Reader's Theater Fun!

Performing Jump In!

What fun to dress in characters from a mini play and have a 'play practice' followed by a performance! This week everyone received the same play for our kick off of Reader's Theater, and this first play had differentiated reading levels so everyone could participate. Practicing for the play is a wonderful chance to re-read for fluency and expression. They all appreciated the audience applause when they completed their performance. We will have more groups perform next week.

We've practiced!

Practicing for the performance!

We enjoyed our read-alouds this week as we practiced predicting, reflecting on the title choice, identifying problem/solution, and thinking about a character's motivation. After reading The Last Puppy, we learned how he became the first puppy at the end. Curious George Goes Hiking and Apple Trouble were good examples of problems solved. 

Lots of connections to this book as well

 

Our folding paper puppies from The Last Puppy

Appreciating the Rain Forest

Reading The Great Kapok Tree brought to life the beautiful animals and plants the rain forests provide. The beautiful illustrations and the persuasive words of each animal to the sleeping man convinced him to save the tree for their home.

We learned about the many foods that originated in the rain forest and of course had a blast giving each the sniff test! Vanilla, cocoa, and cinnamon were favorites... pepper not so much!

Mmm ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon

Sour lemon, sweet oranges

Cocoa is the best!

Oh that pepper!!

Can I smell the vanilla again?

 In social studies we learned another national Symbol- The Star Spangled Banner. Learning how Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the verse after witnessing the attack on Fort McHenry (war of 1812) was very exciting. As he stood at the rail on a tall masted ship in the harbor, he watched anxiously through the perilous night until the dawns early light to see if our flag was still there. The kids illustrated the battle in their social studies book afterward.

Completed illustrations

Our own Francis Scott Key!

Exciting illustrations

Completing a USA puzzle

In writing this week, we practiced using our senses in order to describe apples. Each table had a couple of actual apples to look at, touch, and smell which made it more realistic. The kids had a wonderful time writing clues for a secret animal. The last clue was a rhyming one. They read their sentences aloud and called on friends to guess. 

Guess my animal!

I have great clues!

You might not guess mine!

You guessed it!

Language arts centers this week had us identifying where a sound was heard within a word (beginning, middle, or end) using cute puppy cut outs and a dog bone, sorting words at the pocket chart, and reading a starfall story on the computer.

Reading The Big Hit

Where's that sound?

Where is /g/ in rug?

Moon Game in listening center

We practice high frequency words every day with songs that help us remember the irregularly spelled ones. It was also fun to work in partners to practice them as well.

How many words do you know?!

 The Peaceful Place remains a favorite as does Show & Tell. We've had photos, cars, dolls, toys, and this week 2 guitar players!!

All to myself!

Future stars!

 In science we are moving on to Light Energy. We've identified sources of natural and artificial light and experimented with shadows inside, observing the results of blocking the light with an object. Next week we will be heading outdoors for some light and shadow activities - hope we get some sun!

shadow puppets

Topic 2 in math introduces subtraction. Linus the Minus was our visual for the subtraction symbol. They are learning that when subtracting, we always subtract from the whole. 

We sang Happy Birthday to Alivia this week - birthday smiles all around on her special day! Joey lost a tooth - just keeping that tooth fairy on her toes!

Have a wonderful weekend,
Mrs. Dagley