Language Arts
We will be using both a Reader's Workshop and a Writer's Workshop in the classroom, as well as having small group direct reading instruction with the SRA Program and multi-sensory phonics lessons.
September Phonics:
We started phonics instruction with a review of consonants and vowels. We also began our routines of oral activities with our Heggerty Program, a drill sound warm-up from the Fundations, and the tapping or words with our fingers. Students tapped and read words from the board, and echoed, tapped, and made words (wrote or build with letter tiles) at their seats. We discussed CVC words and reviewed the digraph sounds: ch, sh, ph, ch, th, and ck. Students coded the vowels, consonants, and digraphs in CVC words. We also reviewed the all words and syllables must have a vowel.
Next students discussed the Floss Rule for bonus letters: f, l, s, and z. Students practiced reading and making words with bonus letters. We also practiced with digraphs as well. On Fridays students will continue to play phonics games to review various concepts.
October Phonics:
Students continued to read and spell CVC words with short vowels, digraphs, and bonus letters. Last week we reviewed how suffix S is added to many words to make them plural. "To make a plural, add S, add S, add S." We also began discussing blends. With digraphs, the consonants make 1 sound, and you usually can't hear the regular consonant sounds. With blends, you can hear both consonant sounds blended together. We tapped, read, wrote, and build words with the L blends (bl, cl, pl, sl, fl, gl). Students worked with the R blends (br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr) and the L blends from the week before. We also read some decodable texts with these phonics concepts.
Students continued to read and spell words with R and L beginning blends, digraphs, bonus letters, and even the suffix -s. On Friday students worked with Snap Words.
Students ended the month working with the rest of the beginning blends (sp, st, sm, sn, sc, sk, sw and even tw). We did some Halloween-themed phonics activities and again practiced with snap words (sight words).
November Phonics:
Students continued to work on reading and writing words with beginning blends. They also took a spelling assessment on the concepts we've covered so far this school year: CVC words, digraphs, bonus letters, and beginning blends).
Next students worked with words that still follow the CVC pattern but have ending blends like nd or lp. Students tapped and read words, and tapped and wrote or built words. We coded many words and also practiced witih sight words.
December Phonics:
Students learned about the glued sounds: am, an, all. They read and spelled words with this sounds. Next students learned the glued sounds: ang, ing, ong, ung. Again, they practiced reading and spelling words with these sounds. Many of the words also had blends like "stall" and "champ". Sudents learned the glued sounds: ank, ink, onk, unk. They practiced all these glued sounds by reading booklets, following word family paths on a maze, and forming words with magic squares.
January Phonics:
Students discussed/reviewed about magic E, sneaky E, and evil E. Students read, wrote and built words with the VCe pattern, and therefore long A vowels. We also discussed exceptions to the VCe rule, such as HAVE and LOVE. Students learned that there aren't any words in the English language that end with the letter V, and therefore even a word with a short vowel before the V will be spelled with a silent E at the end. Students solved riddles using the patterns or CVC and VCe words. They also worked as word detectives to collect VCe words in their books.
Next students worked with VCe words that have long o and long i vowels. Many words included digraphs, blends, and the suffix s.
Students worked with the long U sound in VCe words. Long U actually has 2 sounds as in the words CUBE and HUGE. Then we discussed how there are only a handful of words with long E and the VCe pattern, which led us into the study of vowel teams. Words with the long E sound are going to usually be spelled with the vowel teams EE and EA.
Students read and spelled words with the vowel teams EE and EA. EE always makes the long E sound. EA sometimes makes the long E sound. Students learned that they should probably try EE first, but maybe write the word both ways and see which one looks right. Students also spent time practicing reading and writing Snap Words (sight words).
February Phonics:
Students discussed some new Snap Words and practiced with some old ones. They also learned that with multi-syllable words, they can usually divide the word between the 2 twin letters to tap out each syllable. Students practiced this tip with words like: bigger, kitten, supper. Students also learned that some double letters should be left together, such as the glued sound ALL in words like TALL; in vowel teams like in SOON and FEET, and in words with bonus letters such as MESS. Students also reviewed the concepts of CVC, VCe and CVVC words.
Next students learned about the sticky letters of trigraphs. They read and wrote words with these 3-letter blends (shr, thr, scr, spl, squ, spr). Students continued to review the phonics concepts already studied in 2nd grade.
Students played Trigraph Battleship and then learned about contractions. They discussed how contractions are actually words in disguise, studied how they are formed, and practiced reading and writing them.
Last week students completed further practice with contractions. Then we discussed a second use for the apostrophe, in possessives. Students practiced using apostrophe s to show possession. By the end of the week we started learning about compound words.
March Phonics:
Students practiced identifying compound words. They practiced reading contraction by playing Contraction Go Fish. Students also learned about look-alike words and how words you already know how to read and spell can help you read and spell other words. We practiced using this concept in class.
Next students reviewed the various concepts from our Silent E phonics unit and took a test the following day. Then we reviewed the class errors from the assessment and began our next phonics unit by discussing the importance of reading all the way across a word. We played Guess the Covered Word game to illustrate this concept.
Students reviewed/learned about the common word endings (s, es, ing, ed, er) and practiced adding them to different words. Students also learned the 1-1-1 rule in which one-syllable words with 1 short vowel followed by 1 consonant, need to have the final consonant doubled before adding a vowel suffix like -ed, -ing, or -er. Students practiced reading and spelling words that follow this rule. We also sorted words that would need the final consonant doubled or not. Students discussed that those common endings don't work for all words and looked at various examples. On Friday we studied some new Snap Words and played a Switch game to practice various phonics concepts.
Next students learned that Silent E is terrified of the suffix -ing. I explained that this story can help us remember a spelling rule: we drop the final e when adding -ing to a VCe word (or any other suffix that begins with a vowel). Students practiced reading and writing words that follow this rule. Later in the week, we discuss the 3 different sounds that suffix -ed makes. Students practiced reading and writing words with this common ending.
April Phonics:
Students learned that some words get a suffix -es instead of just an -s. (words that end in ch, sh, s, x, z). They practiced reading and writing different words with and without -es. We discussed that -es can have some different sounds, but you often hear the E vowel and this additional syllable. Next students learned about Tricky Y, because it can be a vowel. Y at the end of a one-syllable word will make the long I sound. Y at the end of a longer word will have the long E sound. Students practice reading and spelling words ending with Y. They ended the week by playing Switch with words that contained different endings.
This week students will review about ending blends. They will practice reading and writing words with various ending blends. Students will also practice various concepts from earlier in the school year.
September Reading:
Students have begun our first unit about being Big Kid Readers. We discussed the importance of students remembering and using all the strategies they learned in first grade and the importance of growing stronger as readers by readiing MORE and MORE, LONGER and LONGER. Students discussed and practiced the strategy of scooping words up into phrases to read them smoothly. We also discussed when to reread the text and smooth it out.
Next students reviewed how to break words apart and then put them back together. We also discussed that as efficient readers we need to also make sure that what we are reading makes sense. Students learned that the author uses puncutation and different fonts to show the reader how the text should be read. We also studied how to read aloud effectively and even take videos of ourselves doing just that. Students ended the week talking about story elements, and that good readers think about those elements even before they start reading. They predicted who the character is and what the problem might be.
October Reading:
Students practiced retelling a story by thinking about the elements of that story. Students learned the importance of learning about the main character as you read a story. Sometimes the author is very clear with these details, and other times the reader has to work hard to figure them out. We discussed that as series readers you really get to know the characters well, book after book. Readers can also notice patterns with these characters across the series. Students also learned the importance of envisioning what is happening in the story. They should get a movie in their minds that adds to what the readers sees in the pictures.
Students discussed and practiceed being flexible word solvers. Students learned that the tricky part of words is usually the vowel, and that if one vowel sound doesn't make sense, they should try another one. Since students are learning about the pattern of CVC closed syllable words in phonics, we addressed being flexible readers as we encounter CVC closed syllable words that don't follow the rule. The exceptions are that words with patterns -old, ost, lt, ild, ind don' t have short vowels as you would expect.
Students reviewed the classroom procedures for going book shopping and reading Just Right Books throughout the entire reading workshop. Students learned about some addiitonal tools they can use while doing independent reading, such as reading to a reading buddy (stuffed animal), using whisper phones to practice reading fluently, and using reading strips to help track the words in the book.
Students started our new reading unit on Nonfiction Books and they were encouraged to read nonfiction books in class. We started by learning that nonfiction readers are fascinated with the world. They pay attention, wonder about things, and learn from details as they read. Students learned that nonfiction readers think about what they think a nonfiction book with teach and what they already know about that topic. Then readers use that prior knowledge to better understand the new information that they read. Students also discussed the importance of learning from the entire page, which includes the pictures and captions. We even tried adding some captions when there weren't any.
November Reading:
Students continued to learn what nonfiction readers do, including using background knowledge to help learn new information. Students learned how to mark their thinking while reading, by using sticky notes and different codes for questions, opinions, etc. Students also learned the importance of pausing your reading periodically to stop and think about the information.
Next students learned how to determine the most important information when reading nonfiction books.
They learned that nonfiction readers also collect new vocabulary by noticing new words, collecting them, and then using the words themselves. After that students learned that readers often learn more about a topic by reading more books, which we call a text set. Towards the end of the week we discussed how nonfiction learn more as they read. They build new knowledge on top of the old knowledge, kind of like how a snowball adds more and more snow to get bigger.
Students learned to notice how information in a nonfiction book is organized. We discussed the keywords found when information describes a sequence or a cause and effect relationship. After that we discussed the signal words for information with a compare-constrast structure.
December Reading:
Students learned how to read browsable nonfiction books, by browsing the table of contents and then finding one or more sections to look at more closely. We also discussed that reading these books should have readers asking and answering lots of questions. They might answer questions with words such as "maybe it's..." or "could it be that..." as students try to understand the information and even form new ideas.
Next students learned how to read how-to texts and that this often includes actually doing something (ex. following a recipe or making a craft). We also spent time studying how to read question-and-answer books.
January Reading:
Students began a new reading unit this month that focuses on tackling longer and longer words. Students began by helping to "spiff" up our classroom library. Students created wish bins of books and gave little commercials to persuade others to read them. Students studied how to be a helpful reading partner and learned some helpful reading tips such as the 5 Finger Rule. While reading 1 page in a book, they should put up one finger each time they come to a word that they can't figure out. If the student comes to 5 or more words on 1 page that are too hard, the book is too difficult for them to read independently.
Students completed a unit of study on tackling longer words. Students learned about the schwa sound. In phonics we have worked with the CVC word pattern that usually includes short vowel sounds. Then we studied the VCe word pattern which usually has long vowels. Students also learned that all vowels can also make a schwa sound, which is "uh", what we might say when we are frustrated.
Students reviewed the elements of a story and the fact that we can start thinking about the elements, especially characters and the problem, before we even start reading a story. Next we discussed how the reader needs to figure out why characters do certain things or feel certain ways. Students learned that story retellings should include details about the problem and solution, and that the main character often learns a lesson by the end of the story.
Students learned the importance of reading fluently, by scooping up words into phrases, paying attention to punctuation, and rereading to smooth it out when necessary. Students discuss making their reading match the voice of the characters, based on what is happening in the story and their feelings. We also learned about dialogue tags (ex. he shouted).
February Reading:
Students discussed how to keep track of who is talking when there aren't dialogue tags within the conversation between characters. Students discussed and practiced reading text at a just right pace, because you can forget what happens in the text if you read too slow, and you might miss important information if you read too fast. Students learned that reading and rereading poetry and songs can be very helpful in increasing your fluency, and we spent time doing this in class.
Next students reviewed some of the behaviors of good readers, such as choosing Just Right Books, making a reading plan, reading with stamina, and increasing your stamina.
Students began a new unit on reading nonfiction books. We used books in the classroom and on the Epic website to learn about various presidents. Students reviewed the reading strategies of taking a sneak peek before beginning to read, stopping periodically to see if you can explain the information that you read to yourself, the importance of rereading to make sense of the book, and making a plan of how to read each section in a nonfiction chapter book.
Last week students were invited to read biographies about famous African Americans. As we did this, students discussed the strategies of determining what each section is about, stopping to think and ask questions, thinking about how all the information fits together, and sharing information with someone else by telling the main idea and details across your fingers.
March Reading:
Students learned that nonfiction readers don't just learn information from their books. They also come up with their own ideas. Students also learned that readers often determine the author's purpose in writing a book, which can include the purpose of teaching the reader, persuading the reader, or even entertaining the reader.
Next students learned about verbs and nouns. We even started to collect examples of these words and organize them into categories in Word Collection Books. Students collect talking verbs, walking verbs, and feeling verbs. Next they collection nouns that are people, nouns that are places, and nouns that are things. Students even played a Noun Categories game.
Last week students reviewed about nouns and verbs. They played Noun Categories again and also played Verb Charades. Students then learned about adjectives and collected some of these words according our senses. Students learned that books are much better when the author uses adjectives, and then we can discuss our books better by using various adjectives. Students ended the week by learning that verbs can become nouns by adding the -er ending, such as with teacher or runner. We also discussed that nouns can become adjectives by adding the -y ending, such as with foggy or bossy.
Last week students reviewed about nouns and verbs. They played Noun Categories again and also played Verb Charades. Students then learned about adjectives and collected some of these words according our senses. Students learned that books are much better when the author uses adjectives, and then we can discuss our books better by using various adjectives. Students ended the week by learning that verbs can become nouns by adding the -er ending, such as with teacher or runner. We also discussed that nouns can become adjectives by adding the -y ending, such as with foggy or bossy.
Next students learned about the genres of realistic fiction, mystery, and fantasy. Students picked books to read in one or more of these genres. We reviewed the importance of identifying story elements of characters, setting, problem and solution. Students also learned the importance of being able to imagine you are actually in the world of the story. We discussed that as readers, we need to pay attention to how the character looks, but this should include noticing how characters move and also their facial expressions and what they might mean.
Last week students practice making predictions. We also discussed the importance of picturing the setting while you are reading, and noticing clues to know when the setting changes. Students also learned the importance of noticing their reactions while reading a book. Students worked to identify character feelings, and the cause of those feelings, in order to better understand how the character is changing throughout the book.
This week students will work to find precise words for character feelings and to continue to identify the reasons for character feelings. Students will learn the importance of noticing how characters are acting and looking for patterns in that behavior to learn about character traits. We will end the week discussing the importance of noticing how character's feelings change, which is usually the heart of the story. Throughout the week we will continue to use our read aloud book of "Dragons in a Bag" to demonstrate and practice these strategies.
September Writing:
Students have begun our first unit on writing small moment stories about ourselves. We set up our writing workshop, learned about the materials in our writing center, and set up our writing folders. Students learned that writers pick moments that matter when selecting writing topics. We also practiced planning our stories across the pages by first saying the story aloud while touching the pages. Doing this twice is most effective. Then students rehearsed their story again by making sketches across the pages. Then they began writing their personal narratives. We discussed the importance of hugging the moment, but starting the story just before the important part, and then ending it just after that. At the end of the week students learned the importance of adding feelings into our stories in both words and pictures.
Next students discussed the importance of searching the just right words in their stories. For example, if the narrator was sad, the student should consider the precise word that fits, which might be unhappy or miserable. Students will also learn that writers spell bravely. They shouldn't use the word "sad" because it is easier to spell than "miserable". Students can be brave and spell the word part-by-part. Students ended the week by reflecting on our unit concepts and analyzing a sample student's work for what we appreciate.
October Writing:
Students took time to revise their writing. We discussed how deciding to revise a story is actually a compliment to that piece, and that all of our stories are chanting "pick me" from inside our writing folders. We discussed that many writers revise their stories by adding dialogue, and we reviewed about quotation marks and dialogue tags. Students learned the importance of telling and showing character feelings. This can be done by adding dialogue as well as including character thoughts, hopes, memories, and seven secrets. After spending time on revision, students ended the week by starting a new story. Students should include some of these writing strategies right from the start, to make their stories even better.
Next we discussed brining the inside of the character out, by including character thoughts, hopes, memories and secrets into our stories. Students also learned that writers are responsible for words they already know how to spell. We discussed sight words, or snap words, that students should memorize because they are used so often. Students received a Snap Words Book to keep in their wiritng folders as a reference for themselves.
Students learned about the classroom Word Wall that can help them spell many words while they are writing. Students also learned how to revise both the beginnings and endings of their stories to make them better. We discussed that good writers often start their stories with action, dialogue, or a description of the setting. Writers often end their stories with action, dialogue, a feeling, or a big idea. Students had the opportunity to revise the titles of their stories, after they learned that authors often keep them short and catchy with only 2-3 words in length.
Students picked their favorite story - the one they are most proud of. Then students worked to get those pieces ready for our sharing celebration. They learned to use the editing checklist and the COPS strategy to correct any capitalization, overall appearance, punctuation, and spelling mistakes. Students had time to fix up and fancy up their writing. Then we had our Sharing Celebration and students read their stories aloud to the class. They also took time to create an About The Author Page.
November Writing:
Students reflected on our Narrative Writing Unit. Then they cleaned out their writing folders and sent their work home. On November 8th we discussed Veterans Day and wrote letters to a veteran.
After that we started a new writing unit on writing nonfiction books. Students brainstormed nonfiction writing topics: things they know a lot about, things they know how to do, and definitely topics that they care about. Students learned to plan their writing across their fingers by thinking about chapters (or subtopics) they can write. Students also learned the importance of rereading their writing and asking themselves if they can add any more information. We took time to do some Thanksgiving writing as well.
December Writing:
Students spent time doing a holiday writing craft and then returned to our nonfiction writing efforts. Students learned to select an audience for their writing, and then to keep that audience in mind as they write. They can consider what the audience wants to learn and how best to do that. Students learned the importance of adding descriptions into our nonfiction writing. They also learned to use the Information Writing Checklist to assess their writing and set goals for themselves.
Next students were invited to write a nonfiction book using their chromebooks and the Book Creator website. Students were encouraged to write a Table of Contents, write many pages that teach the reader with words, and pictures, and even to include diagrams.
After that, students learned how to write both an introduction and a conclusion. Students edited their writing for correct beginning capitalization, ending punctuation, and spelling. Then we had a Sharing Celebration and students shared their nonfiction writing with the class.
January Writing:
Students started the new year by writing resolutions. Then we started a new unit on Opinion Writing. Students brainstormed things that they think are awesome, selected their first tpoic, and then wrote about why the topic is awesome. Students reviewed opinion writing strategies from first grade as they reviewed/learned to brainstorm several reasons for their opinion, and then support those reasons with details. Built into the unit is the idea that thinking about things that are awesome, and noticing awesome in the world, makes people happy.
Next we discussed the importance of including details by telling what, where, and when. Students learned that they can include a little story to help convince the reader to agree with their opinion, or that you can include counter arguments, by politely talking back to someone who might not agree with you. Students also learned that specific topics are more powerful. We used the Opinion Checklist to assess a student writing sample and set goals for ourselves.
Students learned that writers pay close attention to line breaks, punctuation, and font because they can strengthen the writer's voice. We also discussed how to include a dedication page to our writing.
February Writing:
Students learned the importance of adding a personal response to our opinion writing and even how to add a P.S. to our letters. We discussed the use of brainstorming synonyms instead of always using the same word, and even tried using a thesaurus in class. After that, we discussed adding a summary about a book you like, by telling about the main character and his or her problem, at tne beginning of our opinion letters about books.
Next students discussed writing letters about nonfiction books that we like. Students can tell what the topic is and maybe what kind of book it is. Students can also tell what features they like in the book, such as photographs, diagrams, jokes, or even a helpful glossary at the end. We reviewed when to use capital letters in our writing, and also spent time learning how to include evidence from our books to support our opinions.
Students finished the final lesson in our Opinion Writing Unit by learning how to write award nominations. Students were invited to make up various awards for books, movies, or other things that they think are deserving. After that, students decided which piece or pieces to publish in our upcoming Writing Celebration. Students spent time fixing up their writing by editing their work for correct capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. Last week students fancied up their wriiting and shared it with the class in our Writing Celebration on Wednesday. Then on Friday we started our next writing unit on Poetry. Students learned that poets look at the world differently and often write about everyday objects in different ways.
March Writing:
Students learned that poets think deeply about their line breaks. They often try different line breaks until the poem has the right rhythm. We discussed that poets often write about big ideas and big feelings, and therefore write about small moments or objects that give them those big feelings. Students learned that poets often write from different points of view and this can include using personification. We discussed that poets often have repetition with repeating sounds, words, and even lines. Students even wrote a rhythm poem together. Students also learned that poets take time to pick honest, precise words for their poetry. We read and discussed many sample poems in class and students were encouraged to try the strategies from our mini-lessons.
Next students learned about 2-word poems and question poems. They helped write a class poem of each type with their classmates, and tried their own poems independently. On Friday students continued to pick 1-2 of their favorite poems to write inside their hardcover poetry books.
Students learned how to write Haiku and Cinquain poems, tried writing one as a class, and then wrote one on their own. Students also learned and tried writing shape poems. Last week wel finished our poetry unit by taking time to fix up and fancy up our poetry. We also spent time sharing more of our poetry with each other.
Students reflected on our poetry writing unit and cleaned out their writing folders to send work home for families to see. Then we started our next unit on realistic fiction. Students reviewed about writing narratives. Then they created a main character for a made-up story, and planned an interesting problem. Students worked on these stories every day, reviewed different ways to hook the reader with an effective beginning, and how to plan and rehearse the story across the pages.
Last week students learned about the story mountain, which is a great way to visualize the plot and story structure of any story. Students reviewed the importance of stretching out our actions, including character thoughts and feelings, and also including dialogue between characters with the use of quotation marks. We reviewed other words for "said" and discussed the use of vivid verbs that are more interesting than "eat" or "look".
This week students will review the concept of "showing" with lots of details, instead of just "telling". Students will assess their writing with the narrative rubric, and set goals for improving their work. Students will also learn how to write a book series and how to include a life lesson for the main character.