Read Aloud- We will start the month off by reading books that have a back to school theme. Near the end of the month the students will start retelling books that have been read to them. Some of the things that they might retell are their favourite part, what they liked or didn’t like or the main events of the book. We will also start working on our prediction strategy, which involves making predictions about what will happen next in a book based on what we have read or what we know.
Phonics- In September, we will do a quick review of identifying the letters (upper and lower case) and identifying the letter sounds. We will also be learning about the consonant wall and the vowel valley in UFLI.
Writing- We will be working on finishing sentences that are started for us (ex: The crab walked ______ or this book was about _________).
***If you notice that your student is still reversing their b’s and d’s don’t panic! This is a very common error in grades 1 and 2. Just gently remind them what a b and d look like and have them fix it.
Reading Workshop- During this time the students will be learning about and practicing different reading strategies. As they are practicing, I will be meeting with them to read one on one or in small groups. During the month of September we will be learning about what the workshop looks like and practicing how to read independently and with a partner.
To start we will be working on basic counting, reading and recognizing the number words up to twenty, and practicing printing numbers. Then we will dive into our first unit on Patterns where we will look at how to identify patterns, create a variety of patterns and look at patterns related to time (ex: cycles in a calendar, seasons etc.).
We will also work on our calendar every day. Here we will discuss how to read the calendar, say the date, look at patterns, record the weather and practice different ways of counting.
We have started looking at what a scientist looks like and what they do. We will also start to look at what a scientific investigation is by learning about how a question can spark curiosity and what a prediction is and how to make one. We will carry this learning into our first big science unit about matter. Here we will learn and analyze properties of objects and investigate how they can be changed.
We have started the year off by working on a booklet called Welcome to School. Here we will learn lots about Mills Haven. Near the end of the month we will start our first unit called Belonging in Our World. Here we will look at all the different groups that we belong to, what helps us recognize different groups, the benefits from belonging to groups and what some of our rights and responsibilities are in those groups. The research and inquiry skills that we will be working on in this unit are considering the ideas and suggestions of others, work and play in harmony with others to create a safe and caring environment, demonstrate a willingness to share space and resources and behave in accordance with classroom, school and community expectations.