Sunday, September 16, 2012

Literacy Work Stations #2-5 and the Shape Party!


On Friday, we had our shape sorting snack. Parents were asked to provide various snacks in the four basic shapes, and the K teachers placed a mixture of those snacks into Ziploc bags for the kiddos. Each child got a bag FULL of chips, cereal, crackers and candy and had to sort it on his/her individual shape placemat.

Of course, the tough part for them wasn't the sorting... it was waiting until they had finished sorting to eat the goodies! They did a great job. They told me they learned "shapes are all around us!" "Oreos, Skittles and M&Ms are circles!" "Graham crackers can be squares AND rectangles!" and some of them were clever enough to make a separate pile for the inevitable broken pieces.


G. ShapesJ. ShapesA. Shapes

check out these students sorting their snack according to shape!

S. ShapesA. ShapesP. Shapes


We will continue to learn about shapes and the five senses throughout the upcoming week. Last week we discussed sight and sound. We played a game where we listened to sound clips and tried to guess what the sound was without any additional clues. Children discovered how hard it can be to explore the world around you with limited sensory input. Want to play the game more with your child at home? Click here to get the sound clips! This week we will discover touch, smell and taste.

We have introduced four new literacy stations in the past week! I showed the students the materials and how to care for them, and we brainstormed an "I Can" list for each. Ask your child what they can do at each of the following stations.

Station #2: Big Books

DTAL

Station #3: Buddy Reading

EHMI

Station #4: ABC Magnets

YTD

Station #5: Word Work

JPE

Homefun started this week too! We are using a composition journal for homefun this year and I staple it in weekly. How is your child adjusting to this? Leave a comment and let me know!

As always, enjoy the rest of your Sunday. Owl be teaching you more tomorrow!

4 comments:

  1. So, I thought Dougie would be way excited about the HomeFun, because he's been doing "homework" for like two years now. But he does not like it. He is so focused on getting "4 stars" that he gets very frustrated with any mistake he makes. I have reminded him that he does not need to have 4 stars, and I've also told him that his homefun is like practice to make him better at these skills. I have tried having him do a rough draft of his homefun on a separate sheet before he does it in the composition book, but he just gets grumpier. Any suggestions?

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    1. Oh no! Please tell Dougie that Miss Francis made plenty of mistakes on her homework throughout school! Maybe set a timer for him? Limit the amount of time he has to focus on homefun. I don't want him to get frustrated. And doing a rough draft of his work means he's working a lot harder than originally planned. The rubric is a guideline to help students achieve their best possible work... It's not meant to add stress! If the timer doesn't help, tell him that I am checking to see that homefun is complete, I am not writing any stars on papers!

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  2. I only suggested the rough draft because he was so intent on his work being perfect :( I think the timer is a great idea, we will try that tomorrow night. And also not having stars on his homefun will probably ease his concerns. Thanks :)

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  3. Alaina loves doing home fun, but she is very concerned about getting 4 stars that she ends up erasing often (and creating holes which upsets her). It also seems to take her much longer than it should. I know she is usually a slow worker though, any suggestions on how to get her to speed up some?

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