Predicting - The Mitten

Wednesday we read The Mitten to practice our comprehension skill, predicting. 

Prior to reading each student was given a mitten template. I showed them the cover of the book and asked them to predict what they thought the book would be about and to provide reasons based on the illustration as to why they made their prediction. 

As I read the book I would pause occasionally and ask the students to predict what they thought would happen next. 

They added all of their predictions to their mitten. 

We finished the book, which we all enjoyed, and cut our mittens out to use as a decoration in our room. 

Predicting -Henry's Freedom Box

This week I used the book Henry's Freedom Box to teach the skill of predicting. Predicting falls under the C on our CRAFT board because predicting helps us understand what we read. 

Prior to reading the book I showed the cover and gave each student a piece of paper.  On their paper they drew what they thought a freedom box was. We shared several predictions and then read the book. 

As we read we checked for understanding to continue practicing our previous comprehension strategy. 

After reading we discovered that many of our predictions were correct. Ask your child what a freedom box is. 

Launching Read to Self

Monday morning we began our Daily 5 and CRAFT reading skills.  We began by learning 3 ways to read a book. First, I told them the story of The 3 Little Pigs and then I told them the story of Cinderella. The students learned that there are times that we tell stories by word of mouth only. Next, we took a picture walk using the book Koala Lou. We were able to figure out what was happening on each page based on the illustrations. Finally, we read the book. 

Did you know there were 3 ways to read a book?

We read Koala Lou to learn our first comprehension strategy, checking for understanding. We talked about how sometimes our minds wander while we read. When this happens we often forget what we have read.  We learned a way to help solve this problem is  to think back over a chapter, or a few pages, once we've read them to be sure we've comprehended the information. 

Following Koala Lou we began talking about what a visitor should see and hear if they were to come in during our Read to Self time. We made a list of what students should do and a list of what I should be doing. 

After we compiled our list we modeled the right and wrong ways to read to self. Ask your child about my modeling :). They got a big kick out of it!

After we learned ALL about how to read to self it was finally time to practice building our stamina.  The students scattered around the room and began practicing our new read to self behaviors. 

LEGOS

Last week we had a chance to use LEGOS in our classroom. We will use these throughout the year to add to our learning in Alabama History, science, reading, and sometimes math. We will also use them for fun sometimes :). 

The students were given time to free play when they first received their LEGOS. Following their free play they were given a building task. They were to build their favorite part of their first week of school. There were many creative pieces of construction. 

Save Fred!

We are preparing to begin our first science unit of the year. Before we begin our unit we must first learn the scientific method and know exactly how to set up our science notebooks. 

Friday we took some time to learn about the scientific method. 

We began by creating a flip book with each of the components we will be using in our notebook entries. 

Then, we conducted our first investigation, Save Fred. 

Fred is a worm whose boat capsized. Fred does not know how to swim and his life preserver is stuck under the boat. 

The students had to save Fred (a gummy worm) by using only 4 paper clips. They could not touch Fred with their hands, and if Fred fell overboard 3 times then he was dead :(. 

To save Fred students had to retrieve his life preserver from underneath the boat and put it around him. 

They had a BLAST with this activity!

Close to 100

We played a game called close to 100 for math on Friday. 

Students draw 6 numeral cards and use 4 of those cards to create 2 two-digit numbers that will add up to get close to 100.  

Students then subtract their sum from 100 to find their score. 

The player with the lowest score wins. 

Example :  numeral cards = 3, 4, 7, 3, 6, 2

I would make my numbers 63 + 37 

63 + 37 = 100 so my score would be 0. 

Miss Mendenhall

We had our first counseling session today and had the opportunity to meet our new counselor, Miss Mendenhall.  I had heard WONDERFUL things about her but wasn't quite aware of just what we had in store for us until she began her first lesson in my room.  She is REMARKABLE.  FABULOUS.  ENERGETIC.  ENGAGING.  PASSIONATE.  CARING.  FRIENDLY.  KNOWLEDGEABLE.  Simply the most wonderful counselor I have ever had the privilege of working with.  

The way she communicated with the students was amazing.  She was on their level, literally, she would squat down and get on their level.  Her intonation grabbed, and kept, each person's attention.  Her sense of true interest in each student had each of them eager to share their passions with her.  I was on "break" yet I couldn't disengage myself from her lesson!

She shared about herself, learned about each child, shared the "Get-As" {Get Ahead, Get Along, and Get A Job}, and taught them about various listening styles.  

Before she left she taught them a fun song about ways they can listen.  The video is posted on our Instagram account.  Check it out!