Catch Up

Keeping this blog up to date was a goal of mine at the beginning of the year.  I totally lost track of it, and realized this week that I really needed to get back into it in order to keep everyone abreast of what was going on in the classroom.  Here's a general update!

In reading:
The Organic Squirrels have been working on diphthongs.  These are sounds like oi, ou, oo, aw, etc.  They're reading with greater fluency and recognizing more words and sounds!  Hopefully you've noticed this at home, too.
The Screaming Mustaches and Ice Dragons have been reading chapter books.  The most recent is Frindle which is a book about how words are created and spread, and the importance of language.
The Zesty Wombats have been working a lot on nonsense words, and have been focusing on the long e sound.  They've learned 8 spellings for long e (e, ee, e_e, ei, i, y, ey, and ea).

In writing:
The First Graders have been learning how to craft a paragraph.  They are learning the parts of paragraphs, and primarily working on topic sentences.  They understand that topic sentences tell what the paragraph is about, and are working towards creating solid ones that capture their paragraphs.
The Second Graders have been working on opinion paragraphs.  We spent a lot of time talking about the difference between facts and opinions, and they are coming to understand that an opinion is best argued when backed up by facts.  They are working towards writing opinion paragraphs that incorporate facts as well as feelings.

In Project:
The kids have learned all of the parts of a plant - the root, stem, leaf, seed, flower, and fruit.  They have been making models of different kinds of plants that include all of the parts of the plant.  They know that some plants have fruits, while others only have flowers.  When the models are finished, they will be displayed!

In Social Skills:
We've really been working on expected behavior in all parts of the day.  We've been talking a lot about what's expected, and working towards having expected behavior every day.  We also spent a lot of time talking about bossiness, being a role model, using I-statements, and being inclusive.  We're working hard to appreciate everyone's differences and celebrate how special each member of the class is!

I plan to keep up with the blog for the rest of the year.  I apologize for the lapse, but I recognize how important it is, and will work hard to update regularly!