Reading - We have started working in reading groups, in addition to working in our daily five centers. Reading groups are grouped by the students reading level - which is determined by running records. Currently our class has four reading groups - which shows you the diversity in our class of 13! In reading groups we work on stories and concepts at each student's level. While I am working with the students in a reading group, the other students are working in one of the daily 5 centers. The centers again are -
Read to Self
Read to Someone
Listen to Reading
Work on Writing
Word Work
The reason we work SO HARD on practicing the centers is that we have to build our stamina. The students need to be able to work at their centers independently and quietly in order for our reading groups to take place.
A website that we use - both in the listening center and in reading groups - is called Raz Kids. The students are able to access this resource at home. To access Raz Kids, you can either go to the website or download the app.
Once there, go to kids login.
The teacher name to enter is jsullivan100.
Once in, the student will click on their name.
The password is the apple.
Press go.
Click on the purple planet - reading.
Then there are some choices.
*If the student would like to read the stories we have read (or will be reading) in our reading groups, they will click on my assignment.
*If the student would like to choose books on their own, they will click reading room.
In reading room, they have lots of options on how to choose the books they want to read. If they want to read books at their level only, they may press leveled books. Every student has their level entered in the website. This allows them to read books at their level, as well as 2 levels above and below.
Phonics - We are learning about digraphs. The digraphs we are learning and the letter/keywords are
wh - whistle
ch - chin
sh - ship
th - thumb
ck - sock
We have learned how to identify, mark, and tap out the digraphs. We build words using the digraphs on our whiteboards and our magnetic tile boards.
Current trick words - a, and, the, is, his, of, as, has, to, into, we, he, she, be, me
Spelling - This week we are going to start spelling! Spelling lists will go home most weeks (but not every week). The spelling lists are based on what we are learning about in fundations (phonics). Some units are longer than others, so we may not have a new concept each week. If we have a short week, we typically won't have a spelling list. I will post the lists each week on the blog as well.
Spelling lists will go home on Mondays. The students are to practice their words at home. Fridays we will have our spelling tests.
The students will also have the opportunity to practice their spelling words at school during daily 5. At school the students can make words out of wikki stix, playdoh, magnetic letters, or stamps.
Practice at home is extremely important. When the students are practicing at school, it is on their own, as I will be teaching a reading group at that time.
The first spelling list is - Digraphs
such
thin
fish
rich
thud
shop
quick
dock
thick
shock
Today I will be introducing the students to a website they may also use to practice spelling. It is also on Raz-Kids, but it is a section of Raz called VocabularyA-Z.
To access the website, students will again go to
Once there, go to kids login.
*If you haven't logged in before, it will have you put in a teacher username. The
teacher username is jsullivan 174. If you have already logged into Raz for reading, you will have to click change teacher. From there, you would type in jsullivan 174.
Once in, the student will click on their name.
The password is the apple.
Press go.
Click on vocabulary.
Click on the assignment.
The students can choose either phonics, spelling, or vocabulary. All choices have different games with the weekly spelling list for them to choose from.
Math - The students are doing a great job memorizing the doubles facts! We are now working on plus one and minus one facts. We have also worked on counting backwards, using a 100 chart to add 1, subtract 1, add 10, and subtract 10, addition story problems, subtraction story problems, and ordering numbers.
Writing - We continue to write in our journals. The students are progressing. We are working on going from writing words to adding details and writing sentences. In handwriting we are up to letter Gg. We really focus on forming letters the correct way, making sure the letters are on the correct spaces, and spacing words correctly.
Religion - We are finished up with our first Friendzy unit - We Need Each Other. We have talked repeatedly about encouraging one another and building each other up! Our next unit will start this week. We have been working out of our Christ Our Life books. We have had discussions on God's creation, Jesus is our friend, and God is Good. We practice our prayers every day! We are finishing up our virtues and values cards on self-control - and a new virtue card will start this week.
Science - We are continuing to learn about weather. We are tracking cloud cover, precipitation, and wind each day on a calendar. We have learned about some weather tools - such as an anemomter and a thermometer. We have thermometers in our classroom that we used to practice reading them. We found out that if we hold the thermometer we can watch the red go up and when we let go we can watch it go down. We check the wind each day and add it to our wind graph. Our three choices are no wind, some wind, and strong wind.
We are learning and growing! Have a great week!
