Week of February 27th and Challenges

Reading Challenge #1:
We read outside of the classroom!

Isaac reading!

 Silas reading his new Pokemon comic with Pikachu!

Harper loves to read in the car!

Emma Grace also enjoys reading in the car!

Van even reads at Universal Studios!

Reading Challenge #2: 
Here are some pictures of what the kids are doing after they read some of their favorite books in the "Traveling Book Bag".

Justin wrote in the journal about his favorite book Dog v.s. Cat!

Campbell wrote about the book The Pigeon Needs a Bath!

Emma Grace wrote about the book I Love My New Toy!

Writing Challenge #1: 
So many students took on our writing challenge of writing down news with their families!  Here are some pictures.

Isaac writing some news to share!

Sadie Mae writing news that her mom shared with her!

Hudson writing news about going to the dentist!

Writing Challenge #2: 
Our writing challenge this week is inspired by Caroline and Emma Grace!  They both sent in pictures of them writing letters.  This week encourage your child to write a letter to someone and send me a picture!

Emma Grace writing a letter to the class!

Caroline writing a letter to the class in her mom's classroom!

What We've Been Learning

WIN (What I Need): I can read, write and create.
During this time of day Mrs. Miller and I read and write with students.  Other students are in groups where they read with a partner, write, listen to books and use Stem bins to create.

Our interactive writing is transferring into Vincent's free choice writing!

Hudson wrote a story during free write!  He told me he wants to be an author!

Lilah also wrote a story during free write!

Shared Reading: I can identify the problem and solution of a story read aloud. 

This week we started learning about what a problem and solution is and listening to stories to see if we could figure out the problem and solution.  We talked about how the problem and solution impact our understanding of what is going on in the story. 

We filled in the problem and solution of Ten Apples Up On Top!. 

Writing: I can write a story about my opinion.
This week we are finishing up our unit on opinion writing.  We are spending a lot of time this week talking about how to edit our writing.  To start the week off, the kids worked in partners to edit a piece of my writing.

Week of February 20th and Writing Challenge

Reading Challenge #1: 
Here are some pictures of students in our class reading outside of school!

Ryan reading with his big brother Nick!

Leela proudly reading most of her bedtime story!

Harper reading!

Lilah reading!

Reading Challenge #2: 
The kids are having a great time bringing home the "Traveling Book Bag".  Here are some pictures of Mary Mac reading to her sisters!  There are also pictures of the illustrations she drew after reading!  Here is a quote from Mary Mac's mom Angela, "Thanks for making reading so much fun!  She was so excited about this project!"  I love this because this is what we want, reading to be fun!!

Reading Challenge #3: 
You are sending in some great pictures of your kids at the library!  Keep them coming!

Campbell reading at the library!  Campbell's mom, Haylee, said, "We went to the Chapin Library after school today.  She loved looking at books for about 45 minutes!!!"  These experiences will help encourage a love for reading!

Silas at the library!

Hank at the Chapin library!

Writing Challenge #1:
This week I was inspired by one of the students in our class to give you a writing challenge!  Campbell brought home what she was learning in class to share with her family.  Everyday we engage in interactive writing activities in school.  That just means that we write together.  The line leader gets to share a story they want to write down with the class and we help that child get their thoughts on paper.  The child uses one color and I use another color.  I help write the parts that the kids do not know yet.  When kids write by themselves in kindergarten they are learning how writing works and it is ok that their writing is not spelled conventionally (ex: trtl for turtle).  They are just writing down the sounds that they hear.  When we engage in interactive writing though, it is meant to be written conventionally (everything spelled the correct way).  In order for the kids to be successful, the class helps them think of sounds that they hear and I step in when no one in the class knows what goes next.  Campbell's mom said they had a great time writing together and Campbell was excited to teach them all about "uh oh tape" and quotation marks.  This week I want you to take on the challenge and ask your child to write down some news with you!  It could be something that you want to share or something that your child wants to share.  Send me pictures and have fun!!

Campbell and her mom writing together

What We've Been Learning

Science: I can describe how to take care of my teeth.

This week we have really talked about how to take care of our teeth.  We sorted things that were good for our teeth and things that were not very good for our teeth.  We started the week off by reading the book What if You Had Animal Teeth.  Since we have been working on opinion writing we wrote about what kind of animal teeth we would want to have and why.  The kids did a great job with this!

Creating ourselves with animal teeth

Writing about animal teeth

Library: I can choose a book that I am interested in reading or learning more about. 

Here are some pictures of the kids searching for books and reading books and magazines in the school library.