THE SCIENCE OF HERMIT CRABS:
BRINGING OUR NATURE NOOK TO LIFE
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| OUR CLASSROOM "CRABITAT" We read a selection of nonfiction books as well as fictional stories (yes, including the beloved Eric Carle's Is This A House for Hermit Crab.) I learned some new information, and the children are enraptured. I previewed a video that may be of interest to you and your child at home. It provides some basic information about "crab anatomy." I think the kids will latch right onto to the vocabulary. Did you know hermit crabs are decapods? |
A CLASS OF READERS AND WRITERS!!
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| "THE BIG SORT" Thank you all for the guidance you provided in helping your child select words for our word jar. Much like Donavan of Donavan's Word Jar, our jar was filled to overflowing last week! After having read a large selection of words, made up silly sentences by arranging certain words, and spent lots of center time searching the room for words to copy, we were ready to do something with those words! The children considered the best way to organize the words. They did some terrific problem-solving around how to sort the words. Ultimately, sorting them by first letter into bags with the letters attached (26 letters in the alphabet, an exciting discovery for many. As one child stated: "That's a lot of letters! That must be why we have so many words in our jar!") This activity has quite a few intentionally imbedded skills including recognizing environmental print which leads to a cache of sight words, working within the alphabetic principle, letter sound recognition for automaticity, never mind the collaboration and language required to accomplish such a task! Next step: our class dictionary! |
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| ALPHABETIZING It was delightful watching the children chatting excitedly, as they whirled around the room in search of letter bags. "Has anyone seen the 'A' bag? " Yeah, it's over on the green team table near the b...or the d...I'm not really sure, but I put my word in anyway. It was 'bog' or 'dog'. Either way, Mrs.Silven will understand!"Well, after that explanation, I'm crystal clear! It seemed in due order, so we next worked in small groups to double check our accuracy:) |
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| READING WORKSHOP The following strategies and skills have been introduced: "touch reading" whereby the child touches each word for 1:1 correspondence; referencing the illustration for textual cues (teacher model, not yet practiced independently) and taking a picture walk to activate prior knowledge and infer information regarding the characters, setting and plot. These are lofty skills that we will work on over the next month. |
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| MATH CHALLENGE Measuring, counting and comparing... Check out this week's homework! |
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| "MAX'S WORDS" HUNT Suffice it to say, there is a heavy emphasis on literacy and numeracy immersion in the classroom right now. Thank you all for sending your children to me so well-prepared to learn! This is an amazing group of learners. Keep your child "hooked" on reading by looking for letters or words around your home or when you're out and about. Remember to give your child authentic praise as the developing reader he is! |
