Reading At Home


Reading At Home
10 to 15 minutes to enjoy reading together at home
Before Reading,you may support your child by:
* Read the title of the book to your child.
* If your child already read the book at school, ask them to briefly tell you what the story is about.
*If your child has not yet read the book, complete a “picture walk” by discussing the pictures and making predictions about what will happen in the story.

During Reading, you may encourage your child to:
“Before you read the page, take a QUICK look at the picture and THINK about what is happening.”and
If your child gets stuck on a word, encourage them to try 1 of the following strategies..
“GET YOUR MOUTH READY.”
“FIND CHUNKS/PARTS THAT YOU KNOW”
 For example:     to  day   =today
                          do ing    =doing
After Reading,
*Talk about the story after reading the book
*Ask your child what they favorite part of the story was and why it was their favorite part.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Listen to Dave Pilkey's 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving. Compare this story to the President's Turkey Pardon of 2012.

Brain Pop, Jr. has a video and quiz about Thanksgiving. Click the image below and see how well you do!

brainpopthanksgiving  

Try Turkey Swap is to switch the locations of the turkeys and the pigs with as few moves as possible. You can move each tile by clicking on it. A tile can be moved to the empty space if the space is immediately beside it, or if there is one tile between it and the space.

Too Many Turkeys is a fun game. The goal is to find Pete. Pete is the Perky Turkey in the bow tie. Find him as quickly as you can!

Veterans Day

veterans day

Today is Veterans Day, a federal holiday honoring armed service veterans. It is held on the anniversary of the end of World War I (November 11) to honor US veterans and victims of all wars. (World War I formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. The Germans signed the Armistice.) Mr. Sayers and Mr. Krump served our country in addition to many Veterans who are close to our staff and students.  These men and women have a poppy dedicated to them at Cottage Lane. We thank them for the sacrifices they made to protect our country and our freedoms. Below is a video explaining Veterans Day and an interview with Mr. Krump. Please consider commenting about a veteran on Mrs. McBride's blog AND enter the Lieutenant Michael Murphy Contest. See additional details below.

Mr. Krump – 5th Grade Teacher

LtMichaelMurphy

LIEUTENANT COLONEL MICHAEL MURPHY
Perseverance Essay Challenge
Deadline: November 21st

FRC Parent Meeting

Parent Workshop
Mastering the Challenges of Homework

This workshop is being presented to all
K-5 parents.
November 14, 2013 7:00p.m at WOS
140 Lester Drive, Tappan, NY
This workshop will investigate the demands of homework and strategies for helping students
during homework time.

Space is limited!
If you plan on
attending please email
FRC@socsd.org
or call Ellie
(845)680-1301

Cicadas!

cicadasCicadas spend most of their 17 year life below ground as small white insects with no wings. They are called nymphs at that point in their lives. They are emerging from the ground right now. When they do, they will crawl up a tree or bush, break through their exoskeleton, which they have now outgrown, and crawl out as winged adults. They leave the exoskeleton on a tree, leaf or bush. It is called a molt or exuvium. It is not alive, it will not hurt you and it is not dangerous to touch. The adult cicada will stay on the tree for a while and then will fly to the top of the tree where it begins to sing in order to look for a mate. You can hear it outside, now. Once they find a mate, they lay eggs and then the adults will die. Adult cicadas will not bite. They are harmless to humans. Humans, however should take care not to harm them. If they land on you, they will feel scratchy because their legs hold fast on to what they grab, but they will not cause harm, in fact, most adult cicadas don't even eat. Their entire life as an adult takes from 2 to 4 weeks and is spent singing and laying eggs. If you see them, enjoy their song and try not to hurt them. The emergence should last for most of June.

Here is a great resource: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20434-2004May12.html

Courtesy of Mr. Tanenbaum

Word of the Month: Empathy

hey-little-antMay's word of the month is empathy. Empathy is the ability to recognize other people's emotions. Once you can identify the person's emotion, you develop sympathy, compassion, or understanding of the person's situation or point of view. Listen to Philip Hoose's story, Hey, Little Ant.

What would you do? Post a comment to this blog.

Try reading and acting it out with a partner using this document, Hey, Little Ant play.

Digital Books

Digital Books are a great way to motivate reluctant readers. Here are some tips for using digital books at home:

•There are two categories of digital books: enhanced and basic. Enhanced digital books  (seen more on the IPAD) provide readers with animation, sound effects, videos, games, and  provide a variety of after-reading activities. Basic digital books (seen more on the Kindle and Nook) only provide the original text.
 
•Enhanced digital books increase engagement. Many reluctant readers love enhanced digital books.
 
•Applications can support the reading of digital books providing prompts for parents and activities for students. Storia (from scholastic) is an example of an application that provides enhanced and basic digital books for the IPAD. Kindle FreeTime provides access to almost all of the digital books available to download onto the Kindle for young readers.
 
•For younger readers (3-8) digital books have mixed reviews because they do increase engagement but studies have shown a decrease in conversation that supports comprehension between parents and children. The conversations have focused on the tablet not on the text.
 
•Many libraries allow readers to borrow digital books from their websites. Studies have shown an increase in library use for digital readers. The book automatically disappears from the device (if it is connected to the internet) at the end of the loan.
 
•For readers struggling with decoding most digital books come with the option to have the text read aloud while they follow along. It allows students to focus on comprehension instead of decoding.
 
•Many digital book applications provide children with rewards for reading more books. Reading Rainbow (an application for the IPAD) rewards readers with games, stickers, and movies for reading books.
 

 

This Week in Guided Reading

At Cottage Lane we will be exploring thinking together. This concept teaches students how to interact with text and is a very useful tool for passages on exams. I will be using the book Nothing Ever Happens On 90th Street by Roni Schotter to model this strategy. Allow students to model this strategy at home for you (parents/guardians) or other adults using the video below. Students can pause the video to demonstrate the strategy without having to focus on decoding the text.