We have begun our reading journey! Students have learned the names for parts of books. They have also been learning how to care for the books they read. This week, we began reading environmental print. Students walked around the school looking at signs. We stopped, looked at the signs, thought about what it might say, and then read them! We then transferred reading the world around us to reading “learn about the world books.” Students are enjoying looking at and “reading” nonfiction text. Students are looking at pictures and naming the things that they see in the pictures. We have been learning how to read privately and how to read with a partner. We are also reading a few good storybooks again and again so they become part of our “old favorites.” This will help us get ready for the next few weeks of our Readers Workshop. The students are really enjoying looking at and reading new books.
Writing Workshop
We have started out the year by writing stories about the things we know a lot about. When we have our writing idea, we begin by closing our eyes and picturing what we are going to write about. After we have drawn our pictures, students are then working on labeling their stories. Saying the word slowly over and over again helps students to isolate individual sounds and write those letters down. Students are growing their independence by learning to solve their own problems as they arise during writing workshop. If they finish a story, they don’t wait to be told to start another!
Word Work
Students have learned routines and procedures of word work time. When forming letters, students will be using four lines to help guide them: sky line, plane line, grass line, and worm line. Students learned how to sit up tall in order to look like a writer and learned how to use a correct pencil grip. You can practice this at home too! Have your child use their thumb and index finger to pinch the tip of the pencil. As they pick up, the other fingers will curl under to support the hand. The pencil will then lean back and rest on the hand. Students were introduced to their first letter this week. We learned how to make the correct formation and sound for the letter T. Students have been prompted to say: T - top - /t/.
Math Workshop
Each day, we begin our math workshop with some calendar activities. We use the calendar to name the day’s date. We talk about what day of the week it is, what yesterday was, and what tomorrow will be. We then add a straw to our wall to count the number of days we have been in school. Students then practice counting forward 0 to 30and backward from 7 to 0. This week, we learned how to look at a group of dots and quickly decide how many dots were on the card (subitizing). Students were then encouraged to count the dots (1 to 1 correspondence) to double-check. Students all had different strategies for counting the dots. Students shared how they saw the dots grouped on each card. We have been playing many games to help us count forward and count on from a given number. Students also learned some very important positional words: above, below, next to, beside, behind, and in front of.
Social Studies
Students have been working on being good classmates to each other. We had some fun reading a few No David books. Together we thought about the ways we should treat each other. With these ideas, we created a social contract that we all signed. We agreed to be kind, helpful, respectful, good listeners, and above all be good friends.
Important Dates
9/13- Curriculum Night 6:30 p.m.
9/20- PTO Meeting 7:00 p.m.
9/22- Early Dismissal for Students; Staff PD
9/27- Picture Day