Welcome to KM!

I can’t believe it has been over a week since I last posted. Well, the long weekend turned into a longer weekend for me as I have been fighting a cough/cold for nearly 3 weeks that has caused a bruised rib (VERY painful) and I suffered an allergic reaction to an unknown substance that landed me in the ER! Now, I’m not trying to elicit sympathy (as I know many of you are dealing with kids who have had colds recently as well). I’m just saying sorry for neglecting the blog!

We have begun our second week of Readers’ Workshop/Workboard Jobs. The kids are really enjoying having jobs to complete, partners to work with, and a new variety of books to read in their browsing boxes. We are beginning to look at and discuss concept books like alphabet books, counting books, color books, feelings books, etc. We will be talking about ways we can read these books (alone, with a partner, by reading the pictures, retelling, etc.), what is the same about different books on the same concept, what is different about them, and what connections we can make between these books and our own lives.

During Writers’ Workshop, we have been orally telling stories from our lives and asking appropriate questions to draw details of the story out of the teller. We have also been working on picturing our stories in our mind to include setting and characters so that we have all the details in our mind before we draw them on paper. While the children are working in their drawing books, the teachers conference with the kids about making their drawings look real, adding details to their drawings, and having the children orally tell us their story and asking questions to be sure we understand their story. Repeating their story back to them helps them to understand that the “reader” is interested in understanding their story.

We have been working on Counting Books in math and being sure the children have a strategy for counting and are checking and double checking their work. We are also working on subitizing (instantly recognizing small numbers of objects in a group without having to count, such as the dots on dice) to 6. I have been completing early numeracy screenings of the class that I will share with you at conferences.

And as always, we are working on appropriate behavior during transition times (coming to the rug quietly, walking quietly in the halls) and appropriate behavior during whole group discussions and story times (looking at the person who is talking, raising your hand and waiting to be called on before you speak, listening, and especially keeping out hands, etc. to ourselves).

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