Real-Life Readers and Writers!

This week, we've been practicing reading independently and with a partner as we picture walk and learn from the words, pictures, and photos in our stories. 

We learned that some books have stories about characters and some teach us about things in the world around us. We can start a book by looking at the cover, thinking about what the book might be about, and then reading it cover to cover. We also practiced finding "just right" reading spots all around our classroom!

On Thursday, we had our first-ever "Book Club" meeting where each of us shared a "WOW" page from our books! We learned about baby sea turtles, tornadoes, sharks, bats, and more!

Every day, we've been discovering more and more words that we already know how to read! 

We've also been using what we've been learning from our reading to help us with our writing! We know we can help to share information by writing letters and words along with the pictures we draw. On Thursday, we used what we know about writing and drawing to represent words that started with the letter F! Can you guess what words these giraffes were showing? 

Fish

Football

Five Fourteen PM

We are so excited to continue growing and stretching our literacy brains as we continue to learn more about the words and world around us! 

Book Character Soiree

On Friday, we celebrated the end of our Characters Reading Unit with a Book Character Soiree! Each of the giraffes chose a book character to portray at our party, and over the last few weeks they worked on getting to know those characters and answering questions as their characters to prepare for our big day.

We had book characters from all sorts of stories, and everyone did an incredible job acting as their characters while they mixed and mingled!

All party guests got to enjoy some light refreshments, including sparkling apple cider in some fancy glasses :)

Cheers to good books! 

Some characters were even able to connect with characters from their stories and do some of their favorite activities together! Lilly was putting on her joke glasses, George and Harold were up to their silly antics making funny Captain Underpants Comics, the Rainbow Magic Fairies were fluttering around, Matilda and Miss Honey talked about their favorite books, and Toad even took a nap!! 

We also got to connect with characters from different stories, and everyone enjoyed getting to know all the characters in the room

Big Nate meets The Captain Underpants Crew!

Andrea has seen her share of interesting things at her "Weirder School" but she's never seen an invisible dog like Janie's before! 

Our Party Animals-- Evie the Owl, Lilly the Mouse, Toad, Big Bad Wolf, Scaredy Squirrel, Dog Man, and Humphrey the Hamster!

The giraffes did an INCREDIBLE job portraying their characters, asking questions, and drawing details from their stories, and the best part was they had so much fun in the process! Once the party was over, we were eager to get back to reading so we could continue to follow our characters on new adventures and get to know some new characters as well :) 

NHPTV Kids Writer's Contest

The NHPTV Writers Contest is happening right now and is open to all students grades K-5! This is a great opportunity for students to share their writing from school or to share a new story they've written at home. Second grade stories are required to be somewhere between 100-350 words and can be fiction, non-fiction, or in the form of a poem. A full list of rules can be found here

Several giraffe students have participated in this contest in the past, and they have all been so excited to share their work with others! If you wish to enter, please print out an entry form and submit your story by Friday, March 31st. Good luck, and happy writing!

NHPTV Writers Contest

Hello and Happy New Year's Eve, Giraffes! I wanted to tell you about writing contest that begins tomorrow. NHPTV is holding its annual Writers Contest, and students in grades K-5 can submit stories they've written and illustrated between January 1st and March 31st. Once all of the stories are submitted, judges will select a first, second, and third place winner at each grade level. Some stories will also be selected for honorable mention. It is completely up to you if you'd like to enter--I know many of you like to write and illustrate, and I would love for you to enter a story so you can share your talent with others! It can be a story from class or a story you've written at home. Stories submitted by second graders can be true, fictional, or you could even submit a poem. All writing should be between 100 and 350 words. More guidelines can be found on their Entry Form!

Best of luck, my talented authors and illustrators! I will see you on Monday :)