Thank You!

Thank you to all that offered to chaperone the field trip. We are all set!

Volunteers Needed For Field Trip

We are still in need of chaperones for our field trip on May 22nd. We need 3 more for the AM class and one more for the PM class. Please let me know if you are willing to come and help for the day!

Grow! Grow! Grow!

It is that time of year! I think I see the sun today! We have started talking about the life cycle of a plant. We have planted our bean seeds and some are actually sprouting. Each day we check to see if they need water and to observe any changes in the plant growth. Below is a wonderful video on how a seed grows. We have seen it in class and it is quite amazing


http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-do-seeds-sprout/

On the Scale

What is weight and how do we measure it? Well, we found out and used scales to find how heavy or light objects were in our room! We measured using counting bears as our weights.

Learning to Read Fluently

An excerpt from the phonics webinar by Kimberly Oliver Burnim, 2006 National Teacher of the Year and a Senior Curriculum Advisor at ABCmouse.com: Parent Question: How do I help my child to read fluently?

Answer: To read fluently means to read words expressively and smoothly. Children who are not fluent read choppily and word-for-word. This can affect their comprehension, because they don’t remember what they have read by the time they reach the end of a sentence. Reading fluently is an important skill.

To help your child learn to read fluently, one of the most important things you can do is to regularly read aloud to your child so that you’re modeling the type of reading you want your child to do. For example, if you’re changing your voice for different characters, your child will know that he or she needs to do the same. If a book that you’re reading has text features such as bold print, and you decide to read a bolded word loudly, you’re modeling that they, too, can do that while they’re reading. Another way to develop fluency is to have your child read a book over and over again. Children tend to become fluent readers after reading the same thing many times. They know when to pause, when to speed up, and when to slow down. As they listen to themselves read more and more fluently, this also helps to build their confidence.

RAH.....Reading at Home

Our reading at home program has begun (RAH). Each child will be able to take home 2 books at their independent reading level from my class library. Each child is divided up into a color group. Each color group will choose books on a certain day and return them on the same day of the following week.

These books are meant to be EASY. It is a time for your child to build confidence and enjoy his/her time reading. Books at an instructional level are read with me in a guided reading group in class. Please take the time to have your child read to you making sure that they are tracking correctly and reading the words correctly. Have them read to Dad and siblings. It is suppose to be a fun experience.

When both books are returned, your child will be able to choose two more books following the same pattern as I described above. I ask that the books are handled with care. Please return them in the plastic bag that they were given to travel back and forth in their backpacks. Thanks so much.

HAPPY READING!

How Cloudy is the Weather?

At the end of the month, weather was the topic of our science day. The parents shared some very interesting and fun facts about how weather affects our lives and why it happens. The students had so much fun participating in the centers.