For the Week of March 3rd

Chess Club

Both clubs will be meeting this week. We have been looking at opening moves and how important it is to get your pieces to the center of the board as early as possible.

ISAT testing

ISAT testing is happening this week. It is very important that students get a good nights sleep and have a healthy breakfast in order to do their best on the tests.

Soar-to-Success

Soar-to-Success is one of the reading interventions we use at Prairieview school. This intervention emphasizes four reading strategies while reading fiction and non-fiction texts. The strategies are summarizing, predicting, questioning and clarifying. Students should summarize what they have read often enough that they can tell you what they have read after they put the book down. As they read, they should make predictions about what might happen next or what they might read about next. This helps them to be active readers. They want to continue reading to discover if their predictions are correct. As they read, they should also be asking questions about what they are reading. Wondering questions are good questions to ask. I wonder why this character did that? I wonder why this animal does that? Questioning readers are active readers. They are engaging with the text while they read. The last strategy is clarifying. Clarifying can be at the word level - I don't know what this word is, how do I figure it out? It can be at the vocabulary level - I don't know what this word means? Or it can be at the concept level. I don't know what the author is saying here. We work on ways to clarify on all three levels. In small groups we work on using these strategies to improve our reading comprehension.

For the Week of February 24th

Chess Club

Both clubs meet this week. We have been discussing opening moves and how important it is to get control of the center of the board as early as possible. I am still in need of parent volunteers for Wednesday's club if anyone is interested in helping out.

No School Friday, February 28th

February 28th is teacher institute day. There will be no school.

Questioning

Questioning is a very important skill to learn to use when reading. Students who learn to ask questions as they read become active readers, engaged with the text, and they retain more of what they read. Some important questions to ask ourselves while reading are: What is the author trying to say? How is he/she making his/her point? Am I learning anything I don't know as I read this? Am I changing my thinking in any way? Do I agree or disagree with what the author is saying? When you are reading with your child you might ask them what questions they have as they are reading.

For the Week of February 17th

Chess Clubs

Both clubs will meet this week. I still need parent helpers for Wednesday's club. No experience is necessary. If you could help out for one week or more, please email me. I will be glad to have you.

President's Day

There is not school Monday, February 17th.

Questioning

Questioning is a very important skill to learn to use when reading. Students who learn to ask questions as they read become active readers, engaged with the text, and they retain more of what they read. Some important questions to ask ourselves while reading are: What is the author trying to say? How is he/she making his/her point? Am I learning anything I don't know as I read this? Am I changing my thinking in any way? Do I agree or disagree with what the author is saying? When you are reading with your child you might ask them what questions they have as they are reading.

For the Week of February 10th

Chess Clubs

Both chess clubs are meeting this week. I have had some parents volunteer for Thursday but still need some for Wednesday - so if you would like to help out that would be great. You do not need to know how to play chess to help out.