"It's Monday...What Are You Reading?"

Today we started our "Understanding Characters" unit of study in reader's workshop.  This is one of my favorite units because we will do a close study on lots of fun characters, including Ramona Quimby, Ivy & Bean, Gooney Bird Greene, and more!  To kick off the unit, today we read The Man Who Walked Between the Towers.  Check it out on YouTube!  This is a true story about Philippe Petit, an aerialist who walked on a tight rope between the Twin Towers in 1974.  We developed a list of how Philippe's traits move the sequence of the story, including: ambitious, courageous, sneaky, clever, determined, cautious, brave, adventurous, confident, and free.  We were surprised to learn that he was NOT nervous, as we had predicted! 

"It's Monday...What Are You Reading?"

Today we finished our Book Club selection, Junie B., First Grader, Cheater Pants by Barbara Park.  Junie B. is a favorite character of mine!  Mrs. Park's books offer a host of character trait lessons and reading with the purpose of noticing how a character's actions contribute to the sequence of events in a story.  I chose this selection to guide students on their use of our first three fiction sign-posts: Contrast & Contradictions, Tough Questions, and Aha Moment!  The class did an excellent job reading this humorous selection and noticing the main character, Junie B., grow and change throughout the text.  We will continue to study characters in many books in Reader's Workshop as we focus on CCSS RL 3.3: Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.  

Reading and Writing Anchor Charts!

The Anchor Charts that I posted in my reader's and writer's workshop mosaics were a bit fuzzy...so here are the anchor charts a little clearer!  Please use these at home to help with independent reading and writing!

Open House!

Wordles created on wordle.net:

Thank you to everyone who was able to make it to Open House!  It was wonderful to see you all again and review your child's upcoming year!  I have added parent links to the toolbar on the right side of my blog.  That is where you will find the YouTube video on the Common Core that I shared at Open House.  I also shared the link to the Parent Roadmaps on the Common Core.  Remember, please feel free to contact me at anytime, e-mail works best!  Also, be sure to sign up for blog update alerts at the bottom of my blog page!

Thank you again for completing all of the paperwork involved at Open House as well!  It is greatly appreciated!  

"It's Monday...What Are You Reading?"

What an exciting Monday morning!  Today we continued our poetry morning work with a close read of John Updike's September.  We will continue to read his poems each month throughout the school year.  His poems are a collection from his book, A Child's Calendar.  In addition to reading the poem, students were introduced to some important poetry vocabulary that we will refer to all year, including words like poetic license, rhythm, rhyme, stanza, explicate, and literary devices.  Ask your child what these terms mean!  Happy reading everyone!  

September by John Updike

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

At Writer's Workshop time, I shared the book The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, written by William Joyce, with the class.  We also watched the award-winning short film that is an animated version of the story.  The book and film teach children that their stories live on forever and helps reiterate the importance of reading and writing to develop to a colorful life!

"It's Monday!...What Are You Reading?"

It was a great first Monday in school!  Now I can finally share books that we are reading in our classroom!  Today, we started to discuss our signposts that we will Notice and Note throughout the school year on our post-it think notes!  We started by noticing when a character acts in a way that Contrasts and Contradicts what we would expect.  We then answered the question: why is the character acting this way?   Characters often act in an unusual way, hinting towards what the plot or conflict in the story will be.  We will continue to discuss this signpost throughout the week, using our mentor text,  Wolf! by Becky Bloom.  We will continue to practice this strategy tomorrow in our very first Book Club session, then practice the strategy even more at independent reading time!  I look forward to it!  In honor of our meme, It's Monday!  What Are You Reading!  my girls and I visited the Newington Lucy Robbins Welles library after school!    

Brooklyn finds a good book!

Cami explores a tunnel!

 

Workshop Anchor Charts

I thought it might be helpful to share two mosaics of some of the very important learning we have done so far to get us ready for a year of Reader's and Writer's Workshop.  Both Reader's and Writer's Workshop units begin with minilessons that "set the stage" for a year of learning.  Many of the routines, procedures, and habits we discuss can be useful at home too.  We often develop an "anchor chart" meant to be a useful student resource for students to refer to as needed.  Here are some of the anchor charts from the start of our year!

Reader's Workshop and Reading Center

Writer's Workshop
and Writing Center

Scholastic Book Orders

Each month I will send home Scholastic Book orders.  Please do not feel obligated to order books, but if you are interested, it's a great way to increase your child's library at home and reading interest!  Please follow the directions stapled to the orders.  If there are books your child would like but are not included in the order, please check out the many options on-line!

Here are the directions for ordering:

If you are interested in ordering books from the Scholastic catalogue, please return your book order with a check made payable to Scholastic Book Clubs by September 13, 2013.  If you prefer to order your books online with a credit card, use the following directions.  Go to the Scholastic Website (http://pcool.scholastic.com/parentordering/login.jsp) to place your book order.  Create an account to use for the entire year or log on to your previously created account.  Our classroom activation code is: FZHYL. 

It's Tuesday...What Are You Reading?

Better late than never! Today, we discussed independent reading by brainstorming what it means and how it is done. We also discussed our silent reading rubric. It guides students on how to best utilize their independent reading time. Ask your child what it means to effectively read independently!  I then shared the book, Have You Filled A Bucket Today? with the class. This book sets the tone for our school-wide bucket-filling theme. It encourages all students to be "bucket fillers" rather than "bucket dippers!" Please check out additional information on the bucket filling website!