It's amazing how fast the year goes. We are already past the halfway mark!
Here's what we have been working on:
Vacation Reading Plans
As you know, students were asked to formulate a plan for how reading would (or would not) fit into their winter vacation plans. I have found over the years that this helps kids see reading as one part of their everyday lives. It also helps them take charge of their reading and learning. After vacation, students thought and wrote about how their plans worked out.
ยดBook Count Updates
Periodically, we do a count of how many books each class has read. This helps them recognize their progress in relation to their past selves as well as to other kids. It usually results in students' making mental notes about how they want to change or challenge their reading habits moving forward.
Oral Fluency Project - The Joys of Winter
Hopefully, you saw and heard your reader practicing some oral reading before the winter vacation. We had fun browsing through a huge box of picture books and poems related to the joys of winter. The kids were really thoughtful in their choice of text, often choosing things that connected with their families or cultures. We then enjoyed hearing everyone read their passages out loud and everyone got feedback on things like pace, pauses, expression, and tone.
Vocabulary and Word Study
We've talked about recognizing common vowel combinations, so that we can read words without having to stop and sound them out. We talked about how to use context to figure out words that might be unfamiliar to us.
Books We've Read
- We read a nonfiction, persuasive book about Delectable Insects! It opened our eyes to cuisines that include insects as well as to various arguments for making insects part of our diets. We talked about the larger ideas that the author was communicating.
- We read a fiction book called "Hallie's Song. In reading this, we worked again on recognizing not just the topic of a book (a girl whose parents are divorced) but also the theme (sometimes parents have to make tough choices or sacrifices for the benefit of their children).
