Book Walking

Reading Tool #1

Book Walk

Before reading a new book, looking through the pictures carefully for “clues” (details in the pictures), gives the reader many of the actual words or ideas from the story. 

These clues may be facial expressions on the characters that give a reader an idea of how the character is feeling or what they may be thinking. 

 The picture details often shows the reader something that may help them read a difficult word in the text, like the words “squealed” or “whistle” or “hurray”.  

If we teach our children to learn how to LOOK CAREFULLY FOR DETAILS before they read a book, along with reading the title and thinking about what the story could be about, children find reading easier and much more enjoyable!

When they come to a tricky word, they can check the word and the picture,  think what makes sense, and low and behold, the tricky word pops right out of their mouth!

Give this a try at home and see if it doesn’t make reading easier for your child! We’ve been working on this tool at school but your child will need to be reminded to do this without my prompting!

Ms. Mary Beth

Camp Elim part 2!

Camp Elim Fall 2013

Peace among the Storm

My Dear Crew,

After 12 hours of sleep I'm back and as I write to you I find myself amazed by your children.

They were such troopers.  At a very young age they showed all of the character traits that we find so important in life.  Perseverance, beneficience, empathy, stewardship, and of course integrity!  My favorite part of camp is stepping back and watching them bond with one another.  So very beautiful!  So much love shown to each other.  

Thank you for hanging in there yesterday as you waited for information from the school.  My first job in situations like this is to care for your child's heart, mind, and well-being.  I did my best to stay calm so they did not feel the stress I felt inside.  Ms. Dana and I both love your children very much.  They are written on our hearts.  

I plan to put up a slide show of pics on my blog this weekend.  I left my camera chord at school, so thanks for being patient with me until I'm able to retrieve that.  I hope your child built memories for a life time at camp this week. Here are a few pics I had on my camera.

The yert...a new addition to Camp Elim.
Inside we did an activity that led the children to use their  senses.
Ask them about it!

Peaceful times at camp.

Expedition: We Are Family

Our 1st Expedition: Families

It has happened at the end of week four.  We became a family unit.

Like magic, it happens. Nothing is more dear to my heart than to see this unfold every year. It's truly amazing and it changes everything for the rest of the year. Read the questions below and I'll explain my reasons for the project above.

We began looking at the first two questions and as we did the children began learning about their crew mates families and with great joy they found that many of them looked like their own.  We had some very heart-felt conversations about our families and we have learned what a family means.  Ask your child what we have decided a family is.  And as we realized we are different at home but the same family at school, it became apparent to me that this crew needed to feel like they had a day-tiime family that they belonged to. So...we drew ourselves and placed them around the heart.
We ARE a family that can take risks together.  It's the love that makes it so.

Math Assessments

I try very hard to make assessments a positive experience for my children.  I tell them that when they show me what they know it is to make sure that I have taught them what they need to know. If they don't know something it is MY job to make things more clear for them.

We made it through our 1st math assessment today!  WOOT-WOOT!  
The assessment will come home for you to review.  You may keep this copy.  Please feel free to go over it with your child and work on things that may still be tricky for them.

I will not put a grade on this, but you will see the items that are incorrect circled.
Of course I will be reviewing the material with your child until they are solid with the skills.
I really want the children to be explorers of math and to feel like mathematicians vs. children who just know rote math. 

A few notes:
1.  Part A of the test is to be mastered at this time.  Part B of the test is material we have just been exposed to and will be worked on more in following units.  This is not expected to be mastered.  
2.  The Open Response is a fun higher level thinking problem.  The children are encouraged to use any of our math tools to work on this section or any of the assessment sections. 
(number lines, pennies, white boards and markers,  and other math manipulatives)

After we worked on this problem for the assessment, we went over different ways some of us figured it out.  Many of them really enjoyed the challenge of such a problem.  All of the EDM assessments will have an Open Response problem for them to tackle.


Let me know if you have thoughts or questions!
Mary Beth

Readers Talk About Books

The reason we read it to take meaning from text!  Making sure the reading makes sense as we read is the most important part of reading.  Young readers have so much hard work to do.  They are learning that what they read has to look right, sound right AND make sense. 

Learning how to "listen to oneself read" and to be able to retell and talk about books is where we are headed next in our crew.  I have immersed them in high interest books from the public library.  This past week they began checking into the books in our crew library.

Now we are ready to begin taking "just right books" home Monday-Thursday.
These books should NOT BE books that they have to work hard to read.  They are books they should be able to read fairly easily and understand enough so that they can talk with you about their reading.  They should sound "like the characters" and enjoy retelling the books to you.  Please sit next to your child as they read their book each night.  Look for many more posts about reading throughout the year.

This week I'll set up reading buddies within the crew and the children will have the chance to begin learning how to share read and talk about books.  They LOVE doing this!  This is why Oprah Winfrey's book clubs were so successful!  Good readers want to talk about what they read!

I have completed my beginning of the year reading assessments and have a good handle on what each child needs next.  We only have 10 teaching days before our Voyage.
During this time I will begin reading conferences, working 1x1 with students.  After the Voyage I'll begin teaching reading groups.  For now, I'm still getting to know them and their reading habits.  

Let me know if you have questions or thoughts as we journey literacy together!
Ms. Mary Beth