September 2014

The new school year has begun. This year I have 25 Grade 1's and 2's - a new challenge!

We have already begun work on our Daily 5. Students are learning about the 3 Ways to Read a Book, the first component of Daily 5, "Read to Self", and "Reading Salad". We review and practice the 3 ways to read a book daily; read the words, read the pictures and retell. I presented a lesson on each of these to ensure students understanding. I used the book "Dinosaur Day" an almost wordless picture book to reinforce this idea. It's so important to build their confidence and belief that they can read even if they don't know all the words. It works! We made an anchor chart showing how "Read to Self" should look and sound. The first practice took us 8 times before we were able to follow the behaviors we decided on. The second time only took 3 - we're on our way!  

This year I made a chef's hat and made a real show of the "Reading Salad" lesson. It was memorable and that's what I was hoping for. We also began work on the reading comprehension strategies. Students are learning, what is a question and how do we use questions as we read to help us understand the text. this relates closely to the "Reading Salad" components - Real Reading =  Text + Thinking!