Fire Safety

We had a visit from the Port Washington Fire Department and we learned all about fire safety! Questions to ask yourself: 1. Do you have a family meeting place? 2. Have you had a practice fire drill at home? Keep Fire Safe!

Inspiring Our Young Authors

Hello there! Can you help me spark some inspiration for their writing pieces? We are currently working on writing "small moments," also known as personal narratives. I tell the class to write stories about things that had already happened to them. Many of their responses sound like this: "I can't think of anything!" or for my expressive folks, "My life is sooo boring!" I get it. Not everything in life seems worthy of publishing... OR is it? The common misconception with small moments is thinking they have to be a monumental when in fact their lives are full of stories to tell. Here are some examples of small moments kids can write about: Example1- Losing their favorite stuffed animal and finding Mr.Fuzzy underneath the bed Example2- Getting dressed for school, only to discover their pants were inside out as they were leaving the house Example3- Little sibling deciding the kitchen walls were an excellent canvas for their latest art piece (a little insight on life in the Zhu household) Could you do me a huge favor?... when those small moments pop up could you make a BIG stink out of it by saying, "Wow that is an awesome small moment!", "You have to journal about this!" or "All of your friends would love to hear about this story... write about it!"? With your help, I predict the rise of incredible authors among us. P.S. Have you seen this deal? Treat your kids this weekend they definitely earned it =) http://www.groupon.com/deals/moolala-frozen-yogurt Thank you for inspiring our young authors! Mrs. Zhu

Active Readers

Hi Everyone!

Our class has been building up good reading habits and practicing what good readers Look and Sound like… what I like to call, “active readers.” They look incredible.

You really have to see it to believe it so take the time & see how long your child can actively read.  Our class record is 12 whoopin’ minutes which is pretty ridiculous for first graders!

During the 12 minutes, students are given four books. We talked about why good readers REREAD their books (see chart) and boy are they rereading. We even have post its on the back of our books to tally up how many times we can read a single book. In shared reading, I am simply blown away by their observations and thoughtful choices of strategies.

Just  wanted to share about the GREAT start we got in our reading! My challenge for this year is to not only teach how to read but also how to THINK as readers.

Keep on reading!

-Mrs. Zhu