Sing a Song!

What a fantastic concert last week! Thank you for joining us and supporting your children's musical adventure!

We know some of you were not able to make the concert, so we put together this short video. I admit some of it was taken during the final rehearsal just before the audience arrived, but that was just so we could get some closeups! Enjoy it!

Fluency for Friends -

This is another of my favorite projects during the year. Students who have reading with Mrs. Cryer have learned a lot about reading this year and are continuing to discover the importance of fluency. When we talk about fluency, it refers not only to how smooth the reading is, but also the speed, accuracy and expression of the reading. All of these are important!

This project focuses on all of these skills. Students have each chosen a new picture book from a large collection I have. They will read it over and over during the next few weeks to become professional readers. They will critique each other and help each other perfect their skills. Once a student has their expression, speed, accuracy and phrasing down perfectly, they will make a recording that will be sent to my. I will burn the recording to a CD and the students will present the book and recording to a kindergarten or first grade classroom of their choise for use in the class listening library.

I encourage students to bring these books home and practice in front of family members. The more they practice, the better they become! They have access to a website that allows them to record their reading and send the recording to me, so they can even do that at home!

PLEASE< PLEASE< PLEASE, if students bring their books home, they MUST bring them back to school each day! I give them time to practice every day, so if they do not have the book a day is lost. Time is short!

Research project

Beginning next week, students will be doing a short research project to hone their research skills and practice using text features. They have chosen a topic of interest and will find at least 10-15 facts about it. They will have a week to do this, so they will need to stay on task!

Once they have their topic, they will create a digital inforgraphic (essentially a long poster) that will include at least 5 different text features we have been working on this year.

Students will get specific information about the requirements next week. However, if you would like to see a copy of it, just send me a note and I will email it or send a paper version home.