As we continue to build our routines, we are building community and learning about our group dynamics. It is vital that the kids honor each other's differences - strengths & weaknesses - in our learning community. When we feel safe in our surroundings, we can truly be ourselves comfortably and be more likely to take risks and push ourselves to learn more, to challenge ourselves and to seek out each other for support.
Most recently, I have been encouraging the kids to "think about the way they think". This bit of mega-cognition invites students into discovering what works best for them. It helps them to learn about their own abilities and to become honest with themselves about what they need to work on and what they can share with others. All in all, this helps them to take responsibility for their own learning and heightens their level of engagement with the materials we are interfacing.
We began Reader's Workshop this week. The workshop approach is a bit new to me, but I am excited to be implementing it. It starts with a mini lesson where I teach and model a reading skill to the students. For example I just taught them about taking some notes about what they have recently read that they would like to share with their reading partner. I asked them specifically to focus on something that felt confusing or noteworthy. Next week we will delve more into focusing on the characters.
I am encouraging students to choose books within their "zone". Last year I received a large addition to my reading library through a literacy grant. My books have been coded and labeled to make the choosing process much easier and more successful for the kids. Everyone has been very eager to choose 'just right' books and do the work.
Every Thursday we have the "Thursday 30" in math. (You will see these come home in the red folder). I am tracking fact fluency with thirty problems. The children are to write down the time it takes. I stop the clock at 10 minutes. Our continued goal is all 30 in less than 5 minutes. Continued work with flashcards, math Apps, and XtraMath.org really helps. I am seeing great improvements in most. Please continue to support this process.
Also in math, we are continuing to find ways to make our facts "easier" by focusing on tricks, rhymes, strategies and ways to break them up. Not only do these methods help to build our fact fluency, but it also helps to deepen our understanding of the math concept. For instance, we worked on developing our own multiplication story problems this week. It became necessary for them to really image how the numbers were interacting with one another to build a story problem that worked.
We are continuing our work in our writing. This week we selected a narrative idea from our Writer's Notebook to concentrate on developing. Some kids are working on paper, while others have decided to work on the iPads with keyboards. Everyone has a great start to their drafting. We will continue drafting and we will also work to include more techniques and ways to enrich our writing.
We finished off our week with a fun moment with our Buddy Class. We took time to construct a building out of the Imagination Blocks. It was a short time, but very fun to work together and share ideas.
Finally, I hope you all received the WGST packets. If you have any questions, be sure to check in with Mr. Todd Burleson. It's been an exciting start!
I hope you all have enjoyed your weekend.
Please take some time to look through some photos below.
