Wondering about Apples

We are learning about being a scientist, and one of the things we’ve learned is that scientists ask questions. So we wondered about apples. Here is a video to share our questions:

Writing

We start off most of our days with writing workshop.  Writing workshop starts with a mini-lesson and then we spend the rest of the workshop writing independently, conferencing with a teacher, working with a partner, or sharing with the whole class. 

First we started learning about what writers do and how to get a message across to a reader.  We've learned about writing the sounds we hear, using spaces between words, drawing pictures to help give information, and when to use capital or lower case letters.  One of the most important things we've been working on is reading our writing to see if it makes sense.  

We've learned that writers can write in different ways, too.  We have written both "All About" books and true stories about ourselves.  Currently we're are working on How-To books, and I'm thrilled to be learning all sorts of new things.  Maybe we'll write a how-to book on how to write like a kindergarten student!

What We've Been Doing in Reading

If you ask the students about one of their favorite times of the day, outside of lunch and recess of course, many would say reading.  We have reading throughout our day--we have a read aloud, we work on reading together, and we have a workshop time where we get to read by ourselves and then with a partner or small group.  I am so pleased with how much we have grown as readers!

We've learned so many things about reading--how a book works, how to bring a book to life, learning different vocabulary like non-fiction and character--but we've mostly worked on two really BIG things. We've learned how to use our super reader powers to help us figure out the words, and we have learned how to think and talk about books.  

Some of our super powers are things like using a pointer when reading so that we always know which word we're going to say.  We've developed picture power and sound power to help us figure out unknown words.  Sight word, or snap word power is another trick we have to help us read.  We're learning how to change the vowel sound, chuck big words into smaller parts, and we're predicting what words we might read when we preview a book.  Sometimes we have to super-size our super powers because words and books are getting harder! While we are reading, we are asking ourselves if what we are reading make sense, does it sound right, and does it look right.  

In addition to all of that, we're thinking while we read both so that we can understand the book better, but so that we can share what we're reading with others and talk about it.  We make connections with books by thinking of what we already know or what the book makes us think about while reading.  We make predictions both before and during reading and we check to see if we were right.  We wonder, we notice, and we think big!  Then we share with our partner or our class as a whole.

A big chunk of our reading time happens during our reading workshop where students read independently or with a partner.  But I do read to them daily, sometimes multiple times a day.  Sometimes I pick the book and sometimes the students do.  We work on figuring out what characters think, what big ideas the author wants us to learn, and we just enjoy it!  We read many poems, too, to help us practice our skills we're learning.  

Sometimes we get to read to special people like our principals and our first grade friends. 

We get to choose what we read and we get to choose a comfy spot to help us do all of this important work.  Parents often ask what they can do at home to help their child grow as a reader and the answer is simple.  Do what we do at school:  read to them, let them have some choices on what to read, and have them read to you.  Happy reading!