The PTA will be hosting an informational meeting from a local nonprofit, The Michigan Collaborative for Mindfulness in Education (MC4ME). They will be presenting from 7:30pm - 8:30pm on October 8th following the PTA meeting. They will discuss what mindfulness is and how it can be used in the classroom among other information relating to this topic. See this Flyer for more info.
In reading workshop.... the children are learning more about how they can pick up a book and "read" it in their own way. There are two main types of books that children will encounter: fiction (pretend) and non-fiction (factual). I taught the students to read fictional stories by looking at the first picture and deciding how the story will begin, use connecting words such as THEN as they turn each page, and describe what is happening in each picture. The children began learning about how to read non-fictional stories by making observations of each picture/photograph and talking like a scientist. We watched a short video clip on National Geographic Kids website and listened to how experts/scientists talk.
In science.... Speaking of science, the studnets are learning a lot about making observations. They are learning the difference between stating observations and making inferences. The students got magnifying glasses and we went outside to observe different things around the school.
In math.... the children are making connections from Anno's Counting book to counting sets of objects on their own. They have identified sets of a specified number and have made sets of their own. I also took some time to talk to the children about the difference between math drawings and illustrations. Please reinforce at home that math drawings do not need a lot of detail, they jsut need to be "enough" to make a difference. For example, if a story problem is about crackers and apples, simple rectangles and circles are "enough." More detail is not necessary.
The children have also been playing a great game in which they have to place the numbers 0-10 in order, but each number is given to a child in a random order. Therefore, they have to estimate where it will fall on the number line. For example, if 0 and 8 are already on the number line, I may give a child the number 6 and he/she has to estimate where to put it. We know that it has to go closer to the number 8 than 0, and the children are figuring this out as well! I am always asking children to share their thinking and justification for why they put the number where they did.