Usually when there is a five day week, I have the students visit literacy station rotations for two of the days (usually Wednesday and Thursday). One literacy station centre includes writing independently- either finishing up a writing assignment or choosing a writing activity. Choice writing activities include: class journals, where students write about a specific topic in a journal shared with the class and then read their entry to the class; personal journals written on a chosen topic, list writing about given categories; or writing birthday wishes to classmates that have birthdays that month. Other literacy stations are reading independently, word wall games, and buddy reading where students either read to one another to work on fluency or discuss reading comprehension strategies, or work together to practice a writing skill. While students are working on their literacy stations, it allows me to work on writing or reading with a small group. On weeks that there are only four days of school, such as this week, I do not run literacy stations. I try my best not to skip them too often however since I know that they are a highlight of English class for many students!
We have now finished our unit on writing friendly letters. You can expect to see your child's letter to the Tooth Fairy arrive home soon. They may ask to put it under their pillow so that the Tooth Fairy can get it...
Next up will be the reading comprehension strategy of inferring. Good readers make inferences while reading to improve their understanding of the story or text. An inference is when we understand things that the author does not tell us, but instead use our background knowledge (schema) and clues the author does tell us to understand why things happen, why characters behave the way they do, and how characters are feeling. Next week I will go into more detail of the activities we are doing in order to strengthen our skills of inferring.
No comments:
Post a Comment