After Independent Literacy Time and Morning Meeting, we had REader's Workshop. Today the mini-lesson was about how to do "Buddy Reading" - reading with a partner, basically. After we learned Buddy Reading inside and out, the kids went off to practice - they read with a partner from their Just Right bookbags. After Buddy Reading, they also spent some time doing Independent Reading, and several got to visit the Listening Center. At the end of work time, we talked about the best thing that they did during Buddy Reading, to reinforce the lesson.
After reading, we moved on to Writer's Workshop. Today's mini-lesson was an extension of yesterday's - the kids learned that if they are stuck and don't have an idea to write about not only can they look back over their previous pieces for inspiration, but they a can also start a thought with "I just really want to tell you...." (like they come into my classroom, and probably home each day bursting with a story). We got some more really nice stories started that way today. After they had their work time, we gathered to talk about how they started their stories.
After writing, we went down to the lunchroom for lunch, and then back up to the room for indoor recess due to the rain. We had a short read aloud after that (we started a new mystery series - Cam Jansen and the Green School Mystery). After about a chapter and a half, we had an accidental fire alarm, for which we didn't even get all the way outside before they called it off. With that excitement under our belts, we headed up to the art room for class with Mr. Fairbanks.
When we got back down to the room, we had Math Workshop. In math today we worked on number bonds (which are combinations or two numbers that total to another - in other words, the kids are working on 'decomposing'/breaking down a number like 6 into two others, like 2 and 4). We also spent some time working on writing numbers and letters (make sure that they all start at the top of the letter!).
After math we had Social Studies - we began a discussion of cooperation and sharing (which is the focus of our first unit). We got a bit of a story (a folktale about 2 goats on a bridge) read, and we'll read the end tomorrow and respond to it as well.
After all of that, it was time to clean up, pack up, and head home!
