Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Recently, during math, we have been practicing number combinations by playing games like Bears in a Cave and Mice Upstairs, Mice Downstairs. Today we started making number trains to practice. We discovered that the total number of combinations is always one more than the number we are using. For example, there are 4 ways to make the number 3 (0 and 3, 1 and 2, 2 and 1, and 3 and 0), 5 ways to make 4, etc. Ms. Stern helped us figure out that one way we can make sure we don’t forget any pairs is to use a staircase pattern. First, we did this on the Smartboard together. Then we went to our seats to work independently using Linker Cubes before we started to record in our packets.

We spent a lot of time during Reader’s Workshop talking about retelling. Retelling is different from reading because the speaking is using his/her own words to tell the story, rather than read the words on the pages. Together, we came up with a list of helpful ideas to keep in mind and discuss when retelling a story:

-Go back and look in the book for information in case you forget.
-Use transition words like first, next, then, after, and finally.
-Use the characters’ names when telling about them.
-Tell about the problem(s) and solution(s).
-Explain where and when the story takes place.
-Think about the 4 W’s: who, what, when, and where.

We also discussed why retelling is important for first graders to learn how to do. Earlier this year, Ms. Stern taught us that the most important part of reading is understanding. Good readers read to learn new things. If someone doesn’t understand or remember what they read, they probably aren’t learning anything new. Retelling is the evidence that a reader understood what they read and also allows our classmates to find out about new and interesting books that are available. Julia and Aidan did a fishbowl for the class to observe and listen to the great conversation that they had and the important questions that they asked one another.

Some children were really good listeners and noticed lots of great things that they were doing together.