In reading, we have wrapped up a unit on building strategies for not only figuring out tricky words through decoding skills but to understand what we are reading in a deeper way. How does the character change? What lessons are the authors trying to share? Something we do now, before we read any book, is to make a prediction about the lesson that will be learned. What is the intent of this author? What does he/she want us to know? Ask your child to look at the front cover and back page 'blurb' to make a prediction the next time you read together.
In writing, we celebrated our success in writing narratives. Students worked hard to publish a story for you to read on Curriculum Night. Recently, they published a story to read to their Kindergarten Buddies. Students will write one of their stories on demand next week. Then they will look at the first on demand piece they did and see all the progress they have made. This is a critical part of developing reflective learning. Our inquiry into narrative writing focused on using authors as mentors. We dug into the story Owl Moon by Jane Yolen and practiced the many craft moves she uses in her writing. These included; comparisons, sound words, alliteration, beautiful language and dialogue. In addition, children are pulling words from word banks, word walls and a thesaurus. This supports increased vocabulary and spelling accuracy. Students are now using many of their favorite authors as mentors for their own writing. Ask us what comparisons we used to let the reader picture the story so they could feel like they were there!
In Reading and writing, across the grades, we use a Unit of Study Series by Lucy Calkins. Why is this FANTASTIC? Using a consistent language and predictable structure for lessons helps facilitate the safe and structured learning community we continually build here at Stratton. Also, the line is less fine between reading and writing and students at Stratton see there really is no line. In our next reading and writing units we will read non-fiction and again use authors as mentors as we write non-fiction.
In Math, we practiced ways to show our thinking in both discussions and written representations. There are so many different ways to solve a problem. We have been practicing math facts using the plus one, plus two strategies, tens partners and doubles plus and minus one. We practice figuring out combinations we don't know yet by using the ones we do know. This flexibility in thinking gives us more confidence when we get stuck. We will be sending home examples of how students show their problem solving representations. Be sure to give your child opportunities to explain their thinking both orally and through representations.
In Science, we are deep into our Earth Science study of rocks! We are focusing on rock as an earth material that changes over time because of weathering and erosion. The children have been extremely engaged in the activities and we have easily integrated our learning with our writing and reading curriculums. For example, students were asked to read The Story of Sand from their science text and then retell the story in writing in their science journals. For more information and activities you and your child can visit our class page. The username and password is the same: stratton7. This is our second year with this new curriculum and we expect to dive into two other integrated units, Solids and Liquids and Insects and Plants, before the end of the year.
In Social Studies, we have sent symbolic butterflies to Mexico and made connections to where we live in this world. The symbolic butterflies connect to our study of the continents and the science we will explore in the spring. We used Google Earth to find Stratton school and our own homes. We will be traveling across the continents throughout the year!
It was great to see so many of you at Curriculum night! I look forward to speaking with you individually during conferences in December. I will send out a sign-up for those mid November.