Posted by kavery508 | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on October 24, 2016
Dust off those boots! The Floral St. Hoedown is returning this Friday morning, October 28th. To get in the spirit, all are invited to wear country/western gear to school that day. Reminder: no weapons, makeup that needs applying here, or clothing that needs to be changed into/out of at school. On the other hand, plaid, denim, boots, hats, vests, bandanas–they’re A-OK!
Another Floral tradition is Fall Festival, in which classrooms spend a morning having fun with crafts, stories, and music (think Halloween party, without the food). Our class will do all of the above on Monday, October 31, with the help of parent volunteers who signed up on Curriculum Night.
Our CAFE reading focus this week is on Fluency. Fluent reading means that the rate of reading aloud matches a person’s speaking or storytelling rate; that the reader uses long phrases instead of choppy short ones or word-by-word; and that key words in the sentence are accented. Think about this example: When an octopus loses an arm or leg, it can grow another one. Fluent readers (like you) would read to the comma, probably take a breath, and continue until reaching the period. This shows you know how to sound out, decode words, and anticipate the words coming up. In addition, you would accent the words octopus, arm or leg, and another. This shows you understand what you’re reading and what the author’s important points were. It’s because it encompasses so many fine points of reading, that students are graded on fluency at report card time. For more info, see Reading Rockets–a great source for everything reading!
This week in writing, students will learn about the qualities of good personal narratives. This is one of 4 genres that will be our focus this year, across Shrewsbury. Good personal narratives are about one moment in time, with the action stretched out and description thrown in to put readers in the picture. We will learn to generate topics to write about, and how to find the “story seed”–the small moment that should serve as the basis for the main event. As an analogy, we encourage students to think about a watermelon. The melon is your big idea, for example, My Vacation. A slice of the melon is your narrowed focus, for example, My Day at the Magic Kingdom. But the story seed, the one event that should comprise your story, would be one thing that you did there, for example, Going on Splash Mountain.
Students will continue to refine their small moment ideas this week, and delve into ways to start their stories with a bang. Here’s a handy at-home interactive personal narrative engine from Time for Kids, with kids and families in mind:
Our work with subtraction has involved checking our answers by reversing the process using addition. The reason for this is that the brain learns and holds onto the process of addition better than subtraction, so it’s a useful tool for checking. Practicing this process helps to strengthen those neurons in the brain and leads to a solid understanding. The Greg Tang Math game Missing Numbers is a great way to practice! Select “Subtraction”; then any of the strategies (difference, subtrahend, etc.); then “Easy” or “Hard”. Your child can have fun while internalizing these skills! Click on the picture below to get started:
