This week during work station time I worked with small reading groups. We used a short, predictable book with one sentence per page. Some students are still definitely dependent on pictures and predictability to "read" the books while some are using sounds they know to decode the words. I am trying to be very conscious of meeting your child where ever he or she is at. I don't want to hold back those who are ready for more of a challenge and I know it is important not to overwhelm those who are still in the emergent stages. Keeping this in mind, the groups will be very fluid, changing with the needs of the children. The most important thing is for all children to feel good about whatever reading they are doing and to continue to enjoy reading. Right now it seems that every one in the class loves books.

Today our class did a leaf exploration with Mrs. Hale's class. Each pair had two leaves to describe. Then they used linking cubes to find the length of the leaves, tiles to find the area, and finally they found how many pennies it took to sink their leaves. Some bar graphs showing the data we collected from this are on the bulletin board near the gym. Take a look as you are walking down to the room.

We will be visiting the fire station on Monday at 10:00 to hear about fire safety.