Where Children and parents can discuss their thinking, ideas and the world!
Thanksgiving is a holiday that we read a lot about in our classroom. We read informational books like Pilgrims of Plymouth by Susan Goodman and stories like The Perfect Thanksgiving by Eileen Spinelli. We compared our lives to those of the Pilgrims'. We had many interesting conversations about being grateful. Some of the comments were:
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Questioning, or asking questions, is a reading strategy that we use to understand what we read. We are practicing question words or -wh words - who, what, where, when, why. We are also using how, another question word that explains the way something happens.
As we read two different books, Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann and Old Bear by Kevin Henkes, we had lots of questions about the pictures and the story. We asked them directly or we wondered what the author meant. Here are some of our questions. Good Night, Gorrilla Why did the animals get the zookeeper's keys? Why is there a mouse on every page? Why is the peanut inside the cage? Old Bear I wonder what the book is about. I wonder why the Old Bear is sleeping in the ground. I wonder what the bear is dreaming about. I wonder why Spring is here and Old Bear is not dreaming. As you spend time at home this Thanksgiving weekend, please read a book that you love with an adult and ask questions about it. Post the title of the book you read and two questions so we can share them in class. Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Reading! Can you eat the alphabet? Lois Ehlert, the author of Eating The Alphabet, inspired us to discuss whether this is possible. We read her book and discovered a whole new world of fruits and vegetables. Here are some examples of fruits and vegetables that we like and why we like them. "I like watermelon because it is delicious." "I like apples because they are sweet." I like oranges because they are juicy."
Please write about a fruit and a vegetable you like and tell us why. We read Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann. The book has no words, except for a few speech bubbles. We decided to write sentences to match the pictures and we also thought it would be fun to add speech bubbles so the animals could speak. Let us know what you think and have fun talking about the book with your family.
Fall is almost over. The wonderful and vibrant colors on the trees are flying away in the wind. The colorful leaves land on the streets and on the ground creating a carpet of red, yellow, gold, brown, green, ochre, orange. Here are some photographs of the last amazing colors of fall still on the trees. Post your comments as you think of what the colors make you think of. We have been reading different kinds of books about fall. Here are some of our most liked titles. The Busy Tree, by Jennifer Ward and Mystery Vine by Cathryn Falwell gave us many chances to engage in interesting and deep conversations.
I have included two other poems by Douglas Florian that we had fun reading. See if you remember what some of them are and post your comments. Last week, one of my students brought a book he had borrowed from he library about fall. He was so excited to share it with me and his class that I immediately read it. The book is Mystery Vine by Cathryn Falwell. I think you would enjoy reading it with your child. Luke borrowed it from the Paramus Library. If you would like to purchase it, below is the book on amazon.com or you can go to our local Barnes & Noble. At the end of the book, there is a recipe for Pumpkin Apple Bread-see photo below. I told the children I would bake it that night. Here is the result, I took pictures of the steps which you can see below. The bread was delicious and nutritious! My family loved it. The next day, I brought it into Luke's classroom and they all "tasted it with their noses". I hope you enjoy the book and the recipe. Happy baking! Fall is one of the most colorful seasons in our area. It is one of my favorite seasons because it is filled with vibrant and amazing colors that nature gives us to enjoy. I recently visited a farm and of course, thought of all of you and how much you would have enjoyed it. Here are some pictures that I took. I made them into a slide show. Please look at them with your parents. I have added questions for you to answer and discuss. Post your comments so we can read them together in school. Enjoy this virtual fieldtrip. It is a slideshow. There is a pause/play button on the top left of the image and arrows on the top right. Please pause the slide show so you can look closely and enjoy the pictures. You can also read the captions slowly. |
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