Learning in action

I am a firm believer of the power of working in small groups. We have been practicing how to collaborate and share ideas. Students are assigned roles at their tables to help the discussions and activities run smoothly. There's a table leader who passes the cone to whoever is talking, a recorder, time manager, and question leader. It's going to be a continued process to practice to work effectively in group settings. We are off to a great start and have heard great ideas being thrown around during our research(science/ ss) time.

It's been crucial to lay the foundation of how readers workshop runs and I have been slowly introducing reading stations. I've assessed all students reading abilities and will begin guided reading groups this week. We are using the daily 5 model. Students will read to self/buddy reading, guided reading, have a listening/computer station, writing station and word work station. We've gone in depth discussing their roles and my roles during readers workshop. We will be going deeper into how to pick a "just fit" book to read independently this week. One great trick to encourage your child to do at home is the "five finger rule" if they open a book and don't know more than 5 words on a page, it's too difficult. If they know every word on a page, it's too easy. They should aim for around 2-4 unknown words a page.