Jan. 23

Don't forget that tomorrow is book exchange!

 We have really been working towards some strategies for comprehension before, during, and after reading.  The simplest strategy we have been working on is asking "Who is this story about?" and "What is happening/happened?".  This can be done periodically throughout the story and at the end.  Orally retelling the story and key events help students become more cognitive of not only this story, but the framework of stories in general.  

You will notice something new in your child's book bag tomorrow.  There will be a handout with some questions that are research proven questions that will help your child's reading comprehension.  You could use these questions with your child's library books, your family read aloud book, RAZ Kids or even after watching a TV show/movie (these are stories too!)  You will see a huge impact on your child's reading, fluency, and comprehension by just asking just 5 - 10 minutes a night to work on this. 

Here are just a few of these questions in case you wanted to get started tonight: 

Coming Up:

• Special lunch this Wednesday
• Student Led Conferences February 2 and 3:
• I know there will not be many families that this applies to... but... please email me if you require a private meeting on this night to talk about sensitive/private information.  Although we will all have the opportunity to talk, there will be several families in the room at once. 

Oct. 18

We had an exciting day today starting with book exchange! We had a chance to pick two new books and share them with a partner.  I have noticed that many of our students are picking the same authors so I thought I would share some popular authors:

  Mo Willems (Pigeon and Piggy books)
  Eric Carle
 Robert Munsch
Rainbow Magic
David Shannon

Here is a link for a website that allows you to type in an author or title of a book and it provides you with some other books that might be similar. (This works for adults too!)  What Should I Read Next?.  Other good books sites are: bookflix and Tumblebooks.  Both of these require you to log-in to the E-library on the Calgary Public Library site.   These sites read stories aloud which is a great way for students to hear stories which allows them to build confidence, comprehension and reading fluency.

We also had our first buddies with the CSSI classes.  We had the chance to read books and look at the pictures.  Most of us had the chance to read our books but we noticed that our arrival into CSSI was a little overwhelming for some of the students.  For many groups we needed to change our activity. Some of us had some time to do a puzzle, take a walk, or even just look out the window with our buddies. We noticed that the students tried to communicate with us in different ways, which surprised some of us.  We saw that some students touched our arms or hands to get our attention, they made noises, or even got up and moved around to communicate their feelings.  We had many questions after our buddy time today such as "Why are there only a few students in that class?" "Why are there more adults than our class?" "What activities do they do in their class?".  We all felt that this was a good time to meet new kids and gain a deeper understanding of how other people learn. I am sure that students have many other observations or questions that they may want to discuss with you at home.  If you want more information about the CSSI program you can access it through the CBE website here: http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b204/cssi.htm

Coming up:
Popcorn Sales : Thursday and Friday $2
Early Dismissal Friday
Picture Day - Oct. 25