Here's how our super day in Room 240 shook out:
Like usual, we had Independent Literacy Time and Morning Meeting (I may just skip these two things tomorrow because we do them every day and I'm getting a little tired of typing them all the time J). After that, it was time for Reader’s Workshop. Today the mini-lesson was on the long /e/ sound versus the short /e/ sound. Although our kids already know the sounds, we made lists of words that have each so that we could start to ‘discover’ why some es make a long sound (like the e in keep) or a short e sound (like the e in bed). Our kids went off to read independently from their Just-Right books, with the task to find a few words with the long /e/ sound and a few words with the short /e/ sound. When we gathered for our end-of-workshop share, we added the words that our kids found to our lists, and tomorrow we will try to find some rules for knowing whether an e makes a long or short sound (yes, there are rules, actually, but nearly as many exceptions as not – love English!)
After writing, we moved on to Writer’s Workshop. Today we extended the mini-lesson about “Fixing and Fancying” our writing. I showed the kids that authors (such as Don Freeman, Richard not-so-Scarry, and Mo Willems, not mention themselves) always make sure that what is in their pictures is also in their words, and what is in their words is also in their pictures. Our young writers went off to write and add to their stories that they have selected to publish. At our end-of-workshop share, each kid shared how they added to their piece.
After writing, we headed on down to the lunchroom to eat, and then out for recess. When we got back up to our room, we read another chapter of The Wind in the Willows. One thing that I am encouraging our kids to try is to make a “mind movie” in their heads as I am reading – I don’t show them the pictures until after I have read the chapter, in an attempt to get them to more fully immerse themselves in the text. After Read Aloud, it was up to the art room for class with Mr. Fairbanks.
When we got back to our classroom, we had Math Workshop. Today we played a game called “Roll and Record” – ask your child all about what s/he and his/her partner did! After work time, we talked about, and our kids shared the strategies that they used during the game.
After math, we had a combo platter of a period – Science Lab and Social Studies. We observed our monarch caterpillars – at least one of them is very ready for a chrysalis. We also began a social studies project of making a “Nice Book” – an illustrated book of ways that first graders can be nice to each other at school. We came up woith a ton of ideas, and tomorrow we will start on the books.
After all of that (whew!), it was time to clean up, pack up, and head home!
