A Wild Recess Boy

A Pig Parade

A pig parade, good idea or bad idea? This was the question in our kindergarten this morning. During morning meeting we recorded our opinions on a graph and then analyzed the data. More of us thought a pig parade was a good idea than terrible idea (surprise, surprise) 😄 In writing workshop we read the book "A Pig Parade Is A Terrible Idea" by Michael Ian Black. We did what is called a "close read," which is when you listen for a specific purpose. Our purpose was to identify the authors problem and his reasons for wanting to solve the problem. We then did a turn and to identifying them to our partners. By this time we were ready to identify our own problem or something we feel strongly about and want to change, and start writing!!!! Below are our anchor charts and the beginnings of some impressive persuasive writing. 

"I will convince Mrs. Couture I can play cars. It is fun!"

"I want to stay up past my bedtime."

"My dad should fix my four wheeler fast."

Count and Compare Unifix Cubes

In this new math game we take turns drawing cards, counting the cubes on the cards and comparing the quantities to determine which has more and which has fewer. This gives us direct practice in the following skills:

1) counting quantities from 10-27, using benchmarks of 10's, 5's and 1's.

2) comparing sets (more, less, or equal)

Happy Monday

Published Authors

We went to the fourth grade today and read them our How-To books. :)

Writing For A Reason

In Writing Workshop we have learned how to write narratives and how-to books. This week we began a new unit with a focus on writing for a reason. Our first exploration is on writing persuasive texts. I intoduced this concept by reading the book "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More!" And then asking students to come up with some reasons why the mother in the book should give the boy back his paints, even after he painted his whole body and a wall!! A tough sell for sure, but our kids came up with some pretty convincing reasons!!

The next day we talked about things we each feel strongly about. We shared out with a turn-and-talk and then with a whole group. Here are some of their ideas.

To convince Mrs. perry to bring my dog to school.

Get my brother to play with me.

I don't think I should have to clean up.

I think people should not litter.

I want to play more video games.

I want my mom to take me swimming a lot in the summer.

I want to bring my pet to school.

I do not want to take showers, I want my mom to let me take baths instead.

I want Mrs. Couture to let me bring my rubber duck to school.

I want my mom to let me eat more Oreo cookies.

We started making posters and will soon move to essays! 

Remembering Each Word

We tackled the "tricky" words in our books today!

Connection - we talked about other times we have practiced reading words, and how many of these words have become snap words (words we read automatically) for us. Rereading helps us to remember words.

Teach - (Modeling with a big book)

1) First we, after reading a new book, go back through the pages and find all the words that gave us trouble

2) Then we, practice reading and remembering each word.

3) Last we re read the book again, this time trying to make it sound awesome!

Active Engagemnt - I gave students their own highlighter tape and a brand new "just-right-book" to search and highlight words that gave them trouble. 

Link - We talked about rereading and remembering words.

Common Core Standards:

Reading: Foundational Skills

Phonics and Word Recognition

3. Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

1. Demonstrate basic knowledge of letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary or most frequent sound for each consonant.
2. Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.
3. Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does).
4. Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ.

Reading: Literature

Craft and Structure

4. Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text. (See grade K Language standards 4-6 for additional expectations.) CA

Writing Celebration

We have just finished a unit on "How To Writing" and celebrated with a publishing party. We enjoyed a special snack together and then took turns reading our stories to each other. Soon, we will have the chance to read our stories to a fourth grader! 

Chunky Monkey

Meet "Chunky Monkey" our latest reading strategy. Reading strategies are a great way to figure out the tricky words ourselves, without asking for help :)

Dr Seuss Week at Folsom

It is our second annual Dr. Seuss week at Folsom! Each day we will be celebrating this special author with books, a daily theme and a daily challenge. At the end of the week winners from the Monday-Thursdy challenge will be announced. In addition,  kids who meet their reading challenge will have the chance to watch Ms. Hoag and Principal Perry complete an outdoor obstacle course in the snow . . . In their beach clothing!!! 

The book of the day today was "The Cat And The Hat." We wore red, white and black! Our daily theme was "the school has been taken over by the cat", and our challenge (due Tuesday) is to draw the Cat in the Hat.

Tomorrow our book of the day is "Oh The Places You'll Go," wear a t-shirt that names a place you've been or wear something that reminds you of a place you have visited or want to go.  The theme is: An ordinary day may  one day be an extraordinary memory, and the challenge (due Wednesday) is to describe in a story where you will be in 2030. What will your life be like? (k-2 students may have a scribe). 

Here is the rest of the week:

Wednesday: 

Horton Hears a Who - come to school in your pajamas/dress in a unique way

Daily Theme - Your actions and thought matter, you make a difference!

Daily Challenge - Horton makes a difference by saving the Whos on a small speck of dust. List 5 ways YOU make a difference AT SCHOOL. (Due Thursday)

Thursday:

The Lorax - come to school wearing as much green as you can.

Daily Theme - Go Green! Reduce, Reuse, Recyle!

Daily Challenge - Draw a picture of you doing something that helps the environment. (due Friday)

Friday:

The Sneetches - Tropical Day

Daily Theme - It is ok to look differerent! It's what's in your heart that matters most.

Daily Challenge - bring your Reading Challenge paper back to school!

Comparing and Contrasting Books

Our work in reading workshop has lead us to an exploration of nonfiction texts. Today we tackled common core standard RI.K.9 by comparing and contrasting books on the same topic. This is how the "official" standard reads:

Reading: Informational Text

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

9. With prompting and support, identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures).

This is what we did:

1. Made some text to text connections

2. Looked at different texts on the same topic.

3. Read two books on the same topic: weather.

4. Discussed and recorded things that were the same and different about the two books on a Venn diagram.

5. Got our browsing boxes and a reading buddy and did steps 1-4 ourselves !!!

Welcome Back!

We were very glad to be back together after our winter vacation. This morning at morning meeting our greeting was "What's the Haps?" During this greeting children finish this sentence: "The Haps is. . . ." filling in with an event from their vacation. It was a great way to share vacation happenings! Here is our message, we figured out the word "welcome" by chunking the word and we talked about the date and that March is the third month of the year. We then filled in the numbers that came before and I was amazed with our students competency with this skill :)