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