Thursday, March 7, 2013

We had our first Guest Reader!!

Thank you Mrs. Thompson for being our first guest reader!  
The children enjoyed listening to some favorite snowy day stories.  

If you would like to come in and share a story with the class, 
please let me know what day works for you!

HES LOVES TO READ!!


Tuesday, March 5, 2013

What makes a good Story Retell?

Today we talked about the characteristics of a good story retell.  We brainstormed a list of important parts of a story that the students felt should be included in their retelling of a story.  Here is a retell of our lesson:

Characters:  The fabulous students in room 15.

Setting:  On the carpet in Room 15 at HES before lunch time.

Problem:  Mrs. McKenzie noticed that the fabulous students are leaving out parts of the story when they do a retell.

Kickoff:  We talked about why we need to have a good retell.  A good retell shows that the reader understands what they have read.  While reading, active readers go over the parts of the story in their head to help them understand and remember what they are reading.

Beginning:  First, we looked at cards that showed the important parts of the story The Wizard of Oz and discussed why each part was important to the story.

Middle:  Next, we read the story Big Al (one of Mrs. McKenzie's top 10 favorite books) and talked with our partners to identify the important parts of the story that should be included in the retell.

End:  Finally, we made a "yellow brick road" out of our retell cards and had volunteers walk the yellow brick road while they retold the story.

Solution:  The fabulous students in room 15 know all the important parts of a story to include in a retell and will practice with the books that they read.

Feeling:  We are excited to practice retelling other stories.  We will also connect what we know about retells when we write our own stories.

Waking the "yellow brick road" to a good retell.
Give it a try at home - Have your child retell the important parts of the text when they are done reading. 

Friday, March 1, 2013

HES Loves to Read!!!

We kicked off HES Loves to Read month today!  The theme this year is "BEE a reader . . . Buzz about  a book" Your child brought home a bee honeycomb sheet to track the minutes read.  The goal is for each student to read at least 1,000 minutes.  Color in each part of the honeycomb for each 10 minutes read.  Once your child reaches 1,000 minutes they will get a certificate to hang up at school - and get started on the next 1,000 minutes!!

Next week is guest reader week.  We have one parent signed up for Monday already and are looking for more for the rest of the week.  Let me know if you are interested in coming in!

Happy Reading!

Family Math Friday

Thank you to all of the families that were able to make it to Family Math Friday this morning.  We had a lot of fun showing our families some of the games that we play during math.  I hope you can make it to the next Family Read or Family Math day!