One of the latest comprehension strategies we have been using in class! These kids are amazing! Thank you so much for being so Fabulous and Perfect today when Mrs. Newton came in to observe! I am so proud of each of you!!!

The latest reading strategy that we have been using in class in called inferring!  Inferring actually has 2 meanings.  We can INFER what is going to happen next…how the problem is solved…it is basically a smart guess or like a prediction!!! The other way that we infer…is when we come to a word that we do not know the meaning of the word… This happens alot to us 3rd Graders…we are great readers, but we always come to a new word that we can pronounce just fine, but we really do not know what the word MEANS…so instead of just skipping the word…we STOP AND THINK!  and follow these steps…to help us infer what that word means to help us better understand the text we are reading! Look at the picture, Reread the Sentence and Use your SCHEMA!  We practiced both of these strategies with 2 amazing books!

Ask your children to explain what INFERRING really means or have them sing your our song!!! Happy Inferring!!!

Here is a link that provides more information on Inferring!!!

 http://www.mrsslaugh.com/inferring.htm

Throughout our wonderful journey of Research Workshop…the children have been very serious about doing some sort of play that would tell the world how much the Rain Forest meant to them!  They wanted to get their VOICE HEARD…so this is what we came up with! 

Save the RAINFORESTS!!!

Happy Watching!

PS. This is a great book to read with your class…it is great for teaching INFERRING!

 

 

Can Do Kids LOVE technology and using the computers… they had an amazing time learning how to use kid safe search engines to get facts, save pics and print them.  This week we learned how to use Drawing For Kids… to illustrate one of their fav. Rainforest Facts!  We hope you enjoy our mini show and learn something  new!!!

 

Good Readers always make Mental Images in their head while reading or listening to someone read! We have been illustrating our vivid visualizations in Room 305! Here is another fun song to help us to remember to create a mental image while reading!

 

You probably read the note I sent home about the kids now using the Questioning Strategy! Here is a fun song that we sing to help us to remember to ASK questions BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER reading! Make sure your children STOP and THINK while they read and are discussing the strategies that we are using in class at home too! We have really enjoyed reading out of their Reader’s Notebooks!

 Happy Reading!!!

You can see the kids with their clip boards and post its!  (which I have to tell you – they absolutely LOVE) They LOVE to record their THINKING and I LOVE that they are doing it!!!  They wanted to go to the lab and read more about African Animals, Culture, Weather, Food, HOmes ect.  It was so much fun!  Reading is sooooooo COOOOOOOL!

We have been learning all about Non Fiction texts and their Features!  We are currently creating our own “Non Fiction Feature Book.”  As we have been enjoying reading and adding new facts to our SCHEMA  with all of the fun NON Fiction we have been working with- we came up with an IDEA!  Since our Class Theme is Jungle related: we should study the continent of Africa~

So, I went to the library and checked out all the Africa topic books, videos ect. 

We started by RECORDING everything that We Already KNEW about Africa… then we charted what “Questions” we had about Africa! 

Next, we will continue to read books, and online information…and record all the NEW FACTS that we have added to our SCHEMA!

I love watching the Can Do Kids “read and think” it is so FABULOUS!  Way to go kidos!  I am so proud of you!

Please click on the links below to LEARN more about AFRICA!

http://pbskids.org/africa/

http://www.africa.mrdonn.org/

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/places/find/south-africa/

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/09/photogalleries/100917-darwins-bark-spider-new-species-spider-webs-madagascar-science-pictures-strongest/?now=2010-09-17-00:01

http://africa.mrdonn.org/animals.html

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/school/Africa/

http://www.oaklandzoo.org/animals/

http://www.geographia.com/indx06.htm

 

Yeah!  Have fun learning!