My young authors have been so busy working hard on 3 types of writing!
We are currently completing our amazing research reports! We researched a chosen topic on line, as well in many books, and have organized all of our research into impressive, informative reports. These reports even include text features such as bold words, pictures & captions, a table of contents, glossary, and index. Stop in to read these exceptional informative writing pieces!
We are also writing Opinion pieces. The children are reading an article or short story and then responding to the article with their opinion about the message or main idea. They grab their audience by writing a strong opening and then link their reasons with transition words and persuasive vocabulary in 2 or 3 paragraphs citing evidence from the text, and finally completing their piece with a strong conclusion. You will be so impressed! Watch out parents...we will be working on Persuasive Letters next and they are very good at convincing their audience! ;)
We are also still entertaining each other with our action packed and suspenseful narrative stories! Some of us are finishing up our scary Snow Monster stories now.
We will have a lot to share on Young Author's Day this spring!
All of my readers are making truly outstanding progress. They are fluent, thoughtful and accurate in their comprehension, making inferences and using higher level thinking skills, and expanding their vocabulary...just check out our "Word Collector" to prove it! We are using our strategies from our Cafe board consistently and are exploring a variety of genres in the classroom. The students are all part of a "Book Club" with friends and meet a couple of times a week to read and talk about a book. I love listening in on these book conversations as they answer questions, and/or offer their opinion about the book, while supporting their thoughts and answers with evidence from the text. This is one of our favorite times of the week!
Mrs. Toti joins us a couple of times a week to work in small groups on some of our Phonics skills. We are currently working on reading and spelling our "whiners" correctly. Deciding if a word has OU & OW is tricky when spelling, but we are improving. We are also working on other vowel teams, such as AU & AW, and EW.
I think we may have some bankers in here! They love $$ money$$! :) We are working hard adding coins and making change. The smart board has offered some fun hands on practice during this unit in Math. Recently we made organized lists to show a variety of ways to make the same amount of money.
Tough stuff! We will be working on Telling Time starting next week.
Hard to believe, but the 100th day of school is next week!! Where has the time gone?! We will celebrate with a variety of fun, hands on activities.
We will also celebrate Valentine's Day on Thursday, February 13th with a special trail mix and by sharing valentines with one another.... a good way to start a mini-vacation, 2/14-2/18.
I'm so very proud of each one of my students and so impressed with the amazing progress each child is making. They are all so special!
*IMPORTANT Dates*:
2/13: Remember to bring your valentines for our Valentine's Day celebration
2/14: No School: Professional Development
2/17 & 2/18: No school
2/19: 2 hour delayed opening
2/28: Dr. Seuss Day