This week in Reader's Workshop we concentrated on concepts of print. We know that we read from left to right, top to bottom, and every page. We point to words as we read so that we don't miss any. We used the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? to help us learn these skills. Pointing to the words is important for beginning readers who have memorized the texts. It helps them to learn the popcorn words. It helps students who are reading words too because it is important not to skip any words. We wrote our own version of Brown Bear also which will be coming home soon.
In math, we are learning to recognize groups without counting. We continue to work with ten frames, dominos, dice, and objects. We are working on correct number formation and beginning to look at number words. We will begin to talk about adding one more to a set of objects. Students will count or recognize that there are five objects in the group and add one more object. They will know that there are six objects without recounting. Although students are not expected to rote count to 100 until later in the year, we have started singing and dancing to songs that count to 100. The car is a great place to practice counting. To make it fun, you can do it in silly voices.
Just to review, we have talked about the letters Aa, Tt, Mm, and Dd. We are recognizing them, producing the sounds, and forming them. We are reading the popcorn words: I, is, the, and see. As we learn more popcorn words, you can play memory or Go Fish with the words. Another thing I have done is taken a Candy Land game and written popcorn words on the cards so that students read the words before moving their token. You can make a Tic-Tac-Toe board with letters or popcorn words in each space. Your child can name the letter, sound, or a word that begins with the letter before taking his or her turn.
We are looking for donations of glue sticks.
