It’s here! Check out what we’ve been up to this week:
1. Hm, well, Chicago weather has been very interesting this week! 50 degrees on Monday- I was so excited to be outside on a run with my ankles exposed and not freeze…and then came a snowstorm on Wednesday…and we’re back to 50 degrees today! Definitely hoping the 50 degrees stick around and keep the snow away for a looooong time! This little friend’s response to “Do you like winter? Why or why not?” this week pretty much sums it up for me after this never-ending winter!
2. A few weeks ago I wrote about the big letter cubes we use in our room, but this week we got to the “you do” stage of “I do, we do, you do” and each of my little friends had their own ridiculously adorable mini letter cubes. We were all working with the same word family (-ip) but I varied some of the other letter cubes they got based on what they needed most help with- digraphs, blends or just letters. Each little friend rolled their extra letter cube and then decided if it was real or nonsense and recorded it on their iPads. They loved the cute little cubes as much as I do!
3. My friends were also busy responding to their texts in guided reading. I’m so proud of how far they have come with writing responses to their reading. We are still working on spelling sight words correctly in sentences and actually writing more than one sentence in response, but they are getting there!
4. I have one group that is super motivated by the stuffed animal basket in our room- as in, every day they ask if they can take them out…so once a week I try to actually make sure we get them out for a few minutes of either reading a book to their furry little buddy or this week we used them to practice reading our sight words. Whatever gets them excited about reading works for me!
5. Oh.my.word- I cannot tell you how excited my little friends who are quite obsessed with dinosaurs were for this next one. Our blogging buddy Matt over at Digital Divide & Conquer has these amazing QR code packs that link to themed stories that are read to the student (dinosaurs, spring, cats, etc.) and let me tell you- my little friends love QR codes always, but boy did they go nuts over these dinosaur themed ones! It was like ‘must drop everything I’m doing this second and go scan that QR code to choose my dinosaur book!’ I was so excited that my little friends were so in love with these stories and am so happy Matt makes all these great themed packs because I know my little friends will just want to scan those QR codes over and over…and again, whatever makes them excited about reading is a win in my book! This will definitely be something I’ll be using every Friday with my little friends. Matt also has awesome posts on technology and other great teacher stuff that almost always get me to laugh out loud- go check out his blog and TPT store to snag up some of these QR code packs for your own classroom, if you haven’t yet. 🙂
0 Responses
Those cubes look so great!! I will have to check our your post on the big ones. Thanks for the idea : )
You almost lost me when you said the word "running"…lol! I only run to the fridge when my plate is empty! 🙂 I love the weather drawing. Adorable! I think it's so sweet that your firsties like to read to the stuffed friends. You are so right…whatever gets them motivated to read! My kids love Matt's QR Code Adventures too! We are going to be doing the Spring ones soon. Happy Friday!
Alison
Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'
Looks like a great week! I love when you share how your iPads are used! I have been recommending your blog to primary teachers just getting started with iPads.
Tara
The Math Maniac
I agree with your student's writing about winter too! We got snow and sleet today and it is supposed to be 52 degrees tomorrow. Crazy! Love how well your students are doing with their written responses in reading. They are moving right along and doing great!
Lori
Conversations in Literacy