Week of September 24th

It was a nice short week. This was our first week of only regular activities. In math we have been talking a lot about growing patterns and sorting. We have been extending these growing patterns and then analyzing our sorting with venn diagrams. In Reader's Workshop I have met with each child to discuss his/her book box and making sure they have "just right" books. We also have partners for Reader's Workshop that we get together with after independent reading to share what we learned, talk about a favorite of the book, discuss unknown words or to read together. The students are also using post-it notes to mark spots in their books to help with these partner discussions. I have been very impressed with their writing so far this year. We have been talking about how writers write about what they know. I shared the book, "Long Shot" by Chris Paul which is his true story about his determination to become a basketball player. We talked about how he wrote about something that he knew well. I also shared the story "The Best Story" by Eileen Spinelli which was about a little girl who wants to write the best story in order to win a contest. She eventually learns in the story that the best stories come from the heart and are things that she already knows about. Through the next couple of weeks we will continue with these stories about things that we already know about. This week we will be finishing up our Social Studies Unit on Community and Citizenship. Have a great weekend, Nancy