The first week of school was awesome! As a team, we feel the Daily "3" Literacy Workshop Model established an excellent atmosphere for engaged readers. Our three main goals this week:
- READ TO SELF- Build stamina for reading. Students modeled effective ways to fill their book boxes with Good Fit books, found "smart spots" to read about the room, and kept their focus on: reading picture books!
- READ TO SOMEONE ELSE- This part of Daily 3 was a hit! Students learned KKEE (knee knee-elbow elbow), soft voice read alouds to gain fluency, and partner retellings.
- WORD WORK- Brainstorming session on What to Write during the Daily 3.
Our team feels creating this Reader's Workshop Model is essential for setting the foundation for individual growth and acceleration in Literacy.
Our Math Block was also an important time of the day to create a climate of wonder, structure, and set up routines with our Everyday Math series. We assessed students on their knowledge of math facts, explored a resource called the Student Reference Book, played strategy games like the Countdown Game and NIM, and began with our instruction of geometry concepts.
Community is VERY IMPORTANT early in the school year, not only in our individual classrooms, but also with all of the fourth graders. We led many community building activities including:
- clumping--characteristic sort by students
- shell sort- find new friends based on seashell attributes
- student hunt
- sharing Spectacular Student Surfboards
- Who Am I glyphs
Theme Time included activities:
- Biopoems--poems about themselves
- Locker Magnet mates
- Personal Letters to teachers
By establishing these routines and community early in the year, we hope to create an atmosphere where students are anxious to share their thoughts, feel secure about books they are reading, comfortable choosing new partners, and truly becoming independent in the classroom.
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