Literacy
We continue to begin each morning with learning tasks which include: guided reading, teacher read alouds and an assortment of shared, whole group and/or independent writing experiences. This week we were learning about the differences between fictional and non-fictional types of reading materials. Since squirrels are an integral part of the Capitol Hill community, I thought books relating to this topic would be a great way for students to share their background knowledge in order to better understand this concept. And it worked! Prior to reading the book, the children were very eager to share everything they knew about squirrels. As we read the non-fiction book, we observed facts were presented and real photographs were on the pages.
When we read the fictional book, "Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Halloween," we noticed it was a story and nothing was real. The pictures were cartoonish in style and there were no photographs.
After reading the books, the children wrote factual sentences in their journals about squirrels. Did you know baby squirrels do not open their eyes until they are one month old?
As the students are getting extremely excited about Halloween, we engaged in some cooperative group work where we had to mix and match the letters in the words HAPPY HALLOWEEN to create new words. Examples include: pan, when, yellow, we and wall.
We are also working on writing ABC Poems containing Halloween words that begin with each letter of the alphabet.
Numeracy
The students have continued to learn about creating, translating and extending patterns. Key vocabulary words include: elements, attributes and core.
While working with manipulatives to create patterns, Brayden, Asher, Blake and Ryan used yellow and red counters to create a T-Rex dinosaur. The core of their pattern is yellow, yellow, yellow, red, red, red, red or AAABBBB.
Through the use of various dice games, Power of Ten cards, books and videos, we engage in daily math tasks to help improve our recall of the basic addition/subtraction facts up to 20.
In the photo above, the students had to select a number from each pumpkin to generate addition and subtraction questions. The numbers on the pumpkins ranged from 0 to 50 in order to personalize learning.
Whole Body Listening
Today we had a presentation about how we use our eyes, ears, mouth, hands, feet, brains and our hearts to listen effectively.
Reminders:
- Library Book Exchange is every Wednesday.
- There is no school on Friday, November 1st.
- Thank you to all of the students who have been so responsible about exchanging their Home Reading books each week.
