Weekly Update
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Back to School Night
Thanks to all who attended Back to School Night! It was wonderful meeting new parents and seeing familiar faces. No worries, if you were unable to attend. As always please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions or concerns. My email address is valerie_woodard@dpsk12.org
Reading Workshop and Writing Workshop
We are launching Unit 1 - Reading and Writing Workshop. During the next several weeks, the Scholars will learn the rituals and routines of Reading and Writing Workshop. They will learn how to view themselves as a community of Readers and Writers (Authors).
The Scholars are learning how to actively listen to stories and how to respond to literature through meaningful discussions with classmates. They will learn reading strategies, what good readers do, as well as how to read with fluency. In addition, the Scholars will learn how to use picture clues to decipher unfamiliar vocabulary, which is an awesome reading strategy! Another important aspect of Reading and Writing Workshop is learning how to work independently and how to work with others. Fortunately, our classroom has lots of experts!
Unit 1 Writing Workshop will present the Scholars all of whom are already budding authors with tools that will help them become better writers. They are learning how to use their own life experiences to create stories. In addition, they will learn strategies for spelling unknown words and how to use their writer’s manners. The Scholars will discover how to organize their writing.
Skills Block
Daily Language Instruction (DLI) will provide the Scholars with the opportunity to learn the proper formation of letters. In addition, during DLI they will learn that a sentence begins with a capital letter and has an end mark. They will also learn all about common nouns, proper nouns, verbs, adjectives, and contractions. The Scholars will also discover how to write a sentence correctly including the “naming part” and the “action part.” Whew! No worries, I will scaffold the lessons and do some handstands in between to maintain their engagement.
Social Studies
The Scholars are learning all about how “we” get along in school, how to work cooperatively, the school rules/expectations and how to be responsible.
Everyday Math
Everyday Math Unit 1 will help the Scholars establish daily EDM routines including using the calendar to learn the days of the week, months, and monitoring the number of days they have been in school. In addition, they will also practice counting our classroom number line, comparing numbers, number writing and learn EDM games. The EDM games provide practice and connect learning; however, most importantly they are a lot of fun!