Friday, October 9, 2015

Watch Them Whip... Watch Them Nae Nae...

This week, we have been learning about the consonant digraphs wh, ch, th, sh, and ck.  One of our spelling words was "whip".  As I was introducing the list of words to the students last Friday, they were really excited about this word and immediately started doing the "Whip And Nae Nae".  The deal was if every student in our class spelled "whip" correctly on the spelling test, we would do the dance this afternoon.  Honestly, this is pure joy!!!
 
Watch Them Whip... Watch Them Nae Nae:
 
 


Saturday, October 3, 2015

Field Trip - The Nature Center At Shaker Lakes

On Wednesday, our class took a field trip to The Nature Center At Shaker Lakes.  
Thank you to Mike Coxon, Kati Daltorio, and Justin Wolf for chaperoning!
While we were there, we explored two habitats - the marsh and the forest.  We learned about the different plants and animals that inhabit each place.  We will return to these habitats again in January and May to see how they change with the seasons.














 

Word Work

We now have our third Daily 5 CAFE center up and running - Word Work!  Word Work activities are designed to help students practice their spelling words in fun and interactive ways!
We talked about the specifics of Word Work.  Together, we created an "I Chart" describing what the students and I will do during this time.
 
Throughout the past two weeks, the students practiced using the different activities that will be available to them in the Word Work center.
Rainbow Spelling


Word Bricks - 1 Player


Word Bricks - 2 Players
 
Spelling Word Practice #1
 
 
Spelling Word Practice #2



Pyramid Spelling

Hidden Words Spelling

Dry Erase Board Spelling

Magnet Spelling

Bead Spelling

Stamp Spelling

Secret Code Spelling

Word Search
 Once Daily 5 CAFE is "officially" up and running, the students will be able to select which Word Work activities they would like to use.  I will continue to add new activities to this center as the school year progresses.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Work On Writing

We now have our second Daily 5 CAFE center up and running - Work on Writing.  Work on Writing activities are designed to help students practice and strengthen their writing skills in a fun way!
 
We talked about the specifics of Work on Writing.  Together, we created an "I Chart" describing what the students and I will do during this time.


The students practiced using the different activities that will be available to them in the Work on Writing center.  
Write Around The Room

Sticker Story


Card Making

Roll & Write

Mini Books
 
Create Your Own Word Search

Once Daily 5 CAFE is "officially" up and running, the students will be able to select which Work on Writing activities they would like to use.  I will continue to add new activities to this center as the school year progresses.

 

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Read To Self

Last week, we launched the first component of The Daily 5 - Read To Self.
Did you know that there are three ways to read a book?
Using the book David Goes To School by David Shannon, I modeled each of these for the students.  
The students selected books from our classroom library to fill their book boxes.  In addition to the books that we have at school, students may also bring favorite books from home to include in their book boxes.  Please encourage your child to bring books into school for Read To Self and to write his/her name on the book (or on a post it).  This way if the book gets left in the room somewhere we all all know whose box to return it to.
 
 
We talked about the specifics of Read To Self.  
Together, we created an "I Chart" describing what the students and I will do during this time.

 
The students modeled the correct and incorrect ways to do Read To Self.  Then, we gave it a try! 
The students are working on building their reading stamina.  
As of today, we are up to 17 minutes.  Hooray!


  We talked about building stamina.  
Stamina is doing something for a long time without giving up or getting tired.
I read the book Dex, Heart of a Hero by Caralyn Buehner.  
Dexter the dog is so little that Cleevis the tomcat bullies him.  But, little Dex has dreams—big dreams.  He wants to be a superhero.  So, he reads all the comic books he can, builds his muscles, and even orders a hero suit.  Suddenly, even Cleevis needs his help!  Dexter has determination, spirit, and heart as he proves, above all, that no matter how little you are, you can still do very big things.
(amazon.com)
 

 
You wouldn't wear shoes that were too big or too small.  You wouldn't wear ballet shoes to play football or high heeled shoes to walk on the beach.  So, why would you read a book that doesn't fit?  
We learned the acronym I PICK as a way to help find a good fit book.
 
Right now, we are focusing on selecting books that are of interest to each child.