Sunday, March 30, 2014
Unit 5, Week 4 - Red Eyes or Blue Feathers / Chameleon, Chameleon
This week our Focus Stories will help us to answer the essential question: How do animals' colors help them survive? Both of our stories fall into the genre of Informational Text. Our first text will be Red Eyes or Blue Feathers, written by Patricia Stockland and illustrated by Todd Ouren. This story describes how animals survive in the wild by adapting their colors to the environment that they live in. A few of the animals shown include a red-eyed tree frog, a polar bear, a red fox, a seahorse, a killer whale, a macaw, a black rhinoceros, a jewel beetle, and a chameleon.
Our second text is entitled Chameleon, Chameleon and is written by Joy Cowley, photographed by Nic Bishop. Through this story we will experience the many moods (and colors) of chameleons. One brave chameleon ventures from the safety of his tree in search of a new home. On his journey, he meets other rain forest animals, not all of them friendly! Alas, the new tree he chooses is already home to another chameleon. She dons her aggressive coloring until she's sure that the visitor is friend, not foe. Then they welcome each other with brilliant, happy colorsOur Target Skills this week will be blending and segmenting phonemes, substituting phonemes, pausing for punctuation, classifying & categorizing, adjectives, drawing conclusions, identifying the author's purpose, and the capitalization & punctuation of questions. We will also be working with the initial phonemes /h/ and /k/.
Letters: Hh /h/ and Kk /k/
High-Frequency Words: he, no, away, by, must, there (Please continue to practice all of our High-Frequency Words at home!)
Oral Vocabulary (Red Eyes or Blue Feathers): communicate, mood, scent, sly, survive, temperature
Selection Vocabulary (Chameleon, Chameleon): danger, juicy, peaceful, poisonous
Thank you to www.amazon.com for the cover images and summaries!
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Unit 5, Week 3 - Oscar and the Frog / Zinnia's Flower Garden
This week our Focus Stories will help usto answer the Essential Question: What steps can someone follow to plant and grow flowers? As such, both of our stories are Informational Texts this week. Our first story will be Oscar and the Frog by Geoff Waring. "Oscar is a curious kitten, and at the pond he is full of questions about growing things. Luckily, Frog can help with the answers — after all, he’s gone through some impressive changes himself! From butterflies to ducks, plants to kittens like him, Oscar finds out how living things begin, why they eat, and how they grow."
Our second story will be Zinnia's Flower Garden by Monica Wellington. "Springtime is here, and Zinnia can’t wait to plant her seeds and watch them grow. She carefully takes care of her garden, watering her plants, weeding, and waiting patiently for something to sprout. And soon enough, the first seedlings appear!"
Our Target Skills will be blending and segmenting phonemes, substituting phonemes, pausing for punctuation, using context clues, identifying the sequence of events, utilizing text and graphic features, and visualizing. We will also be working on distinguishing between the long and short 'Ee' vowel sounds.
Letter: Ee
High-Frequency Words: she, all, over, when, her, come
Oral Vocabulary (Oscar and the Frog): bank, gills, hatch, shrink, stared, tadpole
Selection Vocabulary (Zinnia's Flower Garden): fragrant, inspects, pesky, sprinkles
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Unit 5, Week 2 - A Tiger Grows Up / Leo the Late Bloomer
This week's Focus Stories will help us to answer the essential question: How do things change when someone is growing up? Our first story is an informational text entitled A Tiger Grows Up, written by Anastasia Suen. Through this book, we will follow the development of a tiger from infancy to adulthood, as she grows up in India. Our second story this week will be a Fantasy--Leo the Late Bloomer--written by Robert Kraus and illustrated by Jose Aruego. Leo the tiger isn't reading, or writing, or drawing, or even speaking, and his father is concerned. But Leo's mother isn't. She knows her son will do all those things, and more, when he's ready.
Phonemes: /x/ and /j/
High-Frequency Words: said, was, then, good, ate, could
Oral Vocabulary (A Tiger Grows Up): blend, cub, den, pounces, prey, and scraps
Selection Vocabulary (Leo the Late Bloomer): bloomer, patience, signs, and sloppy
Thank you to www.amazon.com for the cover images and summaries!
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Unit 5, Week 1 - Simon and Molly Plus Hester / Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin
Our Focus Stories this week will help us to answer the question: How do musicians work together to make music? Our first story will be Simon and Molly Plus Hester by Lisa Jahn-Clough, which falls under the genre of Realistic Fiction. Simon and Molly were the best of friends, just the two of them. Until Hester moved in. Hester doesn’t want to ride the two-wheeler, like they always do; she wants to make paper airplanes instead. And the toast Simon makes for her is too boring; she wants to add cinnamon sugar. Molly happily goes along with all of her changes, but Simon liked things the way they were before Hester moved in. With Hester around, will Molly still want to be his friend?
Our second story will be Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin, written by Lloyd Moss and illustrated by Marjorie Priceman. This book of poetry is "a masterpiece that is the perfect introduction to musical instruments and musical groups, and a counting book that redefines the genre."Our Target Skills this week will be blending phonemes, segmenting phonemes, reading with expression, determining key details, determining author's word choice, inferring/predicting, and multiple-meaning words. We will also be working with the short and long vowel sounds of the letter Oo.
Letter: Oo
High-Frequency Words: make, them, give, play, say, new
Oral Vocabulary (Simon and Molly Plus Hester): idea, just, plain, teach, together, until
Selection Vocabulary (Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin): adore, eager, gleeful, hesitate
Thank you to www.amazon.com for the cover images and summaries!
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Unit 4, Week 5 - Duck & Goose / Curious George's Dinosaur Discovery
Our Focus Stories this week will help us to answer the question: What do scientists do when they discover something new? Both stories fall under the genre of Fantasy. Our first story will be Duck & Goose, written and illustrated by Tad Hills. Duck and Goose have to work at getting along - Duck doesn’t much care for Goose at first, and Goose isn’t fond of Duck. Both, however, want the egg that each claims to be his. As the two tend to their egg, and make plans for the future, they come to appreciate one another’s strengths.
Our second story this week will be Curious George's Dinosaur Discovery by Margret and H.R. Rey. Curious George loves dinosaurs, so he’s excited to visit a dig to look for real dinosaur bones. Will the curious little monkey help make a big discovery?This is a Review Week--we will be reviewing the following skills: Blending, Word Building, Segmenting Phonemes, Reading Rate, Synonyms, Sequence of Events, Drawing Conclusions, and Visualizing. We will also be reviewing the letter Ii and its corresponding long vowel sound.
Letter: Ii
High-Frequency Words (Review): of, so, many, where, from, came, but, is, how, find, this, on, into, that, your, who, here, they, will, be, go, for, soon, up
Oral Vocabulary (Duck & Goose): apologized, attention, confusion, notice, snooze, and webbed
Selection Vocabulary (Curious George): expected, display, museum, and quarry
Thank you to www.amazon.com for the cover images and summaries!
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Unit 4, Week 4 - Nicky and the Rainy Day / Sheep Take a Hike
Our second story this week is Sheep Take a Hike, written by Nancy Shaw and illustrated by Margot Apple. This is a fast-paced, rhythmic, rhyming and poetic story describing a flock of sheep and their preparation for an upcoming hike together. Our Target Skills for this week include: blending and segmenting phonemes, pausing for punctuation, identifying antonyms, cause and effect, identifying the sequence of events, and past tense verbs. We will also be working to identify the letter Dd and its corresponding phoneme--/d/.
Letter: Dd
High-Frequency Words: go, for, here, they, soon, up (Please continue to practice ALL of our high-frequency words at home!)
Oral Vocabulary (Nicky and the Rainy Day): blizzards, boring, cliffs, impossible, jungle, and meadow
Selection Vocabulary (Sheep Take a Hike): bicker, compass, hiking, and tramp
Thank you to www.amazon.com for the cover images!
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Unit 4, Week 3 - One-Dog Canoe / Atlantic
This week our Focus Stories will help us to answer the question: In what ways is the Atlantic Ocean special? Our first story this week will be One-Dog Canoe, written by Mary Casanova and illustrated by Ard Hoyt. This story falls under the genre of Fiction. "When a girl and her dog set out on a canoe trip together, they’re expecting a quiet afternoon for two. Then a beaver decides to join them, even when the girl protests that “It’s a one-dog canoe.” And when a loon, and a wolf, and a bear, and a moose all ask for a ride, it’s almost too much. But they all manage to fit in this one-dog canoe—until a frog comes along. . . ." 
Our second story this week will by Atlantic, written and illustrated by G. Brian Karas. The informational text and paintings in this story help to introduce young scholars to the power and grace of the Atlantic Ocean. The author details how many different professions (artists, poets, scientists, fishermen, etc.) are impacted by the Atlantic Ocean and why, as well as explaining how the ocean is always changing in shape and size, among other fun facts. Our Target Skills this week will be blending and segmenting phonemes, reading with expression, identifying author's purpose, using figurative language, and analyzing and evaluating text. We will also be working to identify the letter Rr and its corresponding phoneme - /r/.
Letter: Rr
High Frequency Words: will, into, your, be, that, who
Oral Vocabulary (One-Dog Canoe): canoe, dew, glided, paddle, peered, and crew
Selection Vocabulary (Atlantic): conquered, lapping, relatives, and scraping
Thank you to www.amazon.com for the cover images and summaries!
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