New Week!

I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend! I have been visiting with family and loving this great weather. I am excited to begin our second week of school and have a full schedule planned for students:-)

In writing our focus is going to be on how to write a personal narrative. Students will learn the characteristics of a personal narrative, create topic lists, and practice writing narratives by the end of the week. I will be using different author's to show students what good writers use to begin and and end their stories to keep their reader interested.

In reading our focus will be on making meaningful connections to stories. I will model for students what I am thinking of as I am reading to them. I will use sticky notes to record my ideas. We will also do this as a group. During the year students are going to be responsible for responding to reading through writing. This will be our first step in doing that. I will also begin meeting with students in small guided reading groups. I will see 4-5 students at a time for reading while other students are working independently at a few centers I introduced last week. Students will be bringing their books home to read to you at night so get ready for some story time.

Finally, I will begin assigning a bit of homework this week. I will begin slowly so students know exactly what to do. This week we are going to introduce the reading log. Students are to read for 15-20 minutes a night. I will ask that parents sign the sheet each evening and return it each day in the students' home folders. If students finish their books they brought home from school they can reread them ( a great reading strategy) or they can read something of their choosing. Our goal and focus is for students to read "Just Right Books", this means they should know most of the words or be able to figure them out on their own. We went over this heavily last week so students know what the expectation is.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and we will see you tomorrow! I miss you!
Love,
Mrs. Del Balzo