Yesterday, grades 3-8 finished their informational speeches. All students did a great job and the classes learned a lot! Did you know that if you filled a football field with children, only one - if any - of the children would have cancer? I enjoyed hearing classmates provide feedback for one another just as much as I enjoyed listening to all of the impressive speeches. It's so nice to hear the kids encourage one another and provide useful tips on how they can improve next time. Parents, if you haven't already done so, ask your student to do their speech for you. You will be impressed by all of their research and composure. Written feedback was provided for each speaker, so you should be able to find it in their binder.
Moving right along... Students voted to move on to demonstration speeches. Speeches will need to be 3-5 minutes and must teach the class how to do something. Students had many interesting ideas: prepare salsa, play football, braid hair, do magic tricks, etc. The key is to show us and instruct at the same time. If students have an idea that will take considerably longer than 5 minutes, they may partner with another student - effectively doubling their speech time; however, they must prepare the speech together and take equal turns delivering the speech. Between now and next Monday, students should be brainstorming ideas and come to class on Monday prepared to begin outlining their speech. If they need any information (from a book, the internet, etc) they need to bring that with them on Monday. Can't wait to hear all of their ideas!
1st and 2nd grades had Book Club again this week. We read Charlie is Broken as a class, and completed a book sequence worksheet. As students read independently or with a partner, I worked individually with students on their Lightning Fast Words. You will find the list of the first 100 words in their binder. The words crossed off are the ones your student was able to read at a glance. The five circled (and in their baggie) are the ones he/she needs to practice at home. We will work on these as often as possible, and will move on to new words once the practiced ones are read successfully at school three times.
Next Monday, 1st and 2nd grade is going to have Show & Tell. Students voted to bring anything from home, provided it's not too fragile and is not a weapon. Can't wait to see what they bring and what it teaches us about the bringer.
I had fun going through the letter C with kindergarten at Show & Tell. Next week we will be studying the letter D. I'm so pleased with how the children get better every week at listening attentively, standing still while sharing, talking loud enough so that everyone can hear and making eye contact with the entire audience and not just the teacher. The kids have no idea, but they are developing good public speaking habits as we share each Monday. I look forward to counting how many stuffed dogs come to class next week!
If you have any questions or suggestions about how I can best help your student, please do not hesitate to contact me - tonyashrader@everestkc.net.
