Just a quick update about spelling....
You'll notice that I am trying to save on paper by having more than one week's words on the page. Yes these are sight words that your child should know how to read with automaticity, and now the goal is to have your child print these words with the same automaticity that they can read them.
Here's one fun way to practise! There are nine different ways to work with these words. Have your child choose three ways that will fill in the Tic Tac Toe board. They could be vertical, horizontal or diagonal lines.
On the back of the page are the three spaces for the practise. These words are quite easy, but it is better to build up their confidence before they have to settle into really working to learn more difficult words. The goal is to know the words, of course, but also to recognize that learning new things takes effort, and to build the routine of having to complete school assignments at home. We're preparing for those bigger grades!
We worked through the differences between 'fact' and 'opinion.' Some students were challenged by the opinion examples, believing that if they did not say them, then they were facts. The students need to see that others have opinions, and they may not be the same as theirs!
Writing a good sentence means that the students need to know 'who did what.' They are continuing to learn that nouns are the 'who' and that verbs are the 'did what' or the action. Adjectives are the words that describe the nouns. Together we brainstormed ideas about what witches are, what they can do, and what they have. Once they students had their list, they then used their highlighters to find the describing words, the adjectives. As much as possible, the lessons have their 'roots' in the curriculum, but I try to add an interesting or an engaging element so that the students are excited to work. Making the witch's lower half with choosing the fancy paper, and cutting out those cool curly shoes, was just the right way to keep the students busy!
We read a short little story about a new kid at school, named Frankie!
Together, we labelled (those are the nouns) Frankie and then recognized that we could describe (those are the adjectives) all of his parts as well.
We made Frankie's head using directed cutting. That means that the students must listen to how the papers are going to be cut, and then try to follow those directions to create the shapes. The shapes are then pasted down and the features are added. They were all so proud of their creations.
The list of Frankie's parts was also created. Can your child identify the adjectives?
