October 20-24

Upcoming Events and Reminders

• Book fair will be open all week!  Wednesday, October 22 is Family Night 4:00-7:00 if you would like to shop with your child.  This year the family night includes story time and crafts in the gymnasium with local author, Eric Van Raepenbusch!

Literacy Center Switch

We have started switching for Literacy Centers.  Your child will be in either Mrs. Gallucci's or Mrs. Haughey's class for an hour and a half for literacy centers.  Ask your child about which room they are in for centers.

Language Arts

We will begin a unit on the seasons and weather.  We will be reading both non-fiction and fiction books about these topics.  While reading these books, we will focus on main idea and comparing and contrasting.  We will also be writing about the things we see during each  of the seasons.

Writer’s Workshop: Personal Narratives

During the next few weeks of writer’s workshop we are going to be focusing on narrative writing. Students will be working on writing true stories of things that have happened to them. The standards emphasize the importance of narrating a sequence of events; having students write WHO is in the story, WHERE the story is happening and WHAT is happening. In school, we will be looking closely at this genre of writing, noticing what authors do when writing in this genre.

                The first step in helping students become successful in this genre of writing is promoting storytelling. As you know, our students always have stories to tell! They are excited to tell us about what they did the night before or places they have been. Orally rehearsing their stories will help them develop a sense of storybook language. We will be practicing telling our stories orally and then practice bringing those stories to our books in written words and pictures.

How can you support your child with this at home?

Promote storytelling at home! You may not realize it but you are already supporting this at home! When your child gets off the bus, the first question you usually ask is: How was school today? What did you do at school? Although your child may have a two word response or a shrug, you are waiting for all the details! I bet you could get a response out of: What did you do at recess? J Prompt your students to tell you WHO they played with, WHERE they were and WHAT they did. Thanks so much for your support in our next writing adventure!