April 8th:
This past week, we began our last unit, reading fiction. This unit focuses on learning about story elements - characters, setting, plot, problem, solution. We will discuss character traits and support our opinions of a character by citing evidence from the story. We'll also focus on taking a "sneak peek," predicting, and retelling by determining the important events and using these to retell the story. We will also discuss the lesson or theme in the story. This can be tricky! The students already seem excited to dive back into fiction and learn more about their characters and the events in the story!
*As you read with your child, stop before, during, and after the book and discuss predictions, ask questions, and determine important events. *Discuss characters and their traits. Talk about evidence from the text that support your opinion about a character.
*Talk about the setting and stop and notice when the setting changes. The setting is BOTH when and where the story takes place... not just where. When could be the time of day (morning, lunch, dinner, bedtime) or the time of year (winter, spring, summer, fall), just to give a few examples.
*Discuss the lesson or theme in the stories you read! What did the character learn in this story? What do you think the author is trying to teach you in this story?
February 28th:
This month, we did some hard work with the comprehension strategy of Determining Importance and paraphrasing. Wow! These can be hard concepts for first graders! As we read, we think about what is really important information and what are just "extra" interesting details. We then practiced paraphrasing what we learned, or writing it down in our own words. Even though this was a hard concept to grasp, the students worked hard to give it their best effort!
We also have been learning about main idea, or what our text is "mostly" about. We have been practicing this with our non-fiction texts. The students have been thinking about what their books were mostly all about and then finding details to support their main idea. We have used the chart below to help us with our learning. We have also been tying in our "retell rubric" as part of our main idea lesson. This is the yellow, ice-cream scoop rubric that came home as part of homework this past week. The students' goal is to strive for a 3 scoop retell by naming the topic (or main idea), teaching us 3 or more facts/details about their topic, AND also adding or telling more about their details. The students have been doing a great job with this! They have been working on recording their non-fiction retells to share with you, which you should see pop up on Seesaw very soon! Listen to your child's recording with them and then look at the ice-cream scoop rubric together and talk about whether your child met his or her goal of a 3 scoop retell! What could your child do to make their retell even better?
This past week, we began our last unit, reading fiction. This unit focuses on learning about story elements - characters, setting, plot, problem, solution. We will discuss character traits and support our opinions of a character by citing evidence from the story. We'll also focus on taking a "sneak peek," predicting, and retelling by determining the important events and using these to retell the story. We will also discuss the lesson or theme in the story. This can be tricky! The students already seem excited to dive back into fiction and learn more about their characters and the events in the story!
*As you read with your child, stop before, during, and after the book and discuss predictions, ask questions, and determine important events. *Discuss characters and their traits. Talk about evidence from the text that support your opinion about a character.
*Talk about the setting and stop and notice when the setting changes. The setting is BOTH when and where the story takes place... not just where. When could be the time of day (morning, lunch, dinner, bedtime) or the time of year (winter, spring, summer, fall), just to give a few examples.
*Discuss the lesson or theme in the stories you read! What did the character learn in this story? What do you think the author is trying to teach you in this story?
February 28th:
This month, we did some hard work with the comprehension strategy of Determining Importance and paraphrasing. Wow! These can be hard concepts for first graders! As we read, we think about what is really important information and what are just "extra" interesting details. We then practiced paraphrasing what we learned, or writing it down in our own words. Even though this was a hard concept to grasp, the students worked hard to give it their best effort!
We also have been learning about main idea, or what our text is "mostly" about. We have been practicing this with our non-fiction texts. The students have been thinking about what their books were mostly all about and then finding details to support their main idea. We have used the chart below to help us with our learning. We have also been tying in our "retell rubric" as part of our main idea lesson. This is the yellow, ice-cream scoop rubric that came home as part of homework this past week. The students' goal is to strive for a 3 scoop retell by naming the topic (or main idea), teaching us 3 or more facts/details about their topic, AND also adding or telling more about their details. The students have been doing a great job with this! They have been working on recording their non-fiction retells to share with you, which you should see pop up on Seesaw very soon! Listen to your child's recording with them and then look at the ice-cream scoop rubric together and talk about whether your child met his or her goal of a 3 scoop retell! What could your child do to make their retell even better?
January 13th:
We have started a new unit in reading in this New Year! We have just launched our Lucy Calkins non-fiction unit of study. In this unit, the students will explore and learn all about new topics in a variety of non-fiction books! Above is a sneak peak at the sticky notes for this unit that we will be learning! As part of our exploration for this unit, we will be working on a technology project with Mrs. Fleet using an app called Spark Video to teach others about our learning. Be on the lookout for this project to show up on Seesaw once completed!
These are some of our focuses during this unit of study:
* setting personal reading goals to improve our decoding and comprehension
*thinking strategies to help us understand and interact with texts
(determining importance, paraphrasing, keeping track of our thinking and learning as we read)
* noticing and learning from all the non-fiction text features that authors use
November 11th:
Here is what we have been focusing on lately...
*Understanding that reading is thinking!
*Listening to our inner voice
*Leaving "tracks" of our thinking by making notes when we learn new things, make connections, or have a question about what we read (We use LOTS of sticky notes!)
*Become problem solvers who can use lots of strategies to decode and understand what we read
*Continuing to build stamina and independence
You can help at home by:
*Keep up with the nightly reading routine
*Encourage students to "think aloud" as they read and share their questions, learnings and reactions to text
*Model asking questions as you read
*Continue to support sight word and spelling pattern homework
October 15, 2018:
In the past couple of weeks, we've been focusing on Good Habits for Solving Hard Words. Readers need to know a variety of strategies they can use to figure out tricky words. Often, not just one strategy will work! The following sheet came home with your child's homework, so please keep it handy for you and your child's reference. Here it is again, if you need it. These are the sticky notes we have learned in class and are using every time we read to "tackle" those tricky words!
Ask your child: "What can you do when you get stuck on a tricky word?"
August 26th:
Our class has been hard at work learning how to PICK a "good-fit" book and how to build our reading stamina! We have talked about what REAL reading looks likes vs. FAKE reading. We have been practicing picking books for ourselves that are "just right" for each of us individually, and we've been READING! Below is a chart we made together in class to help remind us how to pick a book that is a good-fit for us.
These are some of our focuses during this unit of study:
* setting personal reading goals to improve our decoding and comprehension
*thinking strategies to help us understand and interact with texts
(determining importance, paraphrasing, keeping track of our thinking and learning as we read)
* noticing and learning from all the non-fiction text features that authors use
November 11th:
Here is what we have been focusing on lately...
*Understanding that reading is thinking!
*Listening to our inner voice
*Leaving "tracks" of our thinking by making notes when we learn new things, make connections, or have a question about what we read (We use LOTS of sticky notes!)
*Become problem solvers who can use lots of strategies to decode and understand what we read
*Continuing to build stamina and independence
You can help at home by:
*Keep up with the nightly reading routine
*Encourage students to "think aloud" as they read and share their questions, learnings and reactions to text
*Model asking questions as you read
*Continue to support sight word and spelling pattern homework
October 15, 2018:
In the past couple of weeks, we've been focusing on Good Habits for Solving Hard Words. Readers need to know a variety of strategies they can use to figure out tricky words. Often, not just one strategy will work! The following sheet came home with your child's homework, so please keep it handy for you and your child's reference. Here it is again, if you need it. These are the sticky notes we have learned in class and are using every time we read to "tackle" those tricky words!
Ask your child: "What can you do when you get stuck on a tricky word?"
August 26th:
Our class has been hard at work learning how to PICK a "good-fit" book and how to build our reading stamina! We have talked about what REAL reading looks likes vs. FAKE reading. We have been practicing picking books for ourselves that are "just right" for each of us individually, and we've been READING! Below is a chart we made together in class to help remind us how to pick a book that is a good-fit for us.
A "Good Fit Book" is one where you....
*...Comprehend the book - It makes sense to you! We talk a lot about how important it is to understand what we read. We are always asking ourselves, "Does this make sense?"
As your child reads to you and you read with your child,
stop and ask them "Did that make sense?"
*...Know most of the words (This can be hard! Typically when asked, the kids
usually say, "Yes! I knew all of the words" - even when they didn't.
Therefore, I tell the kids they should use the 5 finger rule. This is where your child reads a random page in their book and has 5 fingers up to start. Once they come to a word they don't know, they put a finger down. At the end of that page, your child should still have at least 3 fingers up. If your child has put down more than 3 fingers during that page, this book is probably too difficult. We are learning what this looks and sounds like!)
It is essential that your child read Good-Fit Books in order to grow as a reader.
Please encourage and help your child find Good-Fit Books to read at home!
*...Comprehend the book - It makes sense to you! We talk a lot about how important it is to understand what we read. We are always asking ourselves, "Does this make sense?"
As your child reads to you and you read with your child,
stop and ask them "Did that make sense?"
*...Know most of the words (This can be hard! Typically when asked, the kids
usually say, "Yes! I knew all of the words" - even when they didn't.
Therefore, I tell the kids they should use the 5 finger rule. This is where your child reads a random page in their book and has 5 fingers up to start. Once they come to a word they don't know, they put a finger down. At the end of that page, your child should still have at least 3 fingers up. If your child has put down more than 3 fingers during that page, this book is probably too difficult. We are learning what this looks and sounds like!)
It is essential that your child read Good-Fit Books in order to grow as a reader.
Please encourage and help your child find Good-Fit Books to read at home!
We have also started our Lucy Calkins curriculum this past week. We learned that good readers build good reading habits. We discussed that a habit is something we do daily that we don't need to be reminded to do, such as getting dressed or brushing our teeth before bed, and that readers have habits, too. We have learned how to "take a sneak-peak and then think" about our story before we even begin reading it to get an idea about what our story might be about. We also talked about how, as we start to read, we will check our sneak-peak and then our thinking might change as we learn a bit more or take more sneak peaks in our book. We also learned that good readers have a habit of doing SOMETHING at the end of their book, instead of just putting it down to get a new book. This could be rereading a favorite part, rereading the whole book, retelling the story in their mind, making a connection to their story, etc. Below is a chart we have created in class to help us remember these good reading habits.