Our I “CARE” About Reading and Writing Week got off to a great start today with a kickoff assembly. The highlight was a skit performed by teachers and assistants showing us how NOT to care for books. Thankfully, members of the audience were able to provide advice and second chances were provided for the “new class of kids” to show us how to CARE for the books.
Upon returning to the classroom after the assembly, we finished writing our spelling / vocabulary words for the week, and dug into some books by our author of the week – Seymour Simon. Using the literary analysis triangle, we examined what our author’s books have in common, focusing mostly on structure and craft. As we continue interacting with his books this week, we hope to notice more about Seymour Simon’s writing style.
As is true every Monday, we had the opportunity to head to the library for our weekly visit. Ms. Kraft gave us time to check out books. Then, she introduced us to her author of the week, Julia Donaldson
After organizing ourselves in birthday order (a bit more challenging than expected), we were divided into groups to share one of Julia Donaldson’s books. Most groups really enjoyed this author’s storytelling style.
When we returned to the class after a day full of specials, we were able to enjoy D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read) time. Some students opted to read alone while others paired up with other pajama-wearing readers or gathered in groups to share a text. After about 20 minutes of reading, we captured our titles on tiny pieces of blue paper, which will be pasted on our community “reading rainbow.”
To finish off the day, we also took time to D.E.W. (Drop Everything and Write). Today’s writing challenge was to write an encouraging note to a classmate. Since we are used to writing bucket fillers, we were easily and CAREfully able to craft a letter to a fellow scholar. It was really wonderful to read such specific ways we appreciate one another. Our buckets were beautifully filled today!