Thank You CVEF!

I am writing to share some wonderful and exciting news with the Ojibwa Community! Recently, I wrote a grant proposal for some fluency materials to help Ojibwa students to become better readers. I was very surprised to have been selected to receive the funding from the Chippewa Valley Educational Foundation! 

Today I received all of the fluency items that I had requested! Thanks to their generosity, I was able to obtain over 800 dollars worth of supplemental materials for the Ojibwa shared library area! Look at what arrived today! The students got a sneak peek at them today and are so excited to try them out!

These are digital microphones so the students can record their own readings. There are five microphones in the set and a recharging hub.

The students will love practicing their fluency with these boxes of laminated card scripts for reader's theater! It's like putting on a mini-play. There are four genre sets~mystery, historical fiction, fantasy and adventure!

Reading rate is important when working toward fluency. There is a teacher timer and a set of 6 student timers. 

With this recorder, the teacher can tape student readings while they are at a center, in book clubs or at a fluency station and play it back later. Recordings may be saved and played for students so they can hear themselves read, be listened to by the teacher for assessment or be emailed to parents.

This box contains laminated cards with practice reading passages for both fiction and nonfiction! They are leveled for readers of various abilities.

 The children were happy to help out with this photo shoot! Here they are modeling our Fun with Fluency (the title of my grant proposal) items.

Grants like this one are awarded every year thanks to the generosity of the CVEF! Support the CVEF by donating or attending their biggest fundraiser, the Taste-fest! Click on the image below for more information!

Reading Month Fun

It's hard to believe that March is already here! This year is just flying by because we've been having so much fun! March 1st was our Reading Month Kick-off. We have many special activities planned for the children. Here are a few highlights from last week:

We made an adorable leprechaun project and wrote about what we would do if we found a pot of gold.

We also worked on our Very Hungry Caterpillar bulletin board display for Reading Month. Each child created one circle for the body of the caterpillar and made a mini-book about their favorite book.

 Our first guest reader was The Cat in the Hat (Ms. Batko, our Assistant Principal).

Snuggle up and read day was a big hit with the class! They love reading by flashlight and sharing books with their friends.

It's my tradition during reading month to mix up some Oobleck and to read Dr. Seuss' story, Bartholemew and the Oobleck. Oobleck is neat because it acts like both a solid and a liquid. Ms. Emily brought a bag of it around for the students to investigate. Ms. Emily was a student in my first grade class at Cheyenne. Now she is having fun with projects and concoctions again just like old times:) Lucky Emily got to dig in and mix the Oobleck!

  We will keep the Oobleck in the baggie and play with it during choice time.

There's lots more fun to be had this month so check back soon for more pictures of our classroom activities!