I had the pleasure of working with Mrs. Lahooti’s 4th grade students. We incorporated informational writing with the science content of animal interactions within their ecosystems. Each student chose an animal and researched facts about their animals unique characteristics, how their animal lives within a particular ecosystem and how animals are connected through their feeding interactions within the food web. Please see the student’s writing presented below. Enjoy!

Second grade students are learning about public issues in Social Studies. They decided to become active and  participate in a recycling project. They decided to collect empty plastic water bottles from Haigh School and recycle them to help the environment. The second graders wrote a friendly letter  to fifth grade students explaining the public issue problem of too much trash in our landfills and asked them to help with this problem by collecting empty water bottles, too. Fifth grade students readily agreed to help with this effort. Recycled boxes were provided to collect the empty water bottles, so they could be picked up and recycled by the second grade students. The second graders were very excited to participate in this public issue project of recycling empty plastic water bottles. The pictures below show the second grade students delivering their friendly letter and the fifth grade students reading and responding to them.

.

.

StudentMARCHisReadingMonth

Surround your child with books

Try to have books in your home for your child to read. Books from a bookstore can be expensive, but there are places where you can get inexpensive books, such as second hand bookstores, garage sales, thrift shops, and library book sales. And of course, borrowing books from the library is free!

Make reading special

Do things that will make books and reading seem special. Help your child get his or her own library card, buy books and books-on-tape as gifts, and use books as rewards. Find a special place in  your home for reading.

Ask your child questions

Discuss what’s happening in the story and point out things on the page. Ask your child questions such as: “What do you think will happen next?” or “What is this?” Discuss the characters, setting, problem and solution, or the main idea with supporting details from the book.

Encourage your child to read another book

Find ways to encourage your child to keep reading. If he or she likes one book, find another book with a similar subject or by the same author. Ask a librarian or teacher for book suggestions.

Take turns reading

Once your child can read, have him or her read aloud to you every day. You can take turns – you read one page and your child the next. Children love to hear their families reading to them.

Make connections to your child’s life

Help your child make connections between what he or she reads in books and what happens in life. If you’re reading a book about a family, for example, talk about how what happens in the story is the same or different from what happens in your family.

Give your child an incentive to read

At bedtime, encourage your child to read. Offer a choice between reading or sleeping. Most kids will choose to read, as long as you don’t offer something more tempting (like TV).

Try different types of books and magazines

Encourage your child to read different types of books, articles, or stories. Some kids, especially boys, prefer nonfiction books. Others like children’s magazines.

Turn on the closed captioning on your television

When watching a television show with your child, try turning on the closed captioning channel. This shows the words the characters are speaking on the television screen.

We are sure that you will agree that reading is important EVERY month! Since March is National Reading Month, Haigh Elementary will be placing special emphasis on activities that promote reading as a fun and enjoyable experience. Our theme is: “Peace, Love and Books!”  See the special calendar on the back of this letter for some wonderful reading activities.

Every grade level has a minimum reading goal, which will be measured in minutes read per day at home (even during Spring Break) .  See below for suggested reading times for each day:

K-1st Grade: 20 minutes per day

2nd -3rd Grade: at least 25-30 minutes per day

4th -5th Grade: at least 30-35 minutes per day

Your child will also have a Reading Log calendar to keep track of their minutes. Each child who returns their reading log by Tuesday, April 5th will earn a special prize if they have reached their recommended reading goal for March.

On Tuesday evening we had a game night at Haigh Elementary, which was a huge success. Families had the opportunity to play fun, educational games that they could purchase and take home with them. I personally had a wonderful time playing games and meeting moms, dads, grandmas, grandpas and other extended family.

In Mrs. Dobronski’s first grade class we are learning all about weather using the comprehension strategy R.A.N.  R.A.N. stands for Reading and Analyzing Nonfiction text. This strategy activates prior knowledge before reading, sets a purpose for reading or listening, tracks new learning, teaches students to confirm their facts as evidence from the text they are reading or listening to and students raise new questions based on the information gathered.