Welcome back! We have moved our desks into four new islands this time. We have three islands with five children and one island with six. The students have named their islands, to correspond with our Florida unit of study. They will remain in these islands for about four weeks. Ask your child about their island name and who are their island mates. We began our Florida unit of study today with Ponce de Leon, landing in St. Augustine. Please ask your child about the Dry Tortugas, and why that name was chosen.
In reading, our focus has been getting ready to read, and focusing in on preparing our minds to read. While we are still working on revising in writing, we will soon be shifting our writing focus, to nonfiction pieces. I am encouraging them to look closely at the cover, and to read the title with purpose. The students can learn about the contents by studying the cover, and illustrations provided. The book walks help them to figure out new vocabulary that might cause difficulty decoding, or stumbling, when reading. The students will also be bringing home a reading fluency and comprehension test later this week. We have begun reading Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White. The children have been asked to answer the question, why does a fox bark? This book is a great connection to our map skills that include parts of Canada and Montana.
Robust Vocabulary: shadowy, fondly, pale, similar, affectionate, imaginative