Week of February 15, 2010

I hope you are all enjoying the February vacation thus far. It looks as if we are supposed to get some snow, but generally the week is going to be warm. Let's keep our fingers crossed for decent weather!

The students worked on several new concepts in reading and math this week. In math, the students practiced one-to-one correspondence with multi-sensory counts. For example, I clapped my hands or stomped my feet a certain number of times. The students had to listen carefully, count the claps or stomps, and write the correct number on their white boards. The students had a great time with this activity because it is always an exciting time when we get to use our white boards. Also, the students used a new manipulative this week. They used attribute blocks, which are plastic shapes (circles, squares, triangles, rectangles, and hexagons). The blocks come in different sizes, colors, and thickness. We practiced sorting these blocks as a whole group and in small groups. The students then had to share how their group sorted the blocks. Also, we played a new math game called, "What's My Rule?" I went "fishing" by tapping children on the head that had a certain attribute. Initially, I made the attribute very obvious. For example, I picked children wearing the same color shirt or pants. After several rounds, I made the attribute less obvious. For example, I picked children with the same eye color. Last, we practiced reading two-digit numbers.

Practicing our sorting skills with attribute blocks

In reading, we continue to practice our sight words during our class meeting and during workstations. We finish our class meeting by reading a special announcement. After I read the announcement, I invite children to come to the easel to find sight words that I've used in the message. Also, the students practiced building the sight words and reading them at the overhead workstation. We also practiced reading our sight words during our phonics lesson. In addition to reading the sight words, we practiced recognizing word features. For example, I placed in, it, and is on the right-hand side of the pocket chart. The students had to determine the feature that was the same in all three words. After it was identified, we read the words together. Identifying word features will help the students as they are reading books independently because they can use a word that is already known to determine an unknown word.

In writing we continued writing in our journals this week. Also, we practiced writing the letter "z." We practiced the letter first using a technique known as "wet, dry, try." I wrote the letter on a little slate, the student then traced the letter with a wet sponge. Next, the student traced the letter with a dry sponge. Last, the student traced the letter with chalk. The following day we practiced writing the letter in our workbook.