4th Grade Book Buddies

Students learn from their peers and other students.  Clays Mill is a wonderful learning community and we wanted to give our students the opportunity to do just that.  We have teamed up with Mrs. Harman's 4th grade class for book buddies.  On Friday afternoons, Mrs. Harman's 4th graders come to our classroom and spend time with our students.  Each 4th grader has been paired up with a Kindergarten or 1st grade student and reads AR books with them. 

Before long, the older students will help our K/1 students take AR tests to earn AR points.  When students earn points, they will be awarded "dog tags" to show progress in AR.  Kindergarten will receive a tag at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 points.  Kindergarteners will begin AR late fall.   First grade students will earn a tag at 10 points and then every 10 points after that.  There are other awards to be received throughout the year for points earned.  First graders may begin AR as soon as they are ready.  They have been given their AR usernames and passwords. This is just another way to help students stay excited about reading. 

This book buddy experience has been a positive experience for both classes.  Students enjoy spending time with their buddies and look forward to their visits each week.  Fourth graders are mentoring young students in a variety of ways.  They help them write their name, work with them on learning to tie their shoes, and talk with them about their day at school.  With our older students in "the village" outside, we really don't get to see them often.  This has really helped them connect with more students in our school community.  We are glad to have our book buddies from Mrs. Harman's class and look forward to spending more time with them this year.

 

Silly Sticker Sort

Kindergarten students are learning how to sort based on properties in Math.  We did a "Silly Sticker Sort" this week, where students sorted based on the properties of color, size or shape.  Each student got 4 types of stickers:  large smiley faces, small smiley faces, small handprints, and large handprints.  They decided how they would sort the stickers, then they put them into groups on the charts in their Math Journals, and explained to a friend how they sorted them on the page.  Students enjoyed working on this activity and showed how much they'd learned about properties by talking through the process with friends.  Each student was proud to share how they sorted their stickers and show them off to friends. 

 



Phonics Friday Fun!

 

Students in our K/1 class are learning phonics in a fun way.  Each week, we are working on a different letter for learning the letter sound, handwriting, phonics activities, and art projects.  So far, we have worked with the letters Cc, Oo, and Aa. 

We begin the week with an introduction of the letter and letter sound.  We talk about the part of the phonics chant with that letter and read a story focusing on that letter.  We list words that begin with that letter and children come up with as many as they can. 

After an introduction, children practice writing the letter using our special "house paper" where we really focus on forming our letters correctly.  Only brave letters go in the attic and the basement.  We always start our letters at the top.  We even have a song to help us remember that, just see if your child will sing it for you.  Later in the week, there is always a "Mystery Box" of fun items that start with that letter.  Children guess what might be in the mystery box and then as each item is revealed, we pass them around.  We have more handwriting practice on both the capital and lowercase letter and review the sound as we write.  

Each Friday we have a fun phonics art activity.  This Friday, we made "Artistic Aa's".  The art always starts with the letter we are working with for the week.  Check out some of our students' work.  They were very creative with their decorations.  The masterpieces were not totally dry by the end of the day, so they will be going home next week. 

Look for a fun art project to come home each week and be sure to ask your child about the letter we're working on.  This focus on one letter per week is to review and reinforce phonemic awareness skills as well as introduce letters and sounds to kindergarten students in a way they will retain the knowledge.  Our students are learning to be readers.  What an exciting adventure!

The Lexington Children's Theatre Comes to Clays Mill!

picture from Amazon.com

Our students enjoyed a special performance by the Lexington's Children's Theatre on Friday.  They came to Clays Mill to perform "Jake's Old Skirts", which is a play based on the book by  C. Anne Scott.  The children were laughing hysterically at the characters as they sang and acted out the very entertaining story.  The dog was one of their favorite characters.  In reading, we have been talking a lot about characters and setting.  Be sure to ask your child about some of the characters in the play and the setting of the story.  They would probably love to share their favorite part of the play. 

We are delighted that we were able to have the Lexington Children's Theatre come to Clays Mill and we're looking forward to them coming back later this year for another performance. 

Actors from the Lexington Children's Theatre acting out the story.

Audience members were delighted after the performance.