Keep Reading Friends!

 

Readers!

 

For the month of January our focus has been on enjoying books!  As a class we made time to read each and every day!  All were encouraged to read independently too.  We filled paper hot chocolate mugs with marshmallows!  Each time students completee one of our reading challenges he/she colored a marshmallow!  When all 10 marshmallows in a mug were colored, the mug was decorated and a photo of the full mug sent to Mrs. Hoyt!    We read a lot and filled many mugs!

Our excitement for reading will continue as we invite parents and others to serve as guest readers in the the coming days and weeks.

As we wrap up our month of reading, Mrs. Hoyt encourages everyone to continue to read and make time for  it every day.  To encourage daily reading, we all took an oath:

Reader’s Oath

I promise to read 

Each day and each night. 

I know it's the key 

To growing up right.

 I'll read to myself, 

I'll read to a crowd. 

It makes no difference

If silent or loud. 

I'll read at my desk, 

At home and at school, 

On my bean bag or bed,

 By the fire or pool. 

Each book that I read 

Puts smarts in my head, 

'Cause brains grow more thoughts 

The more they are fed. 

So I take this oath 

To make reading my way 

Of feeding my brain 

What it needs every day. 

Books For Students

 As you know, I am a big supporter of putting books in the hands of students to have and keep as their own.

Thank you for working with me to ensure each student has a growing collection of books!

You may still sponsor a book for the class.

Here is how! 

Thank you for your generosity.  We have been able to send books home with each material pick up thus far! 

How Many Agains?

Soon we are going to be working on selling our favorite books.   In order to help students prepare for this, please complete the My Favorite Book papers by January 29.

Misplaced the form?  No problem.  You can find it here.

Snowmen

 Kindergarten students wrote their own directions on how to build a snowman.  With the recent snowfall everyone may have had an opportunity to test out their instructions.  

Did you build a snowman? Share a photo of your creation!

Elkonin Boxes in Literacy Bags

Today the students were introduced to Elkonin boxes. Elkonin boxes will be used in the classroom to build phonological awareness skills by segmenting words into individual sounds, or phonemes. To use Elkonin boxes, a child listens to a word and moves a token into a box for each sound or phoneme. In some cases different colored tokens may be used for consonants and vowels or just for each phoneme in the word. Another way to practice segmenting words is to use the beads on a pipe cleaner. The pipe cleaner with beads is also included in the literacy bag. Why use Elkonin Boxes? They help students build phonological awareness by segmenting words into sounds or syllables. They teach students how to count the number of phonemes in the word (not always the number of letters). They help students better understand the alphabetic principle in decoding and spelling. How to use Elkonin Boxes Pronounce a target word slowly, stretching it out by sound. Ask the child to repeat the word. Draw "boxes" or squares on a piece of paper, chalkboard, or dry erase board with one box for each syllable or phoneme. Have the child count the number of phonemes in the word, not necessarily the number of letters. For example, wish has three phonemes and will use three boxes. /w/, /i/, /sh/ Direct the child to slide one colored circle, unifix cube, or corresponding letter in each cell of the Elkonin box drawing as he/she repeats the word. information borrowed from https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/elkonin_boxes

Student of the Week

  Madeleine is our student of the week!