Updates

Hello Owl Families,

Here are a couple of updates happening in the Owl Room.

ELA:
We are working on synthesizing this month.  The comprehension strategy of synthesizing is best explained  using the analogy of a moving car merging onto a speeding highway.  Like a car who heads down the on-ramp, as soon as it merges onto a freeway of other moving cars, it must adjust its speed and lanes, whether it needs to speed up or slow down, it changes depending on the flow and speed of traffic.  The car is like our thinking.  We begin thinking a story is about one thing and using our background knowledge (Schema) to help us form that prediction.  However, as we read on further, our thinking changes.  We do not let go of our original prediction, but rather we mold it, and sculpt it into something new.  By the end of the story, we have made a lot of changes to our original thinking and it has morphed into something new, bigger and different than it was... not wrong, just different and new based on our interactions with the story.

When a strong reader reads, they not only read the words on the page, but they listen to the "inner voice" that processes the meaning of the story.  Strong readers use their schema, connections, and other worldly and literary experiences to form new ideas as they read.  Strong readers know that answers are not always found in the book, but in their head.  A synthesizing reader uses details and inferences from the story and integrates them with their own ideas, evaluations and opinions.

Math:
Our last unit of math focuses on 2-digit addition.  This can be a difficult concept to understand!  Please help your first grader through these problems, but do not give them the answer!

Social Studies/Science:
Both will be wrapping up next week.  The first graders have loved being able to switch twice a week!

Summer Stretch:
Please see attached documents for more information regarding Summer Stretch.