Friday, November 07, 2008

This week we focused on using strategies while we are reading. The new strategies that we learned were: skip the word and keep reading, “Does it make sense?” and “Do I understand?” and reading across a word. Today we reviewed how we use partnerships. Before partnerships, we mark pages with post its, make sure we understand what we read (and reread the book if we didn’t). During partner time we are discussing the books and talking about the pages that we marked. Partners are using whispering voices as they sit hip to hip. If children don’t know what to talk about, they look on the script. Next week we will be getting new partners!

During Writer’s Workshop, we have been continuing to work on our memoirs. We started by looking at pictures and talking about them with a partner. Next, we chose one memory to write about and used a graphic organizer to plan the “who, when, where, and what” of our stories. We learned that a good beginning includes who, when, and where to help the reader get their mind ready and understanding what it will be about. The rest of the week was spent adding the events and details.

On Monday, we voted for the presidential election. The final count in our class was 11-8 (in favor of Obama). The children at W.O.S. also chose to elect Obama as the president, 243-200. The next day, Barack Obama was elected to be the president. We read My Teacher for President and then wrote about what we would do if we were the president of the United States of America.

We went to RIF on Wednesday. Everyone got to choose one book from different tables, sorted by book category or type to keep. Some people had a really hard time making a decision on which one they most wanted. Others quickly made a decision and then quietly sat and browsed through their books while others continued searching.

Have a fantastic weekend!