Bread!

This year our class is reading Sarah Plain and Tall, so far we have only finished two chapters, but we have had fun along the way! One of my goals for the year is to integrate as much curriculum as much as possible. Today we meshed some social studies, science, and reading into a single lesson! In chapter 1 of Sarah Plain and Tall Anna makes bread for her family, so we made bread...from scratch!

It was fun to see how excited the kids got to see the dough rise, and of course filling the school with the smell of freshly baked bread is always a bonus! I was also surprised that they liked how plain bread tastes. 

1st Day of School!

We had a great first day today! It was so great having all the kids back; this is going to be the best year yet! Also, thank you to all the parents who got so many of the supplies on the wish list; we are definitely set to start out the year well stocked!

On the first day of school and last day I always take a picture of primary. It will be fun to see how much they grow this year! 

2014-2015 Daily Schedule

This is going to be a great year! I thought I would share the schedule as it is slightly different than the one shared in the primary newsletter (Wednesdays are also slightly different). The main difference this year is the time in the morning for morning meeting and movement. As we get more comfortable with the schedule I will explain a bit more about what each block of time means. As always, please email, or comment with any questions. I look forward to having the kids back tomorrow morning! 

2014-2015 School Supply List

School Supply List 2014-2015 (Mr. Wallace)

2 or 3 inch three-ringed zippered binder    1 zippered pencil pouch for perfect notebook    1 pair of ear-buds/headphones to keep at school for technology use Items below will be collected and used communally: 2 glue sticks  4-pack of black dry erase Expo markers 4-pack colored Expo markers  1 pack of pencil top erasers 1 pack of Crayola crayons, 24 count (standard size) 1 pack of Crayola “broad line” markers, 10 count large box of Goldfish (to give to students when they forget their snack) 2 Kleenex boxes 1 bottle hand-sanitizer Wish list: kid-appropriate magazines (for cutting and using for crafts) small craft-size pom-poms colored sharpie markers handwriting paper "My First Ticonderoga" pencils sticky Velcro dots scotch tape Vis-a-vis markers (wet erase) Expo whiteboard spray

The Class with the Purple Crayon!

It's so hard to believe that Primary C.A.M.P. is over! I had a great time, and I owe a big thank-you to Mrs. Rundle, Mrs. Romero, and all the parents! It was wonderful working with all the new students, and it was such a special opportunity to keep working with our returning students.

We have been working very hard on a collaborative project which we are calling "The Class with the Purple Crayon." I'm sure most of you are familiar with the classic children's book by Crockett Johnson

"Harold and the Purple Crayon." That book was the inspiration for our class book. First, the students studied sequencing, and how stories tell a whole narrative- not just bits and pieces. The visual of the story drawn out in order on one strip of paper is a very powerful tool helping students to not segment ideas and thoughts when writing. The class was daunted at first when they were presented with a large paper and asked to draw pictures; however, once they got in there and started to draw, some very clever and creative ideas came out! The key to this part of the project is communicating effectively with neighbors making sure that the story and drawings are making sense in relation to one another. I was so impressed to see such collaborative ideas and sharing!

Once the drawings were finished we wrote the words to go along with the narrative. of course this required a bit of prompting, but it was so great to see the kids get excited about story telling, and problem solving in a creative way. They worked together to think of how to make all the pictures make a logical story in relation to one another. I think they did an outstanding job if I say so myself! The words were then typed and glued to the mural. 

Once we finished adding the words, we cut the segments apart and made a class book. Below is a video of the kids reading their part of the book. 

Again, thank you to everyone who helped this summer! I hope to see you all back at school for the 2014-2015 school year! 

Open Syllables

Quick question... Doe's anyone know when the letter "y" makes the long "i" sound?

Answer- When it is at the end of a single-syllable word. ex. "my"

Today we learned all about the open syllable type, and how the letter "y" can be used as a vowel. There is so much to the English language, but learning the reason why words are pronounced the way they are can really be exciting! 

This is the key-word sound chart for closed, v-e, and open syllables. Attaching sounds to a keyword is an excellent way to self-correct reading and writing. 

Wilson 4.4

This week the Tigers have been working on long vowels and their relationship with the silent "e."

This concept is introduced by changing CVC words to CVC-e words like cap-cape, mat- mate, etc. The exception to this rule was introduced yesterday, and that is the "ive" exception. words that end with an i-consonant- e do not follow the regular cvc-e rule. 

The Thunderbolts have been working on the five exceptions to closed syllables- ost, olt, ind, ild, and ang. 

These sounds are presented on green cards in the WRS, and are boxed when writing. This helps us remember that they do not follow the rules. 

In this example the word "olive" contains two syllables, an open syllable, ol, and the v-e syllable exception "ive." because this is an exception to the rule the "ive" is written under the word with a slash through it. 

Math this week was all about fractions, fair shares, parts of a whole, and division. We are also starting to think about and plan our end of CAMP party! I hope that all of the families will be able to join us for the last Thursday 7/31 at 12:00. We will share some Wilson tips and our very special class book we have been working on!