This week in reading workshop, the children had a chance to choose books to put in their book boxes.  We talked about one way to choose a book is by looking closely at the cover and seeing if the book looks interesting or looks like a topic they would like to know more about.  You can also choose a book by looking inside and seeing if it is a 'good fit' book.  They had the opportunity to talk with their elbow partner about which books they chose and why.  We also discussed different ways to read a book and choosing books with good picture support.  They had opportunities to practice reading their books and thinking about what is happening in the story based on the pictures.

 In writing workshop we talked about how each child is the boss of their own writing.  That means that no other student can tell them what to write or how their illustrations should look.  As writers they should be thinking about their own writing, what they want to say, and how to get their ideas on paper.  This involves stretching out words and working on words, labels, or sentences.

This week we started our literacy work stations.  We will do two stations a day that last for about 10-15 minutes each. The children will have the opportunity to work with a partner and rotate through 10 stations over the course of the week.  Some of the stations include: classroom library, poetry station, write the room, stamping, i-pads, writing, games/puzzles, drama, pocket chart,  and fine motor.  

At the "Write the Room" station the children need to look for words around the room that they are learning to read.  They then record them on their paper and have to read them to me.

created words with letter beads

 At the "Poetry Station" children read over copies of poems that had previously been shared readings.  The copies are pasted in their reading notebooks.  They were very excited to read in the 'reading buckets.'

 At the "Stamping Station" children looked for letters they knew and had to tell the sound that they made.  Some children worked on stamping words that they are learning to read.

 I-pads were a big hit!  The children worked on correct letter formation and also practiced their letter/sound relationships with some fun games.

 At the games/puzzles station the girls were very proud that they were able to finish the whole puzzle before they ran out of time.

 We talked about fall and what happens to trees that causes their leaves to turn colors.  The children then created their own fall trees using their finger tips dipped in paint to make the leaves.
After their leaves were dry, each child completed the sentence, "Fall leaves are ____."

In math this week we continues to work on grouping and counting objects to five.  We practiced one-to-one correspondence and how to correctly write numbers 1-5.  2s, 3s, and 5s are especially tricky for some.