This week I introduced my students to Epic! Epic! is an application with over 10,000 high quality books that students can read or hear read to them. The best part is that the students can choose their book preferences ahead of time so that books that are of interest to them appear on their book shelves. Some students prefer to read paper books, but for those that prefer digital, Epic! is a great option.
We painted some gorgeous dots this week. The students got to choose the group of colors they liked best for their dot.
We also practiced pointing at words as we “read”. No one was reluctant to point with these fingers!
Here are just a few of the learning moments in our classroom this week.
Using our “cell phones” to have a French conversation…
Using Osmo to solve problems…
Reading to classmates…
And snuggling with a friend.
Here is a peek at some of the learning that made up our week. Composing using Garage Band…
…learning and reviewing the silent E (ask your child what is happening in this picture)…
…reading…
…and more reading…
…sorting shapes…
…and searching for signs of spring.
This morning the students all chose a book they were reading to recommend to their friends. It was interesting to see that some students chose paper books while others chose digital.
Since the beginning of the year, we have been working hard to build our stamina during Read to Self. Our goal was to be able to read independently for at least 25 minutes. We knew that if we could do that for three days in a row, that we had built that stamina. This week, WE DID IT!
This graph shows how many minutes we were able to do each day.
And this is what it looks like in our classroom when we are reading. The students get to choose where they sit.
I am beyond proud of how hard they have all worked to get here.
Check out the new whisper phones we are now using during reading time. These devices, made from PVC pipe, let us hear what we are reading as we read (which helps with blending and fluency) and helps those students with loud voices to lower their voice as they read.
Reading is an important part of every day in our classroom. Here are some photos of readers from today.
Every spring, my students read to the kindergarten children to show off their newly acquired reading skills. This is a highly anticipated event as they all remember being read to when THEY were in kindergarten.
The students justifiably felt very proud of what they have accomplished in reading this year!
This week, Moose Jaw is Reading Town Canada! Classes all over Moose Jaw are dropping everything and reading. Other special activities are happening around the city as well.
In our classroom, we already read every day, but to make this week special, we are reading by flashlight on a couple of occasions and beginning next week, we will have a regular “Flashlight Friday” reading time. This is what it looked like earlier this week.
