Week 3 Complete

Much needed day off for Labor Day! I do feel like I have labored in the past three weeks. But we have come a long way in becoming a family. A noisy family. But we are beginning to settle in for the remaining 166 school days.

Last week we also worked on the short a sound in our phonics. We used Abby's Spelling set.  for the Pencil Me In Activity. I think it will be a little different way to work on our spelling patterns/word families often this fall. And Abby plans to make a "winter" set later on this fall. You can find all about it here.

Reading Workshop:  I am trying determined to use a reading workshop this year. I've tried in the past few years to use it only to let it be pushed aside by trying to depend on our basal (Treasures). This year I am going to use Treasures as a shared read, focus on the skills it covers, but use a workshop to actually let the kids learn to read/love reading. It is working well so far and I'm actually sticking to my morning schedule. Last week the kids were able to read independently for 15 minutes and I could pull small groups to work on their current levels. Our district uses the STAR test to give a baseline reading level. It isn't usually accurate the first time we use it because the kids invariably just decide to guess, click, and go to the next question on the computer.

We also worked with reading with a partner on sitting side by side and reading, talking, etc.

This week we will again choose their books for their reading baskets from ones I have pulled. Hopefully next week we will begin to use a small portion of the classroom library for them to select their books. I am determined to teach them how to return books to the correct basket. Last year was a nightmare!!! I've labeled most of them but have a few to finish this week. (I doubt I'll find minutes to do that!)

I plan on working a  lot all the time on our voice levels next week. I made a PPT and also posters of these voice levels.

Voice Levels Dots


Hope everyone has a great, relaxing weekend!