In reading workshop we have continued reading nonfiction books thinking about why an author may have used certain text features.  We discussed ways that text features impact a book and how they are different than in a fiction book.  We also talked about how we are a classroom of authors and there are text features that we can incorporate into our own writing.

In writing we have continued writing how-to texts.  We worked on using comparisons in our writing to help give the reader a clear idea of what we are saying and give them a reference point.  We talked about elaboration in how-to books and how to write a collection of how-to books to teach a reader even more about a topic.  All the while remembering what makes writing easy to read.  We even talked about writing chapter books if a topic is too big (ie: writing a chapter book about baseball with chapters such as setting up the game, hitting, and catching or writing a chapter book about all that we have learned about being a kindergarten student such as lining up, washing your hands for snack, and buying lunch).  Can you believe it?!  The children get so excited about writing and it is wonderful to experience! 

In math we practiced making combinations that have sums of 11, 12, and 13.  We also worked on decomposing numbers: breaking them down into tens and ones.  The children had to decompose numbers that I gave them, then they worked on ways to compose and decompose numbers that they chose.  We reviewed subtraction through 5 by playing the bean and spinner game with partners.

We finished our read aloud book Dolphin Tale today, then went online and saw a live webcam of winter at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.  There was also a link to a short story that was done by the Today Show that had footage about Winter and her prosthetic tail.  The children were fascinated and it was a great tie-in to our nonfiction unit (proving that Winter was real).

Live webcam of winter

Have a safe and relaxing break.