Before beginning our unit on spiders we activated our schema to find out what we already know. We also generated a list of questions we have about spiders. I read the non-fiction story Spiders by Gail Gibbons. While reading we talked about some of the non-fiction text features throughout the story. After reading the book we came up with facts that we learned from this informational book. Following the story the students made their own fact and opinion spider. They glued the facts on one side of their spider and the opinions on the other. They did a great job identifying facts and opinions. As the day crawled on we learned about adjectives (words that describe) and verbs (action words). Each student had a turn sorting adjective and verb word cards onto the correct web. We used these words to write a spider poem. The following day the focus of each reading group was "spiders." Each group read a leveled non-fiction book to learn even more about spiders. They did a great job reading! After reading we identified the main idea and three details from their book. I hope your child came home excited to read their new book to you :) At the end of the day I read the fiction story The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle to the class. What a great way to end our spider unit. After reading we used a venn diagram to compare and contrast the two spider books we read. The class did a great job thinking of ways these books were the same and different. During our writing block the students wrote their opinion about spiders. Students wrote that spiders were gross, cool and helpful. They added supporting details to their writing to back up their opinion. We had a fun time using spiders to practice our reading and writing skills! What do you think about spiders?
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Fall is the perfect time to pick apples!! Johnny Appleseed's birthday was Sept. 26 so last week we focused a few activities around an apple theme. Together we read a story called Go, Johnny Go! This book was about the life of Johnny Appleseed. The students enjoyed reading the repetitive line throughout the book. We hope you enjoyed listening to your child read this story at home! After reading Go, Johnny Go! I read a nonfiction story about the life of Johnny Appleseed to the class. Before reading I told them to focus on the type of person Johnny Appleseed was. Together we made a list of characteristics that describe him. The student's made their own character analysis of Johnny Appleseed. The students learned the difference between facts and opinions. We made a visual chart to help us remember the difference. Together we read statements on apples and sorted them into fact and opinion baskets. The students worked with a partner to practice identifying facts and opinions. After reading statements on apples the students colored the facts red and the opinions green. They did an excellent job! Finally, at the end of the day we enjoyed an apple snack! |
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