November Reading Workshop

     

During Readers Workshop this month, we will be focusing on non-fiction books. We started our unit by comparing fiction books to non-fiction books to see the difference between these texts. The students learned that non-fiction books have special features like a table of contents, headings, diagrams, photographs, captions, labels, and an index. The students will use these non-fiction text features to preview their books and think about what they will learn, figure out the big idea the author is trying to teach them, and practice taking notes about the important facts they learn. The students will still be reading their leveled fiction books during this unit to continue working on their reading jobs and developing greater fluency.

            

November Read-Aloud

First grade will be exploring nonfiction in read-aloud for the month of November. The purpose of this unit is for students  to read nonfiction texts across many topics and to learn how to accumulate information. 

GOALS:

·         Students will use comprehension skills in order to accumulate information and retell a non fiction text. 

·         Students will use non-fiction features in order to accumulate information from a text. 

 ·         When applicable, students will use the strategies that they have learned from fiction reading to read and comprehend non fiction texts.   

In order to meet these goals, here are some of lessons we will be focusing on:

 1.  Defining the Genre - What is Non-Fiction?  What are the features of a Non-Fiction book? 

2. Choosing "Just Right" Non-Fiction Books. 

3. Previewing Non-Fiction Books to get an idea of what specifically they might be learning about the subject.

4. Reading in small chunks or one paragraph at a time, to monitor for meaning.  Then stopping to name the important thing that the author taught in that chunk or paragraph.

6. Using Clues on the Page to Figure Out Tricky Words.

7. Synthesizing - putting together everything they are learning on a page by using all of the non-fiction features (headings, photographs, and captions. diagram and labels)

November Writer's Workshop

Realistic Fiction 

(Problem and Solution Stories)

Hello Again Parents! 

We have recently started a new writing unit...Realistic Fiction!

Realistic Fiction stories have a made up character dealing with a made up problem, but both the character and the problem could be something that happens in real life.

Goals of the unit:

•   Students will create a character and use that character to create multiple stories (just like authors of our favorite series books).

•   Students will use their knowledge of realistic fiction and story elements to create stories with a problem and solution.

•   Students will use elaboration techniques including dialogue, 3-step tiny action, and a new technique…thinking... to expand their stories in meaningful ways.  

•   Students will learn that sometimes characters talk to other characters (dialogue) and sometimes they talk to themselves (thinking). 

•   Students will edit their pieces by checking for capitals, spelling of tappable words and trick words, and punctuation.

**Please allow your students time at home to practice writing Realistic Fiction stories. Their writing improves with each completed piece! We will be sending home writing paper over Thanksgiving Break for the students to practice writing a Realistic Fiction story.**

November Reading Workshop

The purpose of this unit is for students  to read nonfiction texts across many topics and to learn how to accumulate information. 

 Goals:

• Students will use comprehension skills in order to accumulate information and retell a non fiction text. 
•  Students will use non-fiction features in order to accumulate information from a text. 
•  When applicable, students will use the strategies that they have learned from fiction reading to read and comprehend non fiction texts.   

In order to meet these goals, here are some of lessons we will be focusing on:

•  Defining the Genre - What is Non-Fiction?  What are the features of a Non-Fiction book? 
• Choosing "Just Right" Non-Fiction Books. 
• Previewing Non-Fiction Books to get an idea of what specifically they might be learning about the subject.
• Reading in small chunks or one paragraph at a time, to monitor for meaning.  Then stopping to name the important thing that the author taught in that chunk or paragraph.
• Using Clues on the Page to Figure Out Tricky Words.
• Synthesizing - putting together everything they are learning on a page by using all of the non-fiction features (headings, photographs, and captions. diagram and labels)

November Word Study

In the month of November we will be learning two new word study concepts and are reviewing one that was previously taught.

 First, we will learn about BLENDS:

Blends are words that have two or more consonants together, each consonant making its own sound (i.e. s k ip).  Blends are different from digraphs(th,sh,ch,ck,and wh) because the two consonants together in a digraph make only one sound (Examples of digraphs are... ship, whip, thumb).  
We mark up blends by underlining each consonant in the blend with a separate line because they have separate sounds. For example: 
s k ip,    s l ip,      s t op,       etc.

 Second, we will learn about DIGRAPH BLENDS.

Digraph blends are words that have a digraph (th, sh,ch,ck, and wh) blended with another consonant. For example:lunch. 
We mark up the digraph blend by underlining the letter n and underlining the digraph with one line. For example: l u n ch,    
b u n ch

 Lastly, we will be reviewing  basewords with the suffix s.

We add the suffix s to a word to show there is more than one of something. For example: king--- kings. 
We mark up the word by underlining the baseword and circling the suffix s.

Trick words: some, could, want, say, do, first, any, my, now

Words of the day: ask, end, kept, ranch, bunch, shrug, nests, flags, quilts