Social Studies!

Today we started our Social Studies routine! We looked at our Daily Geography questions and the procedures to completing those each day in class. Monday through Thursday, students will answer 2 questions and review 3-6 geography terms. I told the students that they will use this as a learning tool and will be quizzed on Friday. I will post a picture of the week's work on Thursday. This way the students can use it to study for the quiz.

In addition we set up our Social Studies notebooks. This week we will begin our first unit in Social Studies. This will be a review of the States and Capitals and their physical locations, based on regions.

Language Arts and Reading!

In Reading we began our procedures for journal writings, and Read to Self in my classroom. We created an anchor chart together to explain how students should read, what it should look like while they read, and other good reading practices.

During writing we took time once again to begin our procedures for our Language Starters. This daily assignment will mirror the Daily Geography in that the students will complete an assignment daily, and there will be a short quiz, Friday. However, there are strict Copy Right restrictions with this resource I use and I am not permitted to post a picture on the blog :-( Therefore you will see this inside your child's binder and you can review that nightly with your student.

** Side Note**

I want you to know that I am teaching many skills with the Daily Geography and Language Starters. First and foremost we are learning the content of language and geography, but we are also learning to think about our prior knowledge, taking risks, using thinking strategies (as I do think-alouds through instruction), and responsibility. As students complete the daily assignments and then check their answers through instruction they are adding knowledge or confirming what they knew. All students learn differently and all students need different avenues to learn. Although there is no set homework for the students to complete, reading through these assignments, each evening, will greatly benefit your students. My goal this year is to assist each student to discover their preferred learning avenues and how to think on their own, to become an independent learner!