Having just finished our research project on Roald Dahl (I hope you got your book jackets,) we will start our new novel when we get back from holiday. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is a hilarious look at a younger sibling. Technically about the fourth grade older brother, this classic and tickled funny bones of children for years.
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The House of Dahl welcomes our 2 new members- Clara and Henry. We are currently doing research on Roald Dahl to find out what made him such a good writer. We are learning about writing inquiry questions ( big, thick questions that require more than a 1 word answer.) We are also learning about how we find credible sources and what to do to credit where we find our answers. Ultimately, we will write a short essay on his life, before writing our own short story.
This week we are finishing a 5 or more sentence paragraph on what happened when Ms. Trunchbill took over the class. Students are writing a good topic sentence, at least 3 details and finally a closing sentence. They also will be locating answers to oral questions by finding them in the text. This will lead to justifying answers using the text in subsequent paragraphs.
We are still reading Matilde by Roald Dahl. However, we are stopping this week to do our benchmark testing for students. We did a vocabulary sheet today, and will do the Star Reading test tomorrow. This Friday is the Leadership Muffin Morning. If your child comes home with a ticket tomorrow, they are invited to our session at 7:30. A student will be at the back door- Kinder rooms, to let them in with their ticket.
The girls are loving their book, Matilde. Last week we did a 5 sentence paragraph describing each girls favorite joke that Matilde played on her family. In the future, we will expand that with more descriptions and explanations but for now their pieces were done well. This week, we will read together to monitor fluency and then later, we'll begin to answer questions using "a better answer" format- that is, in complete sentences using the question to help us.
They should be reading 2 chapters between Thursday and Tuesday, each week, and we'll be doing accompanying activities here at school. Last week we started our new novel, Matilde. We each have committed to reading 3 chapters per week, between Thursday and Tuesday. We actually started reading 2 per week, but the girls are so anxious to find out more, they begged to read more. We used a tree map (from thinking maps) to establish our setting, characters and problems and a bubble map to describe Matilde. We also did an introductory vocabulary exercise to review how to read "around" words they don't know to find out what they mean. This week, we will do some comprehension writing, to see how well they are reading.
A common question: Can we partner read with them. Of course! Nothing establishes the importance or reading more than students seeing and hearing their parents read! |
Blog Author, Mrs. Albrecht
Mrs. Albrecht is a 30+ year educator. Having taught in both Texas and here in Eagle County, Colorado, she brings years of teaching expertise and technology to her classrooms. Archives
December 2017
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House of Dahl
The House of Dahl is currently made up of 2 cute reader/writiers. It is named for Roald Dahl, beloved author of the book we are reading, Matilde. I will be updating here weekly. Just scroll down to see the latest news!