October 1st-5th

 My family and I were off to a wedding in California right after school on Friday and we were away all weekend, so I am catching up from last week and giving a sneak peek into what we'll be doing this week.

Reading & Writing
Last week we did the letter sounds for /d/, /t/, and /i/. Now that the kiddos know a good number of sounds, we are beginning to practice sounding out words. Our phonics program introduces one letter at a time for students who are just learning sounds, yet it moves quickly so that children who already know their sounds are still engaged. It offers a lot of opportunities for review for kiddos who need to see and hear the sounds/letter multiple times before they "stick." Review often entails games, coming up with ideas, and sharing/talking with a partner, so there are many skills being practiced besides just the letter sounds. I want the children to be communicating as much as possible and using the words/sounds/letters we learn in context. In an effort to have as many kids engaged as possible, I am trying to move away from having just one child answer or demonstrate in exchange for activities where all kids respond and all kids are asked to share with their partners while I rotate and listen. This week we will cover /n/, /p/, and /o/. After 10 lessons, I will stop and assess students to see if we need to go back and practice any particular sounds before we move on to the next set of 10 lessons.

 We are also continuing to use our iPads to assist with our letter writing practice. I introduced an app called Letter School and it was a huge hit. Letter School is an app for practicing letter and number formation that corrects for letters that are not written properly. The students have learned that we always start our letters from the top so Letter School helps to ensure that is being done. Letter School requires the use of individual headphones, so we started using those last week and the kiddos have been doing a fantastic job using them, taking care of them, and recognizing when it's a time to take them off and listen to directions.

Math
In math the children have been practicing putting their number parade in order and counting out and/or drawing sets of different numbers. We have been creating "scenes" with the Sketchio app that model different numbers which will be made into a book using the app StoryKit. StoryKit is the app I demonstrated at Back to School Night which allows the kiddos to import their pictures from their photo album, record their voice to describe their photo/scene, and then eventually write the words to go along with what they say about their photo/scene. Initially, our math lessons have a slower pace and emphasize follow the directions and using the materials/manipulatives according to the directions. We do a lot of practice with number 1-10 to develop number sense and a deeper understanding of the numbers and their "number partners" which is a precursor to addition. It may seem like it's repetitive, yet our math program emphasizes depth over breadth. "Math Talk" is a huge part of our math curriculum because being able to explain math concept and mathematical thinking is both important and challenging!

Apps We're Using
Sketchio
StoryKit
Line Em Up
Letter School

Other Stuff
We have started our Star of the Week rotation and the kids are getting the hang of listening when a peer is sharing and are beginning to ask questions. Working on recognizing the different between asking a question and telling something about their own life is definitely something that we will talk about and think about when we have our Star of the Week presentations.

Our school Can Drive is beginning. I don't have the exact info with collection dates in front of me, but start saving your empty pop cans and water bottles. The class to collect the most wins a popcorn party! I will post more specific details another day.