Fieldwork to the Asian Market and Kingsland Restaurant

Our culminating outing for our China Expedition was enjoyed by all! Some of the highlights at the Asian Market were the live seafood, the head of a pig, and green bean popsicles! At the restaurant we bravely tried some new foods...a few of us even tried chicken feet! Please come to the ASM on January 15! We will host the meeting and share a bit more of our learning about China.

Happenings in Ms. Mary Beth's Crew

The Maker Station....using our imaginations to create.

What could you create with a cap, a cup lid, a spoon and a container?

Your children have started coming home with their "creations".  We've begun this new opportunity during Read/Write/Explore time.  Using common things found around the house and imagining what they could be made into.

Although you might not see it right away, the children are actually using creativity, collaboration, communication and critical thinking while working at this station.  

The 4C's are an integral part of the 21st Century learners journey towards being a valuable member of the work force.

They are loving it.  Thanks for honoring their creations:)

A peak inside the classroom and upcoming events...

• This week the children finish their self-portraits in Art
• We will go to the 3rd grade musical Wed. morning
• We take the Unit 4 math test on Friday
• Also on Friday, we will host a story teller from the Douglas County Library Spellbinders program 
• We continue working on "thinking strategies" as we listen to Jan Brett stories
• We've begun a new writing genre:  Life Stories

Reminders!

Bring in library books by Tuesday.

Please keep working on retelling stories with your child at home after they read their nightly book with you.  I will be formally assessing their reading level in January and retelling is an integral part of their score.

We're Moving Right Along

What joy this vision was for Aidan's mom as she looked back and saw him so engaged in his reading!

We've caught the reading bug!  Every Monday the children get to pick ten new books from the tubs of just right books for their independent reading time.  They love this!  It's just like going to a bookstore.  Nothing thrills me more than to watch them grow as readers!

Don't forget to think about books as gifts for the holiday this year. The children would love a book by Jan Brett, the illustrator/author of the book below and many more.   

Today we kicked off the study of her books.  Every day this month I'll read one of her books as we continue working on our "thinking strategies".  

This looks like:

Making predictions

Wondering

Questioning

Making connections to ourselves, to other books, and to the world

Inferring (what we might call reading between the lines)

Jan Brett can be found at http://www.janbrett.com/index.html

Her home page includes videos on how to draw the animals in her books which the children would love to see, along with pictures of all of the books she has written.

Happy Reading!

Mary Beth

Joyous Chinese Cultural School 2013

Ms. Mary Beth's Crew Fall Climbing 2013

Each of the children challenged themselves while climbing with Mr. Doug.  They were so proud and I was too!  Enjoy these photos.  Thanks again to all of you who helped belay the crew.

Reading...It's contagious

 I just love this photo...
The boys are so engaged in this animal book and they had a lively conversation about the alligators.  I had the pleasure of sitting back on Friday as the children dug into the crew library. What joy to watch them share books!

Three months into the year it is evident that the students now "feel like readers."  It is a gift that keeps on giving.  Now we are off and running.
Our work is to learn how and why people talk about books and we begin learning the "thinking tools" that good readers use.  I love this part of the year!

What's up this week?

• Belaying in PE. Thanks to all who are able to belay!
• Math test on Thursday.
• Library on Tuesday.  Remember to send in the books.

Have a wonderful week!

Mary Beth

Our Reading Tools

We have learned so much about reading!  We know that we have to have more than one reading tool in our tool belts...not every tool works every time.

Here are the tools we have learned to use.  Please ask me about any of them and encourage your child to use these tools while reading at home.

Looking at the pictures helps us think "what makes sense?"

This is a very powerful tool!  It should be tried every time we get to a tricky word.  It's always followed by "what makes sense?"

To use this tool we put our finger under the word and quickly try all of the sounds we know.
Then we think about "what makes sense".

We are working on this tool.  Word endings like ed, ing, and er are also part of using this tool.  It's always followed by "what makes sense?"

Not all of us are ready for this tool but some of us are.
It's always followed by "what makes sense?"

As you have noticed, this tool must go hand-in-hand with every tool.  The meaning of the story is what reading is all about!