Mrs. Keane's Class: January 2011

Week of January 17, 2011

I think this was the shortest school week ever. We have a lot to make up this coming school week.

We learned:

Math: We worked with two-digit numbers. We counted popsicle sticks using tens and ones to determine what digits we would need to write the two-digit number. Also, we compared two digit numbers to see which was larger and smaller.
Reading: We practiced using our schema as it relates to the five senses to help us better understand a non-fiction story, "A Walk By The Seashore." We created a chart with a section for each of the five senses. We took turns completing the chart listing things that we see, smell, hear, taste, and touch at the beach. As we learned new information we added that to the chart.
Writing: We answered the prompt, "My favorite toy is..." in our journals.
Handwriting: We practiced the letter G.

With such a short week, we had little time for pictures. I will be sure to post pictures next week.

I hope you are enjoying the long weekend and staying warm. The students did a great job this week bouncing back from their first snow day. Each day I tell the students we have a lot to do and not a lot of time, and this was even more true with a snow day added into the mix.

We learned:

Math: We practiced sorting attribute blocks (squares, triangles, rectangles, circles, and hexagons) by color, shape, and size. We also sorted the blocks by number of sides. We played, "What's My Rule" fishing game. I called students to the front of the room without revealing the rule or attribute that I used. The students that weren't called had to guess my rule. We also had some more practice with addition and subtraction number stories. I told the students a number story and wrote it on the easel. The students had to determine the answer and if it was an addition or subtraction problem. Then I showed the students how to write the number story by using a simple math equation. For example, this is what I wrote on the easel:

I saw three birds in a tree and two flew away. How many birds are left?

3 - 2 = 1

Reader's Workshop: We started working on comprehension strategies. The first strategy we are focusing on is making connections to the text by using our schema (background knowledge) to better understand what is being read. I modeled this with the story, "The First Day of School." The students practiced with me while I read, "Geraldine's Big Snow."
Writer's Workshop: We continued to work on responsive writing by completing the prompt, "A friend is..."
Phonics and Word Study: We practiced sorting pictures by listening to the initial sound. The principles are:

“You can hear the sound at the beginning of a word.”

“You can match letters and sounds at the beginning of a word.”

Handwriting: We practiced Q, and learned G, 7, and 8.
We also played Sight Word Bingo to help increase our sight word recognition.

Pocket Chart Workstation - the students built words that related to the story, "The Mitten" by Jan Brett.

Math Workstation - the students played, "The Train Game," which is a counting game taught in the Everyday Math program. The students take turns rolling a cube labeled with a 1, 2, or 3. Then they add that number of cubes together. The first person to get 15 cubes wins.

Poetry Workstation - the students illustrated a poem about a polar bear.

Handwriting Workstation - the students practiced the letter Q and the number 4.

These are pictures of the students completing an obstacle course during our whole class speech/OT group with Mrs. Hoxie (occupational therapist) and Mrs. Kamen (speech therapist).

First, the students had to catch three puzzle pieces and put them in a basket.

Then, they had to hop through the rings.

Last, they had to go through the hug machine.

Week of January 3, 2011

Happy New Year! I hope the start to the new year has been a happy and joyous one. The students and I got right back into the swing of things this week. We learned:

Math: We compared shapes (triangles, squares, rectangles, and circles) by noticing how many sides and corners they have. We also talked about angles as they relate to the shapes because the students noticed that a rhombus looks similar to a square. We also worked with the subtraction symbol and practiced subtracting using counters. We also created a graph by rolling two dice, adding the sum, and colored the corresponding number on our graph.
Reader's Workshop: We learned that we need to set a purpose when we read non-fiction books. This helps us to better understand what we are reading. We worked together to set the purpose for reading a book on librarians and teachers (as we worked to finish our community members unit).
Writer's Workshop: We started a unit on responsive writing. The students got new journals to respond to a given prompt. This week we completed the following prompts: "I like winter because..." and "My favorite workstation is..."
Handwriting: We practiced the letter O and learned how to form the letter Q.
Phonics and Word Study: We continued to work with color words by locating them in text.
We also started Guided Reading this week. The students are learning to read simple, predictable books by working with me in a small group setting. I meet with each group three times per week.