Our grammar point was using commas in dates, and in greetings and closings of letters. Children have been encouraged to write the date on their work in class and are getting used to the form - September 14, 2017. We started on an explanation of the steps of the writing process which include planning, drafting revising, editing, publishing and illustrating. Children wrote a rough draft of their Summer Break experience, concentrating on getting their ideas down on paper using familiar words and phonetic spelling. It was explained that in the drafting phase that making mistakes was expected and a part of the process so children could focus on what they wanted to share rather than erasing mistakes.
Readers Workshop revisited the rules for successful reading and conferencing with the teacher. Children were asked to choose "Just Right" books from the labelled book bin, remain quietly in their book nook making sure not to pop their friend's reading bubble. They were also reminded that during conferencing time when they saw the teacher working with a student that they should wait.Children asked themselves a series of questions to check whether they were following the guidelines of Reader's Workshop. We also started to look at the different ways to read a book - looking at the pictures, retelling a familiar story and reading the words. We read a very popular book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar to illustrate how a detailed picture book could tell a story using just the pictures. Then students worked with a partner using the pictures in a picture book from the class library to tell the story. Several pairs then presented their stories to the class. G1b loves listening to funny stories so we continued reading some of the books that children have brought in.
Have a great long weekend and see you back at school on Tuesday.