Newsletter

Dear Families,

With the first few days behind us, we shifted much of our attention this week to launching our first curricular studies. In math we have been exploring basic addition and subtraction through the use of games and manipulatives. This has been wonderful as it's given the kids opportunities to work together and move about the room.

Fist the kids estimated how many blocks long they thought an object was then they
measured it to find the actual measurement.

These values were recorded on a sheet. Next, they found the difference between
their estimate and the actual measurement. 

One of the most powerful aspects of this sort of work are the many strategies that evolve when the kids work to simplify a somewhat complex problem. For instance, we found out it's much easier, when trying to collect eight blocks from a ten-block stack, to remove two blocks than it is to count eight of them separately. Knowing all the ways to make ten (1+9, 2+8, 3+7, 4+6, and 5+5) will become an important strategy we focus on later in regards to adding numbers like 5+8. It's great to see the kids already thinking along these lines.

Browsing a book basket just before independent reading time

In reading workshop we've been slowly laying the groundwork for the two years worth of reading we'll do together. This has taken the form of sharing favorite books, carefully selecting reading spots that allow us to be comfortable yet focused, learning how the books are organized on the classroom shelves, and devising a way to quickly keep track of our daily reading. We begin our reading workshop with a 15-20 minute mini-lesson (such as those just mentioned) then go out for independent reading time. This is generally about 10-15 minutes right now but will swell to at least half-an-hour by the end of the school year. Time spent reading is extremely important to the kids' growth as readers and learners.

While the kids are reading their self-selected books our instructional assistant, Mrs. Shealy, and I conference with the kids one-on-one. This is a time to build discussions around books and reading, assess their growth as readers, and offer responsive instruction as needed. Right now our conferences include a chat about their summer reading, a discussion of the book they are reading right now, and an assessment of their oral reading. What I've noticed so far is there seems to be a pretty strong correlation between the kids who are confident readers and those who consistently dedicated time to reading most every day over the summer break. It's been wonderful hearing about all their trips to the library, the books they loved the most, moments spent reading together in a parent's lap, and the summer reading programs they participated in through the Richland County Public Library.

Now that the school year has begun we'll definitely be working to carry on these wonderful practices. In addition to reading each day in the classroom I am telling the kids they need to read at least 20 minutes each and every night, including Saturdays and Sundays. There is little (nothing?) more important to their academic growth than growing into a reader who is not only confident and capable but inspired and passionate about consuming and sharing stories of all sorts. Tonight the kids are bringing home a very basic reading log in which they are recording the title of the book they read at school then the title of the book they are reading at home. They'll ask you to initial this for them each evening. The log should take no more than a minute to complete. This simplicity is very much by design. I want to use the log to track their book selections and to build discussions around their reading lives. However, I do not want them to become a hindrance to the actual reading.

Some of the kids assured me they could not read some nights or on the weekend because they have football, dance, karate, etc. I asked them to discuss this with you knowing there's always a way to find twenty minutes in our day to enjoy a book. This can include them reading all by themselves or reading aloud/partner reading (trading pages) with you - whatever works for your family and you feel your child needs most to both grow as a reader and develop a love of reading.

As the year progresses I'll use our newsletter to provide specific ideas for the ways in which you might support your child's reading. In the meantime, keep doing what you're doing. This is a wonderful bunch of readers!