Week of January 10, 2011

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.