We've been learning how to read thermometers in ESL, and we are using lots of weather vocabulary to describe how it feels outside! For our temperature lesson before Spring Break, we had a little fun with an app call ChatterPix. This app allows you to put a mouth on any photo in your library and make the photo talk-- it's a lot of fun! We decided to display our learning of this new app by talking about thermometers. Check them out here:
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![]() It's all about weather in ESL land right now! Kindergarten & 1st graders are in the midst of a big weather unit, and we're learning a lot. Over Spring Break, track the weather with your child on the weather chart that they bring home. We will talk about our charts a few days after they come back from the break! Happy weather watching, meteorologists! Want to know the details of what your kid has been learning in RTI? For this last quarter of the school year, I'll be posting on here every other week to detail what skills have been covered in RTI! As always, feel free to email me if you'd ever like more information about resources or ways to practice reading skills at home.
Here's the weekly roundup for RTI for this week and next week: 1st grade: we've begun enrichment lessons on words that have trickly long vowels. They have already learned this in class, but RTI is for catching them up to speed so I like to go back and review these skills with them in a small group setting. This week and next week, we'll go over words with -ai/-ay, -ea. 2nd grade: we're doing a lot of comprehension work! (main idea, sequencing, fact/opinion) Ask your child what an onomatopoeia is, or next week quiz them about facts they've learned about Australia. **note: skills covered will vary based upon the reading level of each class** Reading can often get boring for boys... especially if they are not reading something that they are interested in! For those of you who struggle to get your boys to read, here are a few suggestions: LEGO Magazine ![]() Did you know that you can get a free subscription to the LEGO club magazine? If your boys are even slightly into LEGOs, they will love this magazine! It does advertise for several LEGO products throughout the magazine, but many of my boy students enjoy flipping through the magazine and reading the graphic novel/cartoon stories. There are even follow-up activities on their website! And if you have a girl who is interested in LEGOs, fear not: there is an option for a girl LEGO mag as well! To sign up, go here: http://club.lego.com/en-us/ Wonderopolis If you have curious boys, this is the website for your family! Young readers will need help reading the articles on this site, but it is a marvelous way to talk about what they are reading and increase comprehension. Check it out, it's really neat!:
http://wonderopolis.org/ ![]() Practicing sight words can get a little boring if you don't "spice it up" every once in a while! Here in RTI, I try to keep the learning fun and exciting by using different games to practice sight words. One that we have used a lot recently is the coin toss game! In this game, I place different sight words in a 3x3 grid on the floor. Students take turns dropping coins in the grid in hopes that a coin will land on a word. If it does, they tell me what the word is. If they get it right, they get to keep the card! We have had a lot of fun using this grid to practice all kinds of skills. You can whip one up in a flash! Dr. Seuss has written some of my favorite books. He is also one of my favorite writers because we share the same birthday, which happened to be on Sunday! We celebrated his birthday today by reading one of his most popular books, Green Eggs and Ham. If you have never read the book, you can watch a read-aloud of it here: We have been working on writing a lot in ESL, so of course I turned this into a fun opportunity to write about our experiences! I gave my 1st grade ESL friends a chance to try green eggs for themselves. Here are the steps we took to make them (documented by my fun 1st grade friends): Step 1: Break the eggs and add green food coloring Step 2: cook the eggs Step 3: Eat the eggs! Many of my friends don't like eggs, so they wouldn't try the green eggs! They did feel and smell the eggs, though, to find out more about green eggs.
When we were finished investigating or eating our eggs, we began to write about why we do OR do not like green eggs and ham. We are still working on our writing pieces, but my favorite comment is that "green eggs smell like grilled cheese!" Keep checking in to find out more about what has been going on in ESL land! I love working with your kids. It can be tough for a 1st grader to distinguish between short vowels! Every once in a while in RTI, we brush up on short vowel skills and practice reading all kinds of words with different sounds. This week, we had a little fun being "Animal Detectives" as we searched for vowels and beginning/end sounds! We wrote all kinds of animal names as we searched for the correct spelling with our magnifying glasses. Once we finished, we wrapped it all up with a writing activity. I think this one was pretty creative, right? (That's chasing, in case you couldn't figure it out) Practicing short vowels can be fun! Check out links on my Resources page for some fun online activities to practice short vowels:
http://pottergrayesl.weebly.com/resources.html In ESL, we've been learning to use academic language when comparing and contrasting. We use these sentence frames to practice comparing and contrasting things around the classroom: I'm so proud of how each of my friends are doing at their own language levels! Here's a snapshot of what we've been learning, using the seasons to practice our speaking skills as we compare and contrast: We've learned a lot about the seasons from National Geographic's online magazines for "young explorers." Click here to learn about the forest in Winter!
Did you know that comprehension of a text is just as important as being able to read the words? We work a lot on phonics activities in RTI, but comprehension is also extremely important for our little readers to succeed in the classroom. So, what can you be doing at home to help improve comprehension? I stumbled upon a GREAT free packet from the First Grade Wow blog, which gives tips to parents of 1st & 2nd graders for things to say/do after reading a book/magazine/online article at home. Here are a few questions to ask: Before & During Reading-Is this book fiction or nonfiction? How do you know? -How do you feel about the main character? Would you do things differently if you were them? -How do you think the story will end? After Reading-Does the story remind you of another story? -What was your favorite part? -Were there any parts that surprised you? For the full packet, click on the file below to download. As always, if you ever have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with me. I love helping your little reader! ![]()
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Emily DahlI teach ESL for K-5 and RTI for grades 1-2. Come see what's happening in our classroom! Archives
April 2014
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