Reading Partners

There are certain activities that are better enjoyed with company, than by oneself. And reading is one of them! There is nothing more powerful than sharing your thoughts about a good book, and recommending great books that you have enjoyed to others. These are natural reading habits that we are trying to hone in our young readers.  And so have begun Reading Partnerships during Reading Workshop. As we continue to build a reading community in the classroom, we are setting up structures and routines for selecting just-right books, working with partners, and reflecting on reading in partnerships.  In partnerships, readers will also begin the work of retelling and summarizing. Students are learning to listen attentively, ask good questions, and be conversational about the books they are reading.

We began by getting to know our Reading Partners by conducting a Reading Interview, and we are hoping these relationships will continue to grow around a shared love of books!

Seed Ideas

Last week we  chose Seed Ideas from our Writer’s Notebooks. A “Seed Idea” is the nucleus of an idea that can be developed into a full-fledged piece of writing. We looked through our entries and picked out one idea that really matters to us. This is the idea that our writers will develop further this week. Writers will decide what they want to develop their seed idea into: a story? A poem (or set of poems)? A feature article about a nonfiction topic? A personal narrative? It’s interesting how a seed idea can grow in any number of different directions. A child might have observed something when we were writing in Seth Low Park that could become a fictional story, that might trigger a memory from his or her own life, that could become a poem – or that might become an opinion piece related to public parks!

Reminders:

Picture Day is Tuesday, October 10th!  Dress your best!

TRIPS, TRIPS, and more TRIPS!

Upcoming Dates: Mark Your calendars for these upcoming trips!

Note- Each trip will require it’s own permission trip and admission fee, so please look out for forms and due dates! Also, we will need chaperones. You can sign up to be a chaperone on the Field Trip permission form. Please note we can only take a limited number of chaperones on each trip. I will email you to confirm that you are a chaperone.

October 27- Museum of Natural History via subway (FREE)- Chaperones needed!

November 15- 302 to Prospect Park Zoo

February 7- (Wednesday) BAM The Magic City via bus (leave at 9:30)

February 27 – (Tuesday) Staten Island via bus – The Dragon’s Tale Performance (Chinese New Year)