The Doorbell Rang

1.  What a treat!  Really, literally.
We had our first mystery reader today!  BH's "Grammy Jo" came, read (a book called The Doorbell Rang) and baked cookies.  Yum!

Everyone had their hand in the cookie jar today!  Everyone did a job...mix, measure, pour, scoop, eat...you name it!

Thank you Grammy Jo!

2.  You noticed that a clock came home with homework yesterday.  This is meant to stay at home to use as a resource.  Put it on the fridge and have your child show you times to the hour.  Please also practice counting by 5's.  We are soon introducing the nickel (and currently counting tallies) and counting by 5's makes this work more manageable! 

3.  We have been writing lovely stories and sustaining writing time for about 30 minutes.  At this time of the year this is fantastic!  I am quite impressed.

     Writers are remembering to

• plan their stories across the pages (tell, tell, tell, sketch, sketch, sketch, write, write, write)
• notice when they include ACTION, TALK and FEELINGS in their stories.  They know!
• rewind the movie of an event in their head, (and replay it) to remember what happened.

4.  In reading workshop we are talking about WHAT to do when we get to a "bumpy part" in a book.
Ask your child what they should do.  We are focusing using multiple strategies simultaneously.

• be brave, try something...Readers stop and say "HUH?" when they hit bumps!
• check the picture while asking, "What makes sense?" and looking at the beginning sounds.
• go back and remind yourself what has happened thus far.