Mrs. Henry's Classroom: Newsletter 1/11/18

We are beginning a new unit in Reading Workshop called "Bigger Books, Bigger Reading Muscles!". We are all growing as readers and strengthening our super powers! We examined different level books this week and noticed the attributes of harder texts. If we are going to read harder books, we need to be on the lookout! We also need to increase our reading stamina. To do so, it helps to have a reading plan. So, after reading a great Elephant and Piggie book called We Are In A Book!, everyone received a reading mat to help them make a reading plan for every day. Ask your child about how the mat works and see the photos below.

We read Ezra Jack Keats' story Peter's Chair this week, and really dug deep into understanding his character. Many students made meaningful connections with this great book.

We learned how to "tap" in our phonics lessons this week. "Tapping" is a kinesthetic approach for sounding out words. We learned how to touch our fingers and say each sound in words like mat, map, mad, sad, etc. Tapping will strengthen reading and writing skills. Ask your child to show you how to tap one of those words. We just did one lesson on this, but will continue all year.

We are getting ready to publish our narrative writing pieces! We chose a piece to publish and, just like real authors, we are using an "editor" (writing partner) to help us improve it! In this unit we focused on cleaning up our writing and telling a story in more detail.

We did two Exemplars recently, each about counting pairs. We are using different strategies to solve problems: diagrams, ten frames and number lines. See some of our problem solving in the photos below.

We also worked on measuring with cubes this week. We had a blast measuring everyone's foot outline, recording the data, and then putting them all in order from shortest to longest! Check out the photos below.

Why don't we have school on Monday? Who was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.? This is my favorite time of year as I get to introduce the students to many historical figures for the first time! What an honor. We learned about Dr. Martin Luther King's ideas and how he helped change unfair laws.

Everyone became more familiar with the Raz-Kids website this week and students can now access their own reading libraries at home!

News and Notes:

Book Sleeves are due on TUESDAY. Enjoy the long weekend!
Scholastic orders must be placed by 3:45 pm on Thursday, 1/18. Late orders will not be processed until next month.
Send back your child's Rough Draft Folder if you have not done so already.
Ox Ridgers are going to a SOUND TIGERS hockey game and their mascot Storm came to school! Check out the Hoot for info on how to get tickets. The more friends, the more fun!