The end of the week kind of snuck up on me.  We’ve begun recording fall reading videos.  We’ve been setting writing goals to meet end of the year expectations and we’ve begun to apply what we know about multiplication and division to telling time.  We’re learning about trees and using that topic to explore informational reading and writing in a variety of formats.  And finally, we began cursive writing with the clock climbers – a, d, g, q and c.

S.E.L. – Learning With Leo Lionni

We’ve continued reading books by Leo Lionni as a way to help us think about how we treat one another with kindness and empathy.  It can be challenging to look at situations from another’s perspective.  It is something important to consider.  We wondered as we were reading:  Was Cornelius bragging when he told the other crocodiles of the things he could see because he could walk upright?  Or was he just different and able to share?  Is there something wrong with you if you don’t like to try new things?  Is there something wrong with you if you always want to do something new and different?  If someone takes what you wanted when they didn’t know (birds taking the ripe berries that the mice wanted), should you start a fight to get it?

These are some of the themes and questions we’ve been discussing. We’re trying to think of others, as well as ourselves.  Hopefully this will help us regulate our behavior and help us curb interruptions and distractions.  We are learning that we can’t all talk at once.  We are learning how to act responsibly or respectfully.  We are trying to think of what is kind and helpful to our class.  We are learning to balance the needs and wants of the one, with the needs and wants of the whole.

Elaboration Strategies for Writing

            One writing expectation that seems a bit daunting at this point in the year, is being able to write between 3 and 5 pages in a writing session.  This feels like a lot and so this week we began to explore elaboration strategies.  We worked in four different categories:  description, action, dialogue and inner thinking. We began with a skeleton story:

I went to the beach.  I wanted to learn to ride on a wave.  I rode one all the way to the sand.

Then we divided into four small color-coded groups – one color for each strategy.  After about five minutes we returned to the group to see what we could add. We were excited about how the story grew and became more interesting.  It was interesting to note how “inner thinking” suggestions really added depth and voice to the writing that wasn’t there before.  Those thoughts and ideas share information about the character in quiet ways.  We hope that we will be able to use these strategies on our own to grow and deepen our writing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bits and Pieces –

• We have finished The Quirks in Circus Quirkus.  Ask your child who his or her favorite character is?  We’ll be celebrating this reading accomplishment with a Not So Normal challenge next week.
• Our class thinks learning cursive is fun.  They are excited to see how the letters are formed and how they connect.  We’ll be working on a letter a day for the next few weeks.
• Ask what facts your child knows about trees.  Can they tell you about the two major types of trees?  Can they explain the layers of the tree – both inside and out?  Do they have a favorite kind of tree?  We’ll be using the information we’ve learned together as a learning tool for making visual presentations of information so we’ll be ready for our first 3E Museum at the end of the month.
• We have a challenge with Mr. Caron on Monday, November 10 – this is a change from the original schedule.
• We are going to the SEE Science Center in Manchester, Tuesday, November 18.  Permission slips will come home Monday.