The students have learned a lot in our non-fiction/ label and list writing unit! After they learned that they can use patterns to construct a book, they also learned that writers/scientists use scientific words to teach others, and writers/scientists ask questions. The students learned how to incorporate questions into their books such as: What animal can fly? A bird can fly. What animal can swim? A fish can swim.
We continued to make cross-curricular connections to science throughout this unit; the students learned to look closely at their objects to add to the pictures and words and that writers/scientists look closely to notice what is the same and different about objects. I also taught them that writers compare what they are writing about to something they already know.
The students learned about how to make their writing easy to read by using spaces to start new words and adding a punctuation mark at the end of a sentence. Then, we got our favorite book ready to share with the class! First, the children completed their book and got it ready to go public. Then, they added more to the pictures or more to the words. They also checked to make sure the word wall words were spelled correctly, and finally, they "fancied" it up by adding some color on the cover of their book!
Highlights from Reading Workshop:
The students learned two more important things to think about as they read: Does it look right? Does it sound right? These questions, combined with Does it make sense? are known as cross-checking, and are imperative to accurate reading. If children learn to continuously listen to themselves read and ask themselves these three questions, they will be on their way to being accurate readers!
Of course, reading accurately is only one element of reading. Arguably, the most important element of reading is comprehension: What good is reading if you don't understand what you read? The students learned a lot about comprehension strategies as well. They learned that readers think about the title and say, “This book is about…” while thinking about the pattern and ending of the book. They also reflect on the book once they're done reading and think about what the whole book was about and the author's purpose for writing the book. The students learned how to introduce a new book to their partner by sharing the title, explaining the pattern, and telling their partner what the book is about.
Fluency, is the third strand to reading. The students learned that readers make their books sound better by rereading them again and again, and they also learned about choral reading. Choral reading is reading with a partner or group in unison. The students learned that readers make their books come to life together by reading together chorally, matching voices as we read. They learned how to ask their partner if he/she wants to chorally read a book.
Highlights from Math Workshop:
The students have done a lot of work with addition equations! They used math manipulatives to put together two groups of objects and showed the addition equation with numerals. We practiced addition of sums greater than 5 by using a 5-frame and adding more. The students also worked with a partner to create addition equations and practiced writing the addition equation on a dry-erase board.
They also worked hard to put numbers in the correct sequential order. In addition, they corrected numbers that were put in the wrong order. This activity builds students' fluency with number order and provides opportunities for them to count up from a given number, count backwards, and practice writing the numbers.
The children also learned how to write all numerals 0-9 correctly. It is important to stress the process over the product; that is, the way children form the numbers (the strokes they make on their paper, when they pick up their pencil and begin a new stroke, etc.) is more important than how the number looks when they're finished. Practice writing numerals at home, and remember reversals are common; best remedy is practice! You can keep it fun by changing the materials your child writes with: try water on paintbrush, a marker, using a finger in shaving cream, or a toothpick in clay!