Reading and Writing

Almost every day, the children spend the hour before lunch reading and writing.  

Writing

The first half an hour is spent writing.  Sometimes the children can select what to write. Many children are working on stories.  Other days, I give them a specific writing assignment.  

Writing topics vary greatly including: recalling what was learned on a field trip, reviewing a play, or writing a description of someone.  Below are the two "teacher imposed" assignments from this week.  Both of these assignments were inspired by books.

Monday, the class was asked to write stories to accompany their "dream houses". The influence for this project was Daniel Pinkwater's book The Big Orange Splot. Last week, the children created drawings of their "dream houses"and used the houses in their presentation at Monday's "Morning Meeting". 
(The houses and stories are posted on the walls outside our classroom. )

Wednesday, after listening to Thunderboy Jr. by Sherman Alexie, the children, like the boy in the story, tried to think of names they could be called that match their accomp-lishments, interests, and dreams.  Some names they came up with were: 
-"Hearts of Oak" 
-"Galaxy"
-"Go Pilot"
-"Reader of Books"-
"The Storyer"-
"Good Pretender"-
"Cake Bake"-
"Drum Queen"-
"Animal Lover"
-and "The Math Boy" (just to name a few).

Reading

The second half hour is devoted to "Quiet Reading".  The children read quietly to themselves or read to an adult. Towards the end of the time, they can read with a buddy.  Currently, Gerald and Piggie books are favorites to read with a friend.  Each child picks a character and reads that part throughout the book.