Doylestown Post 02-17-15

February 17, 2015
The Doylestown Post

From the first grade classroom of Ms. Doyle
Just Published in Writing Workshop: I was so glad to share the fiction

stories written by our first graders at conferences. We are working on photocopying these
fiction stories so they can come home soon! The students worked so hard on developing a
problem and solution as well as a detailed setting that the reader could picture. We worked
on revising. Students got better at crossing out boring words and replacing them with
better ones. The coolest part of all was supporting the students as they figured out a moral
or lesson that readers could learn from reading their story. Now thats getting ready for
second grade!
J
Next Writing Unit of Study: Book Reviews

We will be writing book reviews in Room 29. Students will be exposed to published book reviews both
online as well as samples from former students. We will have a noticing chart where students will
notice that book reviews have an opening grabber sentence that gets the readers attention. They will
notice that in a book review, the writer names the title of the book and the authors name. There is
often a summary of the story that does not give away the ending. You might find a star rating or a
paragraph that tells the writers favorite part. Finally, there is a wrap it up sentence that might end
with feeling or get the reader to want to go out and read that book right away. We look forward to
sharing our book reviews with you. I encourage you to ask your child how his/her book review is
coming along!
Dance Days In Room 29

Thank you to all of you who were able to join us for our recent contemporary dance performance. We
had a great turn out! The students LOVE learning all of the moves for each dance routine. They share
their own creative ideas and make decisions on duets and solos. Students helped to choreograph the
dance and had leadership roles within the dance. Best of all, each individuals contribution came
together and became an important part of the group piece. All of this brings us closer as a class
community. It was a beautiful and fun ensemble and gave us movement opportunities within the
classroom this chilly winter. A special thank you to the room parents who helped to organize a
Valentines Day craft and also to all of the parents who brought snacks for our buffet snack table!
Science and Dance Integration

I am proud to introduce Clare Tallon Ruen, the creative movement artist we are working with for a
six-week residency in connection with Project Aim, an arts integration program from Columbia
College. Ms. Tallon, Ms. Martin and I have co-written an integrated science unit for our study of solids
and liquids. We are integrating dance (creative movement) and photography to more deeply
understand the science content. I am so excited to continue to update you on the learning and teaching
happening in this residency. There will be a culminating event to showcase our work in the spring.
OUR LENDING LIBRARY
How is the lending library going at your

house? Remind your child that they get to choose a new book every day as long as they return the one
they took the night before. The act of taking home a books every night increases motivation for
reading! The students have been devouring these books and come back to school recommending them
to friends. How can you help? After your child reads one of these great new books with you (the
ones from the cloth sack that is brought home nightly), please, please take a minute to ask, Who in
your classroom would love to borrow that book tomorrow? And then remind your child in the
morning to tell that friend to check their book out. Thats what real readers do, right? And we have
22 real readers in Room 29!!! J
Supporting young readers

Did you know poems and songs can be very short
texts but they are extremely powerful! When
sudents read the poems and songs that come home
on Mondays (and are collected in our classroom in a
binder throughout the school year), they are not
only getting better at decoding words but are truly
becoming fluent readers. Some of the songs/
rhyming poems that come home have such a quick
beat and gets the kids to read at a nice pace
becoming more fluent with each reading.
On Mondays, most kids are figuring out the words
and the beat and the tune. By Wednesday, they are
partner reading and recognizing words inside of
words and word wall words. By Friday, they are
performing these chorally and it is so sweet to watch
week after week. I truly hope you take the time to
sing along (as many of the upcoming songs may be
familiar to you, like Tomorrow, from Annie).
Supporting young writers

Your child should be remembering the following chant from
our classroom
Look at Me! I did all three!
1. Capitals
2. Good spacing
3. Periods (punctuation marks)
Please remind your child that they need to do all 3!!
Sometimes, it helps if we use the same words as we support
our young writers! I also say to the children, often, that we
are writing for readers so we need to be sure that we can
Sharing Circles Update: Our Sharing Circles

are a great time to practice listening to
friends, taking turns talking and also a chance
to work on building community. The kids
have been enjoying their weekly Sharing
Circle time.
Donation Request: J(Some Supplies We

Can Use) I thought I would mention some
supplies we are low on again in case you feel
like donating something! We could still use:
Glue sticks (Wow do these go fast! We

use them weekly for word sorting and
we run out often.)
New crayons (ours are quite broken)
Any Treasure Box donations (thanks

to the families that have already
donated some throughout the year)
Special Thanks!
Thanks to all of the parents who came to parent teacher
conferences. It is always GREAT to talk with you, answer
questions, share student work and celebrate successes.
Partnering with you has been wonderful throughout the
year.
How can you help at home with book review

writing? Talk with your child about books you
read and ask them if they liked the book and,
more importantly, why. This will help your
child when they embark on another piece, their
read what we wrote (and that is makes sense) and then we

know it will be clear for our readers.
MATH UPDATE:
Please be sure your child can add various coin amounts as well as
tell time to the half hour, hour and quarter hour. Students should
also be super secure with counting by 2s, 5s, 10s starting at big
numbers (like 65 or 100) and begin counting quarters by 25 (25,
50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200 or 25 cents, 50 cents, 75 cents, a
dollar)! A little math practice at home goes a long way!
second piece, of opinion writing. The game and

toy review was their first shot at this mode of
writing. It will be great to see how their writing
has developed. We promise to share!
In the next edition of The Doylestown Post:
Reading Clubs Update- What are they? How
do they work in Room 29?
Science/Arts Integration Update

Doylestown Post 02-17-15

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Doylestown Post 02-17-15

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Doylestown Post 02-17-15

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

February 17, 2015

The Doylestown Post

Just Published in Writing Workshop: I was so glad to share the fiction

Next Writing Unit of Study: Book Reviews

Dance Days In Room 29

Science and Dance Integration

OUR LENDING LIBRARY

How is the lending library going at your

Supporting young readers

Supporting young writers

Sharing Circles Update: Our Sharing Circles

Donation Request: J(Some Supplies We

Glue sticks (Wow do these go fast! We

New crayons (ours are quite broken)

Any Treasure Box donations (thanks

How can you help at home with book review

read what we wrote (and that is makes sense) and then we

second piece, of opinion writing. The game and

You might also like