I can't believe we are already halfway through our first quarter of 4th grade. On Monday, your child will be coming home with a Reading Workshop Progress Review. This checklist was designed to help give students and parents feedback on components of the Reading Workshop that are not addressed on the report card. We (students and I) will be filling out the checklist two times per quarter, at the halfway point and at the end of the quarter. From this checklist students will be creating goals to work on. Students will be marking the checklist with a pencil and I will be marking it with a colored pen. Please let me know if you have any questions. *See the checklist below for reference.
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Hi Everyone,
We are almost halfway through the first quarter. I can't believe it! Students should have read and recorded about 5 books by September 30th, in order to keep up with rigorous pace of the 40 Book Challenge. This is a guideline but I have found that it really helps students pace themselves for the challenge ahead. If you haven't peeked at their 40 Book Challenge Log, please do so. Our team has selected the Panda as our team mascot. So for our first Nonfiction Friday, we read about the Panda Loan program and how the Wolong' Panda Reserve is working really hard to build the panda population. Check out the slides below!
Today we learned all about the 40 Book Challenge! Please look for the recording forms that we are keeping in the student's binders. Also ask your child to tell you all about it. I will go over it further at Curriculum Night. You can also check out The 40 Book Challenge tab on the left hand side.
Today, we continued to build stamina for independent reading. Students are working hard to select just right books. Some students are bravely sharing that a book is too challenging or too easy. Please make sure to support this at home by having your child read each night. Also, please have them read some of their independent reading book to you. If you are feeling that the book they have selected is not "just right" for them, please send me an e-mail and let me know. I am working hard to conference with students and listen to them read but I haven't gotten to everyone just yet. It also takes a little time to find one that grabs their attention. Some students cling to a familiar series that is too easy, while others reach for a thick book that is too hard because they are ambitious to take on a new challenge. We then added another layer to our independent reading which was paying attention to what we were thinking about as we read in our heads. I taught the students how to stop and quickly jot on post-it notes.(See the slide below) Some students really embraced this strategy and wanted to bring a package of post-it notes home to continue this work. This strategy takes time, and a lot of students begin this work hesitantly, but it will come. Finally, we began our first entry in our Reading Response Journals. Students found a place in their books and wrote about what they were thinking. I am really looking forward to reading their entries this evening. Phew, it was an action packed day, but I love watching them get excited about reading. I almost forgot, below are the books that we've read for read aloud.
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Mrs. SchallI teach 4th grade at Weatherbee School in Hampden, Maine. I am always up for a good adventure, whether in a good book or in real life. Archives
February 2017
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