We've enjoyed brightening our space, both inside and outside, during rainbow week!

Each day children spend time working on reading independently.   Everyone has a reading bag with several emergent reading books.  Children begin by reading books with one or two sentences per page and a predictable pattern.  They gradually move on to books that do not have a predictable pattern.  During this time I meet with small groups of children to focus on specific skills and strategies. Some of the strategies we are working on include pointing to the words, thinking about the first sound in each word, using picture cues to help with unknown words, and continuing to learn sight words.

The acquisition of reading is a developmental skill and children develop as readers at different paces. I often compare learning to read to learning to walk- certain components need to be in place for children to acquire these skills, but as long as those components are in place children will learn to walk and learn to read.  However, this will happen at varied and individual paces.  Many children learn to walk by 9 months, while some don't take first steps until they are over a year old.  Some children rely on the support of furniture, large toys, etc. for months before they walk independently, while others stand up and take their first independent steps with little support.  Similarly, some children will spend a lot of time practicing reading before actually reading many words, while others will seem to start reading overnight.  Regardless of the age a child learns to walk or the process he/she follows, children go on to be adept walkers.  The same most often holds true for reading.  To support your child as a reader, offer encouragement at your child's stage whatever it is, read to your child often and make sure he/she has access to an abundance of books, and be a reader yourself!

Last week we began a new Project Lead the Way science unit focused on forces and motion called Pushes and Pulls.  In this unit we will explore and identify different pushes and pulls as well as the effect of different strengths and different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of objects. Children had fun exploring pushes and pulls in three different stations.  One station focused on pushes and used blocks and different surfaces.  The second station focused on pulls as children explored Goldie Blox and the Spinning Machine.  In the third station both pushes and pulls were explored with balls and strings.  Part of each science lesson we do includes documentation, mostly with pictures, but also with words.  We will continue to explore motion in the coming weeks.

On Wednesday afternoon everyone had a great time taking part in the Compass Cup.   They were split into mixed age groups and rotated through four stations, earning points for their teams.  This is a great opportunity for students to spend time with children in different grades.

Wishing everyone peace and joy for the holidays and the coming year!

We are fortunate to have several bird feeders just outside our classroom window, with many visitors throughout the day.  While we mostly see chickadees, we see a wide variety of other birds as well (and an occasional squirrel). To spark interest and help children learn to distinguish between the different species we have been tallying the birds we see.  While our counts are not entirely accurate (multiple children often tally the same birds) this provides an authentic way to practice tallying and counting sets of tallies-not to mention counting sets of moving objects!

On Friday we participated in the state-wide bird count.  The data for this is recorded differently and I carefully monitored it to make sure what we report is accurate.  This information is used to give a broad sense about bird populations around the state.  While it was rather chilly we did see quite a few birds- mostly chickadees, but also titmice, nuthatches, and goldfinches.  Thank you to Patti Haynes, our school's bird expert, for keeping the feeder filled and inviting us to participate in the bird count.

Last week we finished introducing all of the lower case letters, their corresponding sounds, and their formations (we will continue to practice these throughout the year until they are mastered).  During writing we are working on stretching words- saying them really slowly and trying to hear and write as many sounds as we can.  We are also working on making our writing readable.   Some strategies we've decided can help with this challenge are writing as many sounds as we can (and especially trying to get the first sound for each word), leaving spaces between words so the reader knows where a new word is supposed to begin, and including lots of details in our pictures.  This allows the reader to use picture clues to decipher tricky words, a strategy we use often when we are reading.  Needless to say all of this takes a lot of effort and concentration (which is often revealed in children's facial expressions during writing)!

We have greatly appreciated the fresh snow this week and the new options it brings for recess.  Sledding has especially been a hit, even with the snow wearing away to icy grass.  Thank you for sending your child prepared for the snow- it is far more enjoyable when they are warm and dry.