After Independent Literacy Time and Morning Meeting, we had Reader's Workshop. We began today with a writing/reading assessment - one that I will use to cust
omize a spelling/vocabulary list for each student each week. Look for these words to start in about 2 weeks, after I have all of the assessments done and lists developed. Then I showed the kids our 'new' Listening Center. They are pretty exc
ited about it - and two groups got to use it during work time today. After the demo/intro to the center, we used it to
read a book. Then each of the kids had Independen
t Reading time for work time.
After reading, we moved on to Writer's Workshop. Today the mini-lesson was about "stamina" - the kids learned about pushing themselves to develop what we call "writing stamina" - in other words, to be able to write for longer and longer periods each day. We'll talk about the same in reading - being able to sustain reading for longer and longer periods each day. Then, of course, the kids went off to write.
After writing, it was time for lunch and recess, and then back up for Read Aloud (today we read another Nate the Great mystery). Then we headed down to the gym to get ready for Beachcomber Day - we all either scootered or jogged over to t
he beach at Lake Harriet for playing in the sand (and water up to our knees). It was really fun - the kids had a ball.
When we got back to school, we were all a little bushed, so we skipped Math Workshop and did a literacy project instead. The kids looked through old magazines and cut out the letters of their names, and pasted them onto a page. We talked about finding upper- and lower-case letters, and also about the spelling of both their first and last names.
After that, it was already time to pack up and head home (after cleaning up a ton of little magazine scraps...).
Hope to see you tonight at Curriculum Night (7:15 - 8:00 in Room 240)!
