Avoid Schwa!

One of my pet peeves is the introduction of the schwa sound when students are "tapping" out sounds in words to read. Many well-meaning parents and pre-k teachers pronounce the schwa and teach it to thier kids. However, I strongly encourage "clipping" the schwa sound when tapping out the individual sounds in words.

Of course schwa has its place, but only when pronouncing full words like "pizza" which, of course, would be considered a sight word and not tapped out anyway.

Happy Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's party this year was centered around proper party etiquette, and the appropriate way to sit at a table in a social setting. The class was taught how to properly hold a fork and knife, what to say when you don't want something, and how set a table. All of the students came in today dressed to the nines- they looked so great! A huge thank you to all the parents who donated supplies, food, flowers and balloons. Your help made this party a huge success!

A look into reading at TPS...

As promised, I'm going to try and put more tips and suggestions on the blog so that you can better help your child at home. The first video shows the rotation process during guided reading. Students understand that they need to work independently when not with me. Also, I expect absolute silence during work time. When I ring the bell, that signals that I am finished with one group and I am ready for the next group. That also signals that they need to get up, move around, and go to their next assigned station. When students come to the guided reading table, they re-read a book from a previous lesson, or do a picture walk before we start our lesson. This allows me time to review sight words individually with students.

Fundations always begins with Vowel sounds. This is vital, especially short "e" and "i." Students are encouraged to self-correct thier own words by using these keywords for sound retrival. 

100th Day of School!

Wednesday was our 100th day of school! We had a great time incorporating 100 into all of our activities that day. We read about and looked at how many arrays we could make with 100 ants.  We learned some fun new facts such as dolphins have over 100 teeth, eagles can fly over 100 miles looking for prey, and baby hippos can weigh as much as 100 pounds at birth! We incorporated some STEM activities into our rotataions, and we even did 100 exercises.

Since the first day of school, I have been giving the students a symbloic penny. On the 100th day of school they finally had enough money to go to the Dollar Store. It was a fun day of leaning and exploring.

Guided Proofreading Procedures

I thought it would be helpful to post a little something about our writing checklist. Often this gets overlooked, but it is a critical part of the writing process. We have been using our writer's checklist to check for errors in writing. I am encouraging students to use this whenever the write. This can also be incorporated whenever you are helping your child at home.

1. Pointing to words as you read the sentence allows students to check and make sure they have not omitted and words. 

2. This step is often skipped, and capitalization and punctuation are the most common errors students make. 

3. I have students check the spelling of the words by using their journals or the word wall in our classroom. These are words that cannot be tapped. 

4. I call this the "built in spellchecker" 

5. At this point we have only learned open and closed syllables. 

6. This helps with fluency. 

Happy MLK Day!

Today we discussed the importance of diversity and respect. Mrs. Hice led us in a lesson about colors and blending. First she read "The Crayon Box that Talked," a book about crayons who discriminate against others based on their color.

 

The crayons are shown by a child, their full potential and the possibilities that they have. The book also explores how colors are all better as a group than isolated.

Each student chose their favorite crayon color, and they glued it to a canvas. We then melted, or "melded" the crayons together to make some artwork. The quote listed above will be added to the canvas.

We read "Elmer" the story about an elephant who is sad because he looks different than other elephants, and of course we would be remiss living in Triad without discussing our local connections to the Civil Rights Movement including a discussion about Ron McNair and the Woolworth sit-in. However, on the primary level we don't go into great detail about discrimination and racism, rather we try to build on the foundation of acceptance and and kindness.

I hope that everyone has a fun and safe weekend, and remember, we do not have school this Monday 1/16.

Homework

Because of the shortened week, please continue to work on your sight words and reading log from last week.