Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to everyone. Those who attended the parade know it was a smashing success. Just in case you missed it, here is a video of all our Halloween festivities from Spooky Houses to the costume parade.

Squirtle and Sally Visit Cherry Lane

Thanks Maddie for sharing your pet turtles with us at school! Thanks to her mom too for bringing them in.

Leaf Man Project a Success

(Thanks Mrs. Tamburro for taking this great picture!)

Lois Ehlert's book Leaf Man was the inspiration for this digital art project. The class brought in leaves and made their own leaf creations. Check them out by going to our other webpage.

Parents Supporting Literacy

Throughout the year I will try to pass on some great resources for you to use to support your child's literacy growth. I am embedding a link to a publication from the International Reading Association of the best books recommended for children to read.

Click here to get the Children's Choice Books for 2009.

Also, if you are looking for something great to do on a rainy Saturday go to the Haverstraw King's Daughters Library in Garnerville at 1:30-4:30 PM for day 2 of the Storytelling Festival! It promises to be an entertaining time for everyone and it is FREE!

If you would like to plan ahead, there is another great event at the same place on November 14th.

Infusing Technology

So far this year we have used the laptops, desktop computers, and digital cameras to enhance our learning. Watch our movie to see how...

Read-at-homes Going Home

Today is the start of our read-at-home program. Children will take home one book that is at their independent reading level. That means that your child will read accurately almost every word AND be able to retell the story with details such as setting, plot, and characters in sequence. Many times we say to "sound out the word" but that is not a very efficient strategy for beginning readers. As adults we know the rules for letter/sound chunks but our first graders are developing this skill. Instead of sounding out the words such as "have", "said", and "what" your child should try to think what makes sense with the beginning/ending sounds and the context of the sentence. Skipping the word and coming back to it when the sentence is finished is also a valid strategy. Pictures are valuable resources too. Watch the video I made for more strategies beyond "sounding out."

http://media.ramapocentral.org/CES/csteffens/Site_2/Movie.html

Books should return every day with the title and your initials on the record sheet provided.

Again I cannot emphasize enough that these books are not at your child's instructional level and will not be difficult to read, nor should they be for this piece of your child's intructional program.

Check out the resources provided on the website for more information about strategies and how to choose good books.

http://media.ramapocentral.org/CES/csteffens/Site_2/parentspage.html

PS: check out Cherry Lane's Homepage... we are featured doing science with digital cameras.

Also on our homepage I have posted the rotating schedule and revised specials schedule. We will be doing book exchange at the library on D days and not B days.