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. 

Jan. 5

In Reading, we are focussing on understanding what we are reading through a variety of strategies. One of those strategies is by retelling.  We have read many stories and looked at what most stories have in common: a beginning where we meet our critical characters and setting, a middle where we are introduced to the problem, and the end where the problem is solved.

We have been retelling with more and more detail and eventually this will lead to us using these elements for our own storytelling.  Over the last two days, we have been dissecting the story: The Mitten by Jan Brett.  We practiced retelling the story using ordinal numbers (first the mole went into the mitten, second...).  Today we practiced retelling the story by acting it out.  This was a great way for students to practice retelling the story with the help of their peers to ensure they got all the key parts.

Coming up:
Field trip forms and report card envelopes tomorrow
Denise Miller: Swansong Storytelling - Tuesday
Glenbow Field Trip - Wednesday