We learned how to play school during reading play dates this week. Avid readers love to talk about books in groups. This week we began to learn how to have reading play dates, with larger groups of peers. We learned how to play school on reading play dates. Not only are we learning from one another, but we're also taking turns and being respectful towards our peers.
Some writers began to publish their pieces in Writing Workshop this week. We are not all publishing simultaneously, as we usually do. We are not saving pieces of writing in our folders, but getting them out in the world, so we can solve our problems. Check out some of the finished work that we have displayed around the room (see photos below).
In our math lessons, we focused on counting back or forward to find the difference between numbers. We compared numbers and found how how many more and how many fewer they had. We also decomposed the number 5 and found out how many ways we could build a 5 train (1+4, 2+3, etc.).
We have finished our unit on geography and have moved on to a new science unit: Living and Non-Living Things. We read a book about what living things need and they we tried to sort a collection of photos into two groups: living and non-living. This led to some very interesting discourse: Is Elmo living? Is water living? Is fire living? Why or why not?
We also collected April's weather data and observed our tree outside. We were SO excited to see apple blossoms!
We enjoyed another session of games this week, and continued to work on our phonics skills while doing so.
Author Dan Yaccorino visited on Thursday.
News and Notes:
- Book sleeves due Monday
- Field trip on Tuesday! Students should be dressed for a day outdoors. Long pants, closed toed shoes and appropriate outerwear (for cold or rain) is required. Rain boots are highly recommended. Sunscreen and insect repellent should be applied at home. Please pack a disposable snack in a disposable bag labeled with your child's name. There is no ordering snack that day. Remember to check your child for ticks after school on Tuesday.
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| Reading Play Dates |
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| Author Dan Yaccorino |
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| Persuasive writing poster displayed in the classroom: "Please leave jewelry at home because it's distracting." |
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| "No talking when the teacher is talking because your might forget your question. Raise your hand because it will get too noisy. You should raise your hand." |
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| "Do not run because you can hurt someone else. Please walk." |
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| "If I have 2, how many more to make 10?" |
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| "Who has more? How many more? How many fewer?" |
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| Sorting objects for science lessons |
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| Apple blossoms! |
