Welcome Back!

Laura Dean
Jan 8, 2017
2 min read

Good Evening!

Welcome back to school and a new update of the blog. This edition covers the end of the week before the break and this past week. Before the break, we finished by reading The Night Tree by Eve Bunting and decorating the garden for the animals in our absence to celebrate the holiday season. We also decorated gingerbread cookies after reading The Gingerbread Boy and listening to the Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. We listened carefully for any differences between the retellings of the classic story. We also worked on adventure stories for our families and if they finished, wrapped and took them home. Here are some pictures of these fun celebrations:

Since we have returned, the kids have been excited to share about places they went, gifts they received, and family they celebrated with. Some have started stories around these varied topics during our writing workshop.

In math this week we have been reviewing topics such as counting on from any number all the way to 120, place value, and how to read numbers with three digits understanding the meaning of each spot. We have started up our math buddy activities which close out our math time four days a week. During this time they have a choice of what activity they will do to practice the math content being learned that week. I usually work will small groups during this time as well. We closed out our week by sorting and graphing the stuffed animals from pajama day with tally charts and bar graphs.

In our daily reading time we had Mrs. Waugh, our reading coach, come on Wednesday to share a story. We have also been reading The Mitten and The Hat by Jan Brett and comparing and contrasting these stories using a venn diagram. This week we will begin exploring genres other than fiction starting by reading an autobiography about the author Jan Brett and then moving into other nonfiction and informational texts.

We closed out the week with pajama day where we shared book recommendations either of books brought from home or books enjoyed from their book boxes. We also measured and mixed the batter for waffles and the kids watched as I cooked them on a waffle iron. We shared these in celebration of our pajama day together. I look forward to next week getting back into our routine and exploring different genres of books.