Monday, September 17, 2012

Homework:

Blogger of the day:  Steve

I had fun in Math because I learned to count down and count up to subtract.  At recess I walked with Divjot.

Math - Subtraction Puzzle
Word Study
Students will a wordstudy package every MONDAY.  Packages should be completed and returned on THURSDAY.  We will NOT have a weekly spelling dictation.  Please read the following letter about my views on word study. 

A a parent, you are your child’s first and most important teacher. When you help your child learn to read and write, you are opening the door to a world of books and learning.

Learning to spell remains an important part of our curriculum. The approach to teaching spelling, however, has changed over the years. Many parents remember a very structured program from their own school days. Each week a new list of words was presented from a list in the textbook. These words were drilled all week, practiced at home and then tested on Friday. However, the transfer from spelling words correctly on a test to spelling words correctly in the context of writing was not always smooth.

We know now that learning to spell and learning to memorize lists are two different things. If we want children to be good spellers, the spelling instruction must be part of the rest of the reading and writing lessons that happen every day in the classroom. Word lists are still kept and learned, but the words are those the children actually use. Many of them belong to a personal collection built up by the child, others may relate to themes or topics being studied, along with various word families in which the child can learn to recognize patterns.

Here’s what we are doing in our classroom to develop spelling skills:

• Children read and are read to every day
• Children write every day
• Printed and written language is displayed prominently around the classroom. Children are taught to consult these displays when looking for words and checking their spelling. There may also be lists of new words that relate to the current theme or topic being taught.
• Participating in word building, spelling games and so on.
• Children are taught to use proofreading skills.
• Children are encouraged to take risks in the first draft of their writing, and then check ideas, words, punctuation and spelling in a later draft.
• Children are encouraged to use an age appropriate dictionary and thesaurus