Meet the newest edition to the classroom!

I am so happy we now have our JUST RIGHT BOOK LIBRARY in full stock and ready to go. This special library is designed for students to have access to books on their reading level. Each basket is designated with a shape, and each students is assigned a shape. That basket holds books that are perfect for them-not too hard or too easy-JUST RIGHT!

Students have had the opportunity to choose their own books from this library for Read to Self time every day. We have been building our reading STAMINA by reading every day, and adding one more minute to our reading time each day. We have finally made it to 8 minutes (halfway to our goal of 15 minutes). We celebrated by getting our very own book boxes (pictured above the library baskets). The students got to fill them with 3 books from the JUST RIGHT library and 3 free choice books (they can be too easy or too hard). Now students have their own collection of books that they chose on their own. I hope you are seeing that you child is able to read for a longer period of time at home. This is so easy to practice, just set a timer and go!

Also, check out this website: http://bookwizard.scholastic.com/ to see what reading level your books at home are. Select the reading system "Guided Reading" for the letter level to be shown when you type in a title or series name in the "Quick Search" section. Now you know how to find just right books!

Activity of the Week-Read with a Partner

In Reader's Workshop last week, we learned how to read with a partner and maximize our reading time... so we can become a better reader! I hope you have heard your child say this, because we have said it almost everyday! Here are some rules we learned to make our read with a partner experience the best it can be:

1. Sit EEKK (Elbow to Elbow, Knee to Knee).
2. Share one book.
3. Put the book in the middle.
4. You read, I read (take turns).
5. If they get stuck on a word, ask them if they would like coaching or time. Never tell them the word!
6. Read the entire time!

This was super fun this week. Here are some pictures of us reading with partners!

You can definitely do this at home, following the rules listed above!

Activity of the Week-Scoop and Sort!

We had a blast playing Scoop and Sort (Thanks to Cara Carroll and the First Grade Parade Blog!) The idea is to scoop out cubes, and figure our how many you scooped by grouping them into groups of ten. See the pictures below for our fun!

Take a scoop of cubes

                           Make groups of ten on a place value mat



Record how many groups and how many left over to find out how many were in your cup in all!

Working Hard!

This is an easy game to play at home! Make a tens and ones mat, get a cup and use anything you can find-beans, rocks, small toys!

Happy Scooping :)

Meet our Classroom!

Welcome to Room 103! Take a virtual tour of our room right now!

Our Classroom Library- "The Book Barn"

 Our daily commitment-" I will do things the right way, all the way, with a happy heart!"

Class Family Jobs-we have new responsibilities every week

 Our entryway-"Promises to Each Other"

 The 100 day challenge! Can you read 100 books before the 100th day of school?

 Safe Place-Students are able to come here if they are feeling unhappy, and use the strategies to make themselves feel better. We will soon add our "home family" pictures to the tree... just in case we need a reminder of the ones we love

 The front of our classroom-the Smartboard (we use everyday), calendar and charts we make together.

 The Writing Center-Students can choose from several different writing activities.

 Our Center Chart-Students work through one row a day, at their own pace, while I work with small groups on reading.

 Our School Family Quilt-We each made a patch for the quilt, so now we are a family!

 The Vowel Owls-all of our "star words" from our spelling lists are posted here

 The "Word"-ermelon Patch-for all the "regular words" and "red words"

Each child is responsible for their own cubby 

Thanks for stopping by!

-Mrs. Guest

Welcome to our Classroom!

Parents,


Whew! The first two weeks went by so fast! We have already begun learning new things and getting to know everyone in our new school family. I am so excited to get to know each and every child, things they like and how they learn best. I cannot do it without your support, so THANK YOU!


Please feel free to e-mail or call me anytime with questions or concerns. 
Happy School Year!


Lauren Guest
lguest@csisd.org


PS-Please become a "Follower" of the blog for easier access!

Great Summer Web Sites!

Keep your kids engaged on the computer this summer with these fun sites:

Spelling Games 

Dr. Seuss fun!

Lots of Garfield games!

This one has some fun games for math and reading. If you like it, you can register to access more games.

Happy Summer!

Weekly News-Week 33

Check out what's going on in Room 103!

 

Reading Workshop: Non-Fiction study-find new information

 

Language Arts: Choosing Non-fiction books

 

Writing: Writing chapters to make a chapter book (including how-to and diagram pages)

 

Phonics/Spelling: 2 sounds of ie

 

Social Studies: Everything ROCKS!

 

Math: Measurement-Capacity with non-standard units

Weekly News-Week 32

Check out what's going on in Room 103!

 

Reading Workshop: Non-Fiction study-what do we already know and how can we confirm or change our thoughts?

 

Language Arts: Choosing Non-fiction books

 

Writing: Choosing and brainstorming a Non-fiction topic to write about

 

Phonics/Spelling: 2 sounds of y (y=long i; y=long e)

 

Social Studies: Natural resources and how we use them

 

Math: Measurement-Area with non-standard units

Weekly News-Week 31

Check out what's going on in Room 103!

 

Reading Workshop: Begin a Non-fiction Study

 

Language Arts: Build a sentence

 

Writing: Poetry writing-narrowing our topic

 

Phonics/Spelling: ou; -est; adding suffixes -er and -est

 

Social Studies: Goods and Services

 

Math: Measurement-Length (measuring with non-standard units)

Weekly News-Week 30

Check out what's going on in Room 103!

 

Reading Workshop: Celebrate our improved fluency!

 

Language Arts: Thesaurus skills; Compare and Contrast

 

Writing: Poetry writing-writing the music of poetry; narrow down our topic

 

Phonics/Spelling: al/all=all; adding the suffix -ed

 

Social Studies: Needs vs. Wants

 

Math: Time-analog and digital (to the hour and half hour)

 

Time is the perfect topic to work on at home! Have your child recognize times for different scheduled activities on an analog and digit clock. They can help you tell what time they have sports practice, what time the family eats dinner, what time their favorite TV show comes on and what time to go to bed! Please work on this to reinforce the everyday use of telling time.

Weekly News-Week 29

Check out what's going on in Room 103!

 

Reading Workshop: Fluency strategies-reading with voice to match the character's feelings

 

Language Arts: Contractions

 

Writing: Poetry writing-seeing regular things with a different view

 

Phonics/Spelling: oi in the middle of the word, oy at the end of the word

 

Science: Force and motion

 

Math: Time-duration of time and sorting events shortest to longest

In case you missed it....

Important papers this week!

Please look for a field trip permission form and a chance to order our class published book! If you did not get either of these, please let me know!

Weekly News-Week 28

Check out what's going on in Room 103!

 

Reading Workshop: Fluency strategies, talking about books with a partner

 

Language Arts: Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs

 

Writing: How to writing

 

Phonics/Spelling: 2 sounds of ow (like cow and snow) 

 

Social Studies: Texas symbols

 

Math: Addition strategies; find the missing addend

Homework this week

Homework might look a little different this week. Here are some major changes for the week:

1. Spelling and Reading Log are the only homework for this week. Please have them ready on THURSDAY, in order to give more time for Campout on Friday.

2. Spelling Test will be on THURSDAY. Please take your practice test on Wednesday evening.