Reading Responses

Hi Everyone,

For the very first time our students were assigned a reading response. On reading response days nightly jotting is not required.

We have been working hard this year to organically make the transition from jotting to creating a response. Now that our students have gone through the process of creating a big bold claim to support a baby literary essay and then come up with supporting reasons, they are ready to make this transition. They should reflect on a previous jot that represents a big idea, and then write long about this idea.

Please let students do this work independently, and I recommend that they take no more than a half hour to complete their response. Setting a timer might help pace them. I would also recommend encouraging the students to "lead a conference" with you after, so they can explain their thinking and review their work. I want students to feel empowered sharing their ideas!

Here is an example of an exemplary reading response. I am not expecting this quality work with their first attempt, and it does not have to be two pages. However, I am sharing this with you to give you an idea of what we are hoping to move towards.

Thanks for your ongoing support!

Introducing...Hannah Ticoll!!!!!

February 10, 2015

Dear Parents and Students of 3-509,

After four years of teaching, I'm very excited to be taking the year off to study at Teachers College. For the past four years, I was a classroom teacher in French Immersion schools in Toronto where I taught fourth grade, a combined class of first and second grade students, and most recently third grade. Before becoming a teacher, I spent several years volunteering at Frontier College, a national literacy organization that provides free tutoring and other literacy-related activities for at-risk communities. While working with elementary-school children at Frontier College, I became passionate about literacy and decided to pursue teaching as a career.

After teaching for a few years, I decided I wanted to improve my practice by pursuing a Masters Degree. I have always learned the most from watching other teachers and from co-teaching with colleagues so I only sought out programs with internship components. Last semester, I interned in a first grade classroom at P.S. 29 and it was an incredible learning experience. I’m happy to be teaching in 3-509 this semester and I feel extremely fortunate to have been placed with Aimee. 

I am thrilled to be living in New York City this year. I have never lived outside of Canada and I'm excited for all of the new experiences to come.  After living here for only a few months, I am already starting to feel at home and well acquainted with the city. In my free time, I enjoy walking around the city, running and spending time outdoors with friends. I also love reading cooking blogs and trying out new recipes!

            I’m so happy to be working with your children this semester and hopefully I will get a chance to meet some parents too!

Sincerely,

Hannah Ticoll

Weekly Updates 2/9-2/13

EVENTS/NEWS

• We have African Dance twice this week: Tuesday and Thursday.
• Our African Dance performance will be our family Friday event on February 27th!
• Next week is our winter recess- we are on break from 2/14-2/22.
• On Friday we will be exchanging valentines. If your child chooses to bring valentines in, please make sure that he/she has provided one for each student.
• Hannah Ticoll, our fabulous new intern from Teacher's College, will be posting on our blog a little later this week to introduce herself to our community.
• This week students will start to transition from jotting to reading responses. This is when they take a big idea or theory, and "write long" about that topic. I will post an example tomorrow to give everyone an idea. Students will also use a menu insert to guide their planning.
• PLEASE RETURN PORTFOLIOS BY FRIDAY FEBRUARY 13TH!

HOMEWORK

MONDAY: Read and Jot for 30 minutes, sort words into categories in word study notebook, perimeter and area word problem work.

TUESDAY: Read and Jot for 30 minutes, perimeter and area word problem work, OUR FIRST READING RESPONSE

WEDNESDAY: Read and Jot for 30 minutes, word study menu option, Module 3 Assessment Review (assessment is Thursday).

THURSDAY: Read and Jot for 30 minutes, glue words into purple word study workbook, study for spelling test

OVER VACATION: Read and Jot for 30 minutes each day, complete one reading response, work on fact fluency practice activity.

CURRICULUM

Reading: Today we did our final persona character share representing individuals from around the world. We learned a great deal from each other, and our research helped us better understand what life is like in a different country. Today we also launched our next reading unit- Biography Book clubs. Throughout this first bend we are using everything we know about narratives to follow a story telling sequence we often see in biographies. Students are reading in groups and will find that each week their group book bin will focus on a particular subject theme (inventors, activists, leaders, etc.)

Writing: This week we are selecting one of our Baby Literary Essay flash drafts and will revise, edit, and publish our work. In between, we will explore the different ways we can structure our essays, use transitional phrases to connect ideas, and build up reasons with different types of evidence.

Math: Today and tomorrow we are solving word problems that feature both area and perimeter problem solving. Later in the week we will review for the post-assessment, and will take the assessment on Thursday.

Social Studies: This is our last week learning about China. We will cycle through a few more centers, and will learn about Chinese New Year right before we head off to break!

See you soon!

Aimee Bouchard

Weekly Updates 2/2-2/6

Hi Families of 3-509!

I hope this note finds you well in the midst of all of these snowstorms! It was a pleasure seeing many of you Friday for our area "Dream Living Room" activity. This kids had a great time. Please read below for information pertaining to this week.

INFORMATION/EVENTS

• I am excited to announce that Hannah Ticoll is joining our class as an intern from Teacher's College this semester! She will formally introduce herself on the blog sometime in the upcoming week. We are so thrilled to have her!
• This Thursday we are going to the Town Hall Theater to see The Urban Bush Women perform. Please send back permission slips by Wednesday, and send me an email if you are interested in chaperoning.
• This month our Family Friday is taking place on February 27th. We are watching our third grade students perform their own African Dances with Adi, a teacher who has been working with us for the past 5 weeks.
• Please have students practice their African Dance song once each night. I have emailed the song to all families, and it can be played over a phone or computer for students to practice to.

PORTFOLIOS

Portfolios and report cards were sent home this past Friday. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. When assigning grades, I considered and averaged the following assessments:

Reading: Independent reading level, reading notebook

Writing: Published pieces, writing notebook

Math: Post Assessments, Most recent pre-assessment (Area), and other benchmark assessments

Social Studies: Performance tasks and notebook

Please return all Portfolios by February break, as Parent Teacher Conferences are right around the corner!

HOMEWORK THIS WEEK

Monday: Regular reading and jotting, math (adding and subtracting rectangles to find area)

Tuesday: Regular reading and jotting, math (perimeter), sort last week's word in purple word study workbook, study for spelling test

Wednesday: Regular reading and jotting, math (perimeter), work on new country menu option

Thursday: Regular reading and jotting, math (perimeter), work on new country menu option

Friday: Regular reading and jotting, math (perimeter), work on new country menu option

CURRICULUM

Reading: After researching Chinese persona characters for the past two weeks students had time to role play and represent their characters today. This week is the last week in our current unit, and we started bend 2 today. Now that students are experts at researching about what life is like in another country, they are now reading in new research teams based on other countries of interest. Students chose between Japan, Italy, France, Kenya, Australia, Egypt, and Mexico. Over the next 7 days they will experience the same researching process, but this time they are setting their own work plans and will create their own persona characters (instead of me assigning them).

Writing: Last week we launched our next writing unit- Baby Literary Essay. In this unit students are taking the same idea behind persuasive essay (coming up with a bold claim and supporting reasons), but this time they are focusing on lasting impressions and lessons left on them after reading a text. Throughout this unit we will read a variety of amazing read alouds (Those Shoes, The Paper Bag Princess, The Can Man, Spaghetti, The Pet, One Green Apple) and pull out the big ideas that left us thinking. We will rehearse our essays with partners, create many flashdrafts, and then pick our favorite essay to take through the writing process. This work mirrors our expectations of reading responses, which we hope to move the students into in the upcoming weeks as part of their jotting experience.

Math: After learning many ways to calculate area, this week we are shifting gear and examining calculating perimeter. We will look at attributes of shapes as a means to help us find missing sides.

Social Studies: Today we engaged in a minilesson on the Yangzte River, and throughout the rest of the week we will visit at least two more China Centers.

Thanks for your ongoing support!

Aimee Bouchard