Let's Catch Up!

I missed posting last weekend due to technical difficulties and I didn't want any more time to go by without sharing some photos. So, this post will be a smattering- a little out of order but it will hopefully capture the range of what's been going on.  Below you can see us getting crafty and having snack at our Halloween Celebration.  We kept it creative and healthy with a little bit of "Halloween Themed Bingo" going on in the background. 

Another important thing to share with you is the  team teaching that Kathy Lamphere, Math Coach and I have been doing three days a week.  Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday Kathy joins us for half an hour which enables the class to work in small groups for targeting instruction.  Here you can see Kathy introducing the concept of subtraction as "taking away"- as in bowling with cups and recording how it happened with equations on paper!

I absolutely NEED to share the positive, persistent, and powerful energy that the children are bringing to our Workshop time.  During Reader's and Writer's Workshop we connect with great books, discuss the author's message, learn to retell stories in our own words, AND learn explicit strategies for becoming strong readers and writers.  Below you can see us putting "pointer power" (touch each word as you read), together with "popcorn word power" (rely on words you know) to read some books with a friend.  Also you can see us building that store of popcorn (sight words) by sorting out words we can read already, and words we can't read YET on white boards.

And it's important and make time for self-directed, imaginative play.  Here's a little look...