Good afternoon,
We're off to a great start! I would like to use this blog as a vehicle to communicate about what's going on in the classroom. You are my audience. So, I need to know what's valuable to you. What do you need or want to know about your child's day? Please send me an email and give me some feedback on this blog. I want it to be useful and purposeful to you. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Typically, I'll begin these posts with important information you need to know. So, here's what you need to know this week.
*This week's IA is Art. Next week will be Music.
*Library books will be due every Tuesday, starting tomorrow.
*Anyone from Renaissance that goes to Smart Cow on Tuesday, a portion of those proceeds will come to back Renaissance. So, go enjoy some yummy yogurt and help support our school!
*The Kiss and Go is only for those
dropping off or picking up kids. If you need to get out of the car,
or wait for any reason, please park your car.
After important information, I will give you a glimpse into our classroom.
To begin Reader's Workshop this year, I asked the students two questions that I think are important: Why do we read? and What does it mean to be a wise reader? I was so impressed with the responses we got. Take a look! (And I was so pleased that no one answered, "Because you tell us to.")
Dessert Before Dinner?
You may have heard your child talk about "dessert" reading and "healthy" reading. These are two terms we use in our classroom to classify our book choices. Each day, students get 10 minutes of "dessert" reading time. This is a chance for them to choose any book they want to read. Even if the book is too hard or too easy, they can interact with the text. Letting students have some independence over their reading choices improves motivation. I also have students read around the room and lie on their stomachs, propped up on their elbows. There is a method to my madness. I ask students to read in this position because it helps strengthen their upper bodies and helps improve small motor and handwriting.
"Healthy" reading is time for us to read books that are "just right" for us. They feed our brains and make us stronger readers, just like healthy foods make our bodies stronger. "Healthy" reading is done back in our seats at our desks. This is a time when I confer with, or talk to readers, about their books and the reading strategies we are working on. We also record our thinking about our reading in our response logs. This is an important component of writing. It helps us learn how to support our thinking with examples from the text.
For Expedition, we have been furthering our understanding of what it means to "Fill a Bucket," by learning more about our five character traits. Here are some pictures of our kiddos using beneficence, empathy, and integrity on our Voyage.
We showed beneficence by helping each other build shelters out on the trail. We were being kind to each other.
A mom shows empathy by helping a student write in his reflection log.
More parents show empathy by helping us on the zip line.
Ms. Hanni shows empathy by understanding that some students felt scared to try the zip line, so she showed how to overcome her fear and just go for it. Sometimes empathy can be really fun! :)
We had a chance to show integrity while playing tag. We knew we had to do the right thing and admit that we had been tagged, even though no one was looking.
We also had to show integrity while working as a group to cross a path in the correct order.
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