Reading for Home Learning

Hi Everyone,
I've really enjoyed my first week and a half in Room 3.  Thanks to all the parents who have made me feel so welcome!!

You will hopefully have noticed that the children have bought home their first reading books in their home learning bags this week.  I picked books that may be slightly too easy for them as a way to build confidence and get them back into the routine of taking books home.  Today we successfully completed our first reading rotation, giving me a chance to hear them read.  Soon I'll be sending home books that should be a little more challenging.  The yellow Home Learning book has some great tips for how to help your child at home.  As always, please drop by if you need any help or if your child is either struggling or finding the books way too easy.

I'm also hoping to get our spelling up and running next week.  I run a system which includes levelled spelling lists, based on essential words but also patterns.  Again, it might take a week or two to get the kids onto the correct spelling list for their abilities.  So expect to see spelling notebooks home next week.

I've been really impressed with how quickly the kids are picking up the whole brain strategies.  As the year progresses, this method of teaching will have a growing positive impact on their learning.

We have just begun our inquiry topic:  Under the rocks (an investigation into the Rocky Shore).  We're going to be looking into habitats and learning to work like scientists, using scientific language, drawings and observations.  Today we were visited by a large cockroach, which happened to make its way up our wall.  So... we turned this into a great learning experience - looking at its body, how it moved, and making inferences about where it lived and what it ate (all behind the safety of a glass and a plate).  We kindly let it go in the school garden. It was a great hook into talking about habitats :)

I hope to have some of the children's work displayed on the blog soon.
Thanks for tuning in :)
Cushla