words is silent, but it causes the i to “say its name” (iiiyyy). Students will recognize this e and may refer to it as:
King E, magic E, silent E, or sneaky E
Just like last week, I suggest that you point out words that follow this pattern as you go about your daily lives. They are more common than you think – and students will enjoy “hunting” for these words. (This activity will reinforce and strengthen students’ ability to identify and recognize spelling/word patterns!)
Grammar
Last week in grammar, students worked on identifying the subjects in a sentence. This week, we have been working to identify the predicate. The predicate of a sentence is usually the “rest of the sentence” (after the subject). It is the “action” part - it tells what the subject is or is doing.
1. Bobby works at the grocery store.
works at the grocery store tells what Bobby does.
2. The bird is green and gold.
is green and gold tells what the bird is.
Math
As mentioned earlier this week, students have been reviewing Frames and Arrows and also Function Machines. Although the concept is simple, some of the problems can be really tricky - especially when there is a minus-rule! Encourage your child to take his/her time!!
On Friday, students participated in a seasonal math activity - Pumpkin Estimation!! After learning about pumpkin life cycles, students made estimates as to how many seeds our classroom pumpkin had inside! Then, they tested their predictions - but counting the seeds!! It turns out that our pumpkin had 461 seeds... Keifer's estimate was the closest!! Take a look at the pictures below to see for yourself!
Mystery Reader
Our mystery reader this week was Andrew's mom, Mrs. Gilbert. She read a story that fit right into our theme of Being Yourself. The story was titled, If Only I Had a Green Nose by Max Lucado. It was a wonderful story - I highly encourage you to read it!!
No comments:
Post a Comment