The focus of the first six weeks of school will be learning to work together and establishing classroom procedures.  It is important to take the time to establish rules, expectations and consequences together so that the classroom becomes a community of learners.  I feel it is important to help children learn to take better care of themselves, each other and their classroom.

An example of the class community taking care of each other is the idea of "Shared Writing".  We will discuss why sharing what you wrote may help you as a writer.  The students will identify ways sharing can help improve their writing as well as celebrate their writing endeavors.  The last 10 minutes of Writing Workshop Time consists of the students getting into their shared writers group of 4. Then the students in the group take turns reading what they wrote.  The other members of the group will offer "Stars" and "Wishes" about the writing that was shared.  We will continue to work on modeling some "stars" and "wishes" for the students to use during this time.

Another example of putting the social curriculum into action is when the students work together at math activity time.  This a time of the day when students work in groups completing a specific problem solving activity or working in groups playing a game to practice a specific math skill such as doubles and doubles plus one.

As the students work together they will learn to become a community. 

Word Work focus for the last several weeks has been the vowel-consonant-e spelling and how this spelling effects the sound of the first vowel.  The students were introduced to this spelling and how the silent e makes the first vowel long, or say its own name in first grade.  In second grade we reintroduce the spelling and spend a bit longer on the application of this spelling in words.  The students are also using this syllable with a closed syllable to read and write longer, multi-syllabic words.  In addition the students are practicing the exception to the v-e pattern with the spelling of /ive/.

  The focus for Reading Comprehension instruction is on retelling a story in the order in which the events happen.  They are practicing how to do a complete retelling which includes the names of the main characters, the setting and then the order of the main events that occur in the story. 

   In addition, the students have been working on inferring by remembering to take what you are given in a story with what you already know and put it together to answer a question.  This is where each child's background knowledge really helps to answer the more difficult questions.  All of the incidental talking you share with your child and all of the places you go together and discuss is actually used to assist him/her when answering questions that the answer is not 'right there' in the text.  So, keep up the great work by talking with your child and taking the time to explain when he/she asks a question.     

  The science based thematic unit being explored at this time is CAMOUFLAGE.  I have been sharing many books on this subject and the students have individual books in their school bag of books to read at 'Read-to-Self' Time.  I recently used a painting housed in the J. Paul Getty Museum to show how camouflage works. (Thanks to Technology.) When displaying photos of animals camouflaged, the students were always saying they could see the animal.  This demonstration showed them how much they miss, thus how animals can easily hide or be camouflaged.  There are many types of camouflage that the students will be learning about. The 4 main types that will be introduced are blending, patterns, disguise and mimicry.  Each child will be choosing an animal soon and then gathering facts about that particular animal to complete a research report which will include why and how that animal uses camouflage.  Most of this work will be done in school but it may make good dinner conversation!