December 13, 2011

Today students came in and really showed me they know how to listen.  We were able to get through most of our activities.  In reading we made a book report about our nonfiction book we were reading.  We also had a nice visitor Mrs. Doyle who told us her daughters favorite Christmas memory, ask your child?  She also read two stories to us and we loved her visit, just like we always do.  Then we moved right into writing and we were completing our Reindeer stories.  Soon after that we head on our plane Around the World in our classrooms.  Make sure to ask your child about what they are learning.  We finished our day with Math and continued our unit on tables, you might want to check they understand this.  Finally it was MUSIC TIME!!!!!!

December 8, 2011

WOW!!!!  What a better day!!!  Thanks for making my day class, now I feel better.  Also all I want for Christmas is a real good class...hehehe.  The students were great we did our reading and reading groups.  We compared two characters in our chapter books and took reading counts tests.  During writing they continued to write their reindeer stories.  We traveled through the United States and Italy today, tomorrow we will be visiting other countries please ask your child about their journey.  BE ON THE LOOK OUT FOR YOUR LETTER FOR THE PARTY ITEMS COMING HOME TOMORROW IN THE PURPLE FOLDERS!!!

December 7, 2011

Letters for the Hoilday Party went home PLEASE RETURN.  I really need them to send home, what you need to bring!!!!!

Today was a great day, we had early release.  We still had a lot of time to get some fantastic work done.  In reading, we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and we are creating a story modeled from the book.  They are calling their book The Very Hungry Reindeer.  I can not wait till you come to the party and read their stories.  I think you will enjoy them just as much a as I am.  Writing of course was spent on completing our Turkey stories and starting their books.   We then head into math first we started CGI I have decided to time them for fifteen minutes.  This is helping them try to get faster, so their homework might be easier for them. I started our lesson on tables, however then it was time to go outside for recess.  We came back in from outside and we only had a few minutes before lunch.  After this we came back to watch our science video on our new unit ROCKS!!!

December 6, 2011

The class had a hard time listening, and many students were playing and yelling.  Ms. Wolfean was disappointed in the class and hopes they will be able to earn their way into lunch bunch again.  We began our day with library and had a lesson about an author who will be coming to visit the students in January.  Her name is Debbie Leland, we are looking forward to her coming.  Also be on the look out for her order form for books.  We manged to get through most of all what was to be done.  In reading we continued and finished our character pamphlet. In writing we worked on our Scarecrow story or completed our Turkey stories.  We took our assessment on money and ended our day with this.  Hope to see you at SCIENCE NIGHT TONIGHT!!!

December 5, 2011

Parents holiday party note went home in their purple folder.  We had an okay day, there was a sub.  Ms. Wolfean was in the building, but had a meeting with her teachers.  We planned all day, we got a lot of ideas together for the up coming months.  Yesterday they worked on their character pamphlet during reading.  Wrote a story about how to scare a scarecrow off his/her pole.  Then they worked on money in math, and finally finished with maps skills for social studies.

December 1, 2011

Our adventure began with the students arriving and starting their day with checking homework.  The class is excited because they are earning loads of money for their money day with special goodies to eat.  They then started their reading and discussed their chapter books with their groups.  We looked at descriptive paragraphs and why they felt they were?  We moved onto writing and they continued to publish their turkey stories.  We headed into math where we continued our unit on money.  They are bringing home another money CGI problem.  Finally our day closed down with our unit on maps.  We read about landforms in groups and completed our island map makers.

November 30, 2011

This week has been a fantastic work week, we have accomplished a lot. Today was another busy day, we made through most of my plans.  Reading was filled with children going to the library, working on main idea, and buddy reading with friends.  Every group met with me to discuss their chapter books, ask them what is happening in their story?  During writing all I could hear was pencils moving and children writing.  They were publishing their turkey stories.  You need to drop by and read their work.  I am proud of all their stories, they amaze me.  In math they worked on a new CGI problem, which involved money.  They took one home for you too, they should know what to do?  If they struggle with this then you know they are having difficulty in class.  Finally we ended with Social Studies and learning about latitude and longitude lines.  They should know how to locate the equator and prime meridian?

November 29, 2011

Today was another fun filled day of learning, we made it through everything. Today we started off with reading and continued learning how to use our main idea to help recall details in our chapter books.  Then we had our visitor Mrs. Doyle come share another special book with our class.  She lead a discussion on sensory writing threw poetry.  This tied perfectly to what Ms. Wolfan taught us in writing, our sensory writing chart.  We practiced that strategy in our writing notebooks and will begin drafting our compositions.  Then we moved into math and completed our flip book on how to make a dollar.  Have the students explain all the ways to make a dollar?  Finally we closed down our day with the start of our island maker activity.

November 28, 2011

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful vacation.  Thanksgiving is a special time to relax and have a fantastic time with your family.  Ms. Wolfean had a great time spending her vacation with family and friends.  Our day was filled with loads of learning. We returned back to school full of energy, however they did remember their manners.  I am proud of how hard they are working.  We began our money unit in Math, and created amounts using dollars and cents.  We continued with our map unit in Social Studies and they seem to be enjoying the fact they will get to create their own maps.  In reading we have begun our unit on main idea and how stopping after two to three paragraphs helps us recall details from the story.  Please ask them to model this for you.  We are continuing on with writing and have begun our personal narratives writing about real or imaginary events.  Overall the count day to our Holiday vacation is off to a great beginning.

11/11/11

I posted the date this way because today was the eleventh day, of the eleventh month, and in the twenty eleventh year.  This was fascinating to my students, all day all I heard was how cool it was.  Reggie's last day was awesome we had an assembly for the veterans and it was special to see the students salute the men and woman of the armed forces.  Reggie shared his show in tell and we learned he won a trophy for playing basketball.  He brought his stuffed dog which he sleeps with and plays with.  He was a cuddly little critter.  He shared his favorite book which was Phineas and Ferb Across the Second Dimension by Ellie O'Ryan.  He will get to finish his questions from the class on Monday due to the fact that I forgot, well we ran out of time.  Today we had writing and all the students are finished with the class book.  They all are starting their magazine article for their how to papers.  Then we moved onto math and discussed three digit numbers to 999.  We were learning how to tell what comes before and after the numbers.  After that we watched our science video and ended Reggie's day with him sharing.  Reggie was an excellent Top Banana and we are sad to have to say good-bye, but we must.  It is time to look forward to Crisanta.

November 10,2011

ROARRRR, wow today was fantastic due to behavior in the lunchroom.  My class had a hard time following directions I hope they are better tomorrow.  Today Reggie shared his poster and reported his favorite fruit was grapes.  He also told us about his sister's Jasmine, Kenisha, and Jenna.  He likes to play video games and play outside.  He enjoys playing football and soccer.  His favorite team for football is the Stealers and he does not have a favorite soccer team.  He has played on a football team called the Bears and can not remember the position he played.  He loves these sports because you have to run and that is something he enjoys doing.  He has played soccer, baseball, basketball, and football.  Today we completed our class book and voted on our cover.  Mattie was the winner and she will be drawing it tomorrow.  PLEASE HAVE ALL MONEY TOMORROW!!  We made a human number line and did our since.  We even made our inferences in reading. 

November 8, 2011

Today was a busy day we were learning so much we forgot to do Reggie's poster.  He stated, "It is OK Ms. Wolfean we can do it tomorrow." He was kind to be fine with this.  I always feel terrible when I can't get to their poster.  However, it just means we are either learning or too many problems came up.  Today their was tons of learning.  We had Mrs. Doyle come in and read to the class.  Reggie loved her story because it did not have words, it was a picture book without words.  The title was the Lion and the Mouse by, Jerry Pinkney.  Then we watched a video to see if our inferences from the pictures were correct.  Reggie thought Mrs. Doyle visit was an excellent treat for the class.  We continued our day doing our writing, our last two students finished our class book.  We can't wait to vote on the cover tomorrow.  We did science first, Ms. Wolfean tricked us because usually we do Math then science.  We hunted for treasure today using magnets.  Finally our day was complete with math base ten blocks and CGI.

November 7, 2011

Today Reggie introduced himself to the class.  He was a great Top Banana and loved being the line leader.  His favorite food is pizza and he likes it because it is good.  He shared pictures of his cousins and told us, "Ty, is his favorite cousin."  Reggie really enjoys watching TV because his favorite channels are Nickelodeon, Disney, ESPN, and Cartoon Network.  He then latter reported he loves all TV shows for kids.  He also shared he loves to spend time with his Mom and Dad.  We had a busy day we did our spelling and learned about compound words.  It was interesting because not all words will be put together, as Reggie noticed.We read our chapter books for groups and then moved on to writing.  We are writing our carving pumpkin texts into a published magazine article. I can not wait till they are finished, so we can hang them in the hall.  We learned a new math game using base ten blocks.  We closed our day with our magnet science lesson.

November 4, 2011

Today was Gracyn's last day as Top Banana she did a marvelous job.  She shared her poster and let us hear about her favorite toys.  She loves pet shops like most of my girls in the class.  She reported that the squirrel was the first one created.  She enjoys playing with glow sticks, she is not sure why.  Her show in tell today was her favorite book Dork Dairies and she stated, " I loved this book because it suits me.  Also when I act dorky it feels good to read about a story of someone else who has been dorky"  I laughed at her comment and thought it was awesome that Gracyn can admit to her dorkness like I do sometimes.  Anyone else in the class feel this way?  She brought in her rabbit (stuffed)  that she received at her Grandmas She has yet to give it a name, maybe one of you can comment on here and give her a name?  She also shared a sticker she can't wait to hang in her new room of her new house.  Today was a busy day we finished projects and continued writing our crave a pumpkin how to books and we are waiting on three people to finish our book.  We did math and reading, but had to skip science to present our creal box projects.  I am impressed with their creations.  Thanks for helping them out parents.  They turned out cute, hope you can stop by to take a look?  Reggie is the new Top Banana!

November 3, 2011

We had a fun filled day with tons of learning.  We had a classroom visitor who was an excellent role model for the students in regards to reading.  She stayed in her sit and was focused till we had to go to Assembly.  Mrs. Erickson joined us and did her personal best.  Thank you for being a great student today.  Ethan M. in Mrs. Buckles class has been a great assistant to Ms. Wolfean.  He has been in our class guiding the students and helping them become successful.  He broke his arm and due to him not being able to attend specials he has been in my room.  Thank you Ethan, my class is loving it!  Today was filled with lots of writing and trying to finish our class books.  We also did science using a magnet and a compass ask your child what they observed?  We made sure there was time for our CGI math problem.

November 2, 2011

Today Gracyn shared her poster and she reported she loves to go on vacation with her family.  She enjoys going to see her Grandma who still lives in the same place and house.  Her Grandma even bought her a scarf and hat which she still wears.  We all hope to see Gracyn in it soon.  Her favorite thing to do with her family is going to the park and she has a fantastic time there.  Her Mom takes her there and she enjoys her time with Mom. Gracyn loves to listen to her MP3 because she likes to rock out to the songs.  Today we had a great day filled with lots of activities.  They took a treat bag home and Gracyn thought it was cool I gave it to them.  They also took a pumpkin home to do an experiment with you.  Please have them try it on you, they thought it was interesting what they discovered.  We did our math we discussed time and how long it takes to complete things in our everyday life.  We even had time to do a second experiment with jars.  Gracyn enjoyed the jar lesson and thought it was interesting which one made the highest pitch.  Reading and writing was covered and the students received their second chapter book for groups. We are almost finished with our published book.  If you want to purchase one please return the envelope and the money.

November 1, 2011

Ms. Wolfean did not forget to let Gracyn share we did it twice. She sure has a lot of foods she loves.  We learned pizza and apple pie are two of her favorites.  She loves to cook with others in her family and has even made a meal for her Mom with Dads help.  She loves to be with her family her cousins are very close and loves to go swimming with them.  Gracyn did inform us that she is allowed to swim all over the pool, due to the fact she is really great at swimming.  She loves to travel to their hometowns to visit them.  Adian is the closest cousin, and she could not decide who was her favorite family member because they are all awesome.  Today was another busy day we went to the library and had Mrs. Doyle come to read.  Mrs. Doyle read a nonfiction text and discussed facts and opinion.We did our CGI math problem and worked on our science experiment.  Students need to make sure they are working on their CREAL PROJECT due NOVEMBER 4.

October 31, 2011

Today was a busy day and boy were the kids hyper!!  They were excited to go trick or treat and this is all I heard from them.  We did have learning, even though it was tough.  we listen to a scary book during reading and Ms. Wolfean scared us.  Gracyn was excited to share her poster, but by the time I looked up it was time to go home.  We made pumpkins in math to match qualities of our self.  We finished Science lesson and then we worked on finishing our class books.  Have a safe Halloween and make sure to make it happy!!

October 27, 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACYN!  Today Caleb shared hi poster and we can not wait till tomorrow to see his show-n-tell.  He shared a picture of himself with a cup cake face.  He explained to us it was fun his brother's birthday party.  His face sure did look yummy with all that icing.  He also reported, "I love food I am like a pig!"  We all laughed at this comment.  We had a great time seeing Dowser Dan at the assembly today.  He performed a skit about water conservation.  We thought the turtle was cute.  Make sure to scroll down to check out the pictures.  After the assembly we returned to class and began our lesson on how to papers and writing the steps to teach someone how to do something.  It was interesting to discover how hard it is to make sure we don't forget one step. Then we did our math CGI problem trying to figure out how many legs animals have in a barn.  After math we finished our house to investigate which house will be the sturdiest.

October 26, 2011

Caleb shared his poster and he loves to spend time at the Frio River fishing for minnows and tadpoles.  He also shared that he has one sister and one brother, which he enjoys spending time with.  He also told us he has had a friend in his class since preschool, but this was the first year they were not in the same class.  This would be his friend Dillon.  Today we spent time in reading stations working on our Fairy Tale project and going over our creal box reading response project.  This will be a homework project that I gave as a response to stories we have read in class.  I will be for the next week making this part of their homework.  Then we spent time working on our science unit building houses using unique supplies.  We love earlier release days.

October 25, 2011

Beth did a fantastic job as our Top Banana last week.  Now it is time for Caleb, our new Top Banana.  He for got his poster yesterday.  He also for got to let me know what to add to the blog.  I Did not forget to do the blog, I just was waiting for him to share. Caleb reported that his favorite season was winter because he likes the snow.  Also he loves to play soccer, so do I. Today was a great day but lunch behavior needs to get under control.  There are some who are doing a fantastic job.  There are some who are making choices to scream at others when the lights are out.  Also When one student does something we should step up and make sure all our friends are following directions.  Please don't do something because you see someone acting incorrectly.  Today we had an Assembly about water safety.  It was way cool, this is what I heard one student say.  We heard a fairy tale read by Mrs. Doyle.  Then we worked on our writing books.  Finally we did our math graphing problem and ran out of room to complete science.

Question: How can we make our behavior better?

October 19, 2011

Great day today we worked hard and of course had a fantastic day.  We saw a program called Greek Alive with actors and actresses.  It was interesting because they were acting out the play and had puppets too.

How did you feel about the performance today?

Mrs. Doyle came and read a fairy tale to us and we laughed at her book she chose.  It was a twist to an old fairy tale Cinderella.  However, her book was called Bubba the Cowboy Prince.  We sure thought it was fun to hear her read in her Texas voice.  Ms. Wolfean did not forget recess she just didn't want to interrupt Mrs. Doyle.  This was sad because we had to go outside with just our class.  Sometimes I like having the playground all to ourselves.  In Math we started our own Graphs for our favorite ice cream.  This made me want to go home and eat some.  Did you feel that way too?

October 18, 2011

Beth shared a part of her poster about her favorite things.  She loves watermelon, brownies, pizza, oatmeal, and this item of food her and her family call red stuff.  She is not sure on the name and Ms. Wolfean even tried to help.She loves to be outside and go on walks with her family.  When asked why she stated, "I get skinnier and my Mom lowers her weight."  I had to put this in the blog because I find it interesting to see what kids will say.  What did you think when she reported this?  Her favorite activity inside is to clean.  We all thought this was strange till she reported, "I get two dollars for it!"  This is when the whole class yelled,"We would clean too."  She has four sisters and one brother, who is six months old.  I bet he is cute?  Today was interesting because the teachers came to school dressed up.  Ms. Wolfean came as Little Red Riding Hood and everyone thought she was Goldilocks.  We read and went to the book fair to preview books, Thursday is our day to buy.  Beth is looking forward to seeing the teachers tonight and maybe coming to the book fair.  She was excited to have Mrs. Hughes class come and visit.  They watched the video of our teacher's character Red Riding Hood.

October 17, 2011

Gerry shared his show-n-tell, thank you Beth for sharing your day.  Gerry brought in his penguin and snake he shared on his poster and we all thought they were way too cool.  He even grabbed his penguin by the hair and swung him around.  We loved his book he shared Truckery Rhymes by: Jon Scieszka.  He stated he loved the book because it was signed by the author, which makes it interesting.  Thanks for sharing and being a fantastic Top Banana. You rocked, thanks for making us laugh, and you did a great job at following directions.

Beth reported about her poster today, just like Gerry she also got her face painted.  Hers was at her sister's birthday party.  She showed us a picture of herself in kindergarten. She explained that her favorite thing to do in kindergarten was to play in the sand box. She shared a picture of her family at the Austin Cave and stated that she saw bats there.  She showed a picture of her mother's cousin who passed away two weeks ago.  Beth shared the reason she brought her picture in was because her cousin resembles her.  Beth loved today because Mrs. Lucas came into the class to play with the class during our word working.  She thought it was cool to have our principal come visit us.  She also loved science because she got to test things.  Reading was interesting because she buddy read.  writing was neat because we got to write on the tables and add ies to our words.

October 14, 2011

I can not explain why the posting did not make it for two days last week but I have corrected the issue, YEAH!  Gerry had his last day as Top Banana and he did a stand up job.  He described his poster and explained himself well.  I think we all laughed due to him.  Today Ms. Wolfean for got to let Gerry share his show-n-tell, however, Beth our new Top Banana has graciously allowed Gerry to report out on Monday.  Today was a busy day this is why we did not share his items.  We read, wrote, did math and had fun doing our science.  In math we graphed more items and then we started our popping good words and popping science experiment.  We tested what would heat do to kernels?



Question What did you discover from the kernel activity and why did you enjoy it?

October 13, 2011

COMPUTER MISHAP, sorry Gerry.  Gerry reported out about his poster and he loved his trip to the zoo.  He enjoyed it because he remembers buying a stuffed snake.  He drew him on his poster.  He also reported about his kindergarten graduation and how proud he felt when he passed.  He has a stuffed penguin which he also likes because he is interesting.  He loves tests, math, and writing.  He is not sure why he likes all those subjects except they are fun.  When he comes home from school he likes to relax by watching Sponge Bob or playing his video games.  Bug Juice is his favorite drink, not sure why a kid loves juice made out of BUGS? Gerry stated today was interesting because he finished sharing his poster and loved the gummy worm activity.  He thought it was neat to discover which has more flexibility.

October 12, 2011

Gerry shared his poster today, and he shared about his family.  We learned he has fish named gumball that he got on his birthday.  He stated, "I named him that because my gumball was blue, that I ate."  Not sure how you eat a gumball, I thought you only chewed it?  He has several grandparents.  They are named Grandpa Bob, Ggrandma Bandy, Grandma Ruth, Grandpa, Grandpa Steve, and Grandpa Roy.  He shared he loves to spend time with them and what kinds of things they do together.  We also learned he has 3 sisters and 1 brother.  He loves basketball, music, and face painting.  He attended a carnival and had a blast.  Gerry shared a lot as you see.  We did get to learning we had fun doing our reading.  We were trying to finish our publish books, in writing.    In math, we did our mountain math and CGI problem.  Then in science we are going to test flexibility.  Ms. Wolfean even stayed on schedule, till science due to sharing of Gerry's poster and rice spilling during lunch bunch. 

October 11, 2011

Tianni had a great week, and we are sad to see her go. The new Top Banana for our class is Gerry.  Ms. Wolfean and Gerry forgot to share his poster. "Today was pretty fun because I was first at everything.  I felt like I was the number one kid of the class because I got to help Ms.Wolfean," Gerry stated. Gerry reported what he learned today and he loved visiting the library.  He was able to check out one fiction book, which  he chose a chapter book.  Then he chose a non-fiction book.  He likes the library because he got to view books that were going to be sold at the Book Fair next week.  When we returned to class Gerry was excited because Mrs. Dolye came to read to us another folktale called, Martina the Beautiful Cockroach by Carmen Agra Deedy.  He loved the book because it was partly in Spanish and English.  He thought it was cool to learn Spanish words.Then we looked at books at our desk to discover what they had in common.  Gerry noticed they were all Fairy Tales and some of them had speaking bubbles for characters.  The class noticed they were all fiction, from different countries, different versions, and all started with Once upon a time.  Gerry thought, "The CGI was frustrating because it made him dizzy and confused." He thought overall it was a pretty good day.  YOUR CHILD IS RIGHT NO SPELLING SHORT WEEK!!!  :)

October 6, 2011

"YEAH! Ms. Wolfean found her brain!" Tianni stated at the end of the day.  I guess this is a great thing to have your student say about you?  I love the way my class is honest, and I am sorry I forgot.  She shared her poster and we learned a lot about Tianni.  She loves to spend time with her family and enjoys the beach.  She remembers a time at the beach when her mother got sun burned.  She also shared about a time when she almost flipped off a slide.  She stated, "It was scary because I almost landed on cement."  She loves butterflies and loves to challenge her brain.  This is why math is her favorite subject.  Today she had a great time solving her CGI problems because they are changeling her brain.  She thought science was excellent because we were in the science lab assassinating the kindergarten class do their float and sink activity.  The only thing that was disappointing thing was finishing our test!!!!!!!!!!

October 5, 2011

Tianni reported, "Today was AWESOME!"  She loved the science experiment we did because she can not wait to use the thermometers in class tomorrow. She loved doing the CGI math problems because they challenge her.  She also thought it was neat to have Mrs. Shultz come in and meet with the students on their math.  Tianni liked today the best because she got to go get her Roar card sticker.  However, she was frustrated because Ms. Wolfean again forgot to take time to allow her to explain her poster.  She explained it was OK because Ms. Wolfean was busy giving us the test we took. Tianni thought the test was stressful, but felt it motivated her brain to think differently.  Tianni is looking forward to sharing her poster completely tomorrow and I PROMISE NOT TO FORGET!!!!!! :)

QUESTION: Have you ever forgotten something important to do, what was it, and how did you feel?

October 4, 2011

Sorry I did not report yesterday, Tianni forgot to meet with me to discuss what to write.  Tianni reported yesterday about visiting her Aunt and Grandma.  She stated she loved visiting them, but does not remember exactly what she did there.  She was young and forgot what happened.  "Ms. Wolfean forgot to let me share my poster because she was busy teaching," Tianni told me when I asked her about her day.  She thought it was funny and sad because I had too much on my brain.  We did a lot of reading and writing and Tianni is looking forward to publishing her book.  In math she said, "It was awesome!"  She likes how I make the math interesting.  She loved using and learning about the tools we use in science. She is glad we are getting caught up, but hopes I remember to let her share her poster. 

September 30, 2011

Last day of September, see you in October!   Sam brought in his show in tell and we were impressed with his Scout belt. He had a ton of medals and he told us, " I did not like the hiking one."  He also brought in his figure from D and D which we all predicted he would bring something from Dungeons and Dragons.  Sam thought the spelling test was a nasty one because it took a long time to complete.  Sam loved the science experiment when we used the Popsicles to predict how long it would take for them to melt.  He thought it was interesting that the air condition kept the Popsicle inside from melting, and the sun played a factor on melting the one outside.  We discovered that different properties can change our outcomes.  He also thought it was cool to get to eat a Popsicle because we earned the letters for our classes behavior.  He reported in math it was fun to figure out how many animals would be in the barn if the legs totaled to 26.  he did not like being the only boy again in reading groups, but is fine because the girls are helping him with his words and comprehension.  Sam liked writing because he was working on his previous stories that he was not able to complete.  It is time to say good bye to Sam who did a fabulous job.  I am looking forward to Tianni taking over the role as our new Top Banana. 

Sam wants to know, "How do you think you earn the Top Banana in our class?" 

September 29, 2011

WOW, thanks Caleb for dropping by the blog and answering the question everyday.  Sam shared his poster and boy did we learn a lot.  He talked about his family Cruise, which he did not go on.  Also he reported that his dog Snoopy loves to attach him.  He jumps up and licks him all over.  He enjoys playing board games, and man is he good.  Sam told me, "Ms. Wolfean you forgot to pay us for our homework, you are naughty!"  He is correct, but I hope that my reward to the class tomorrow will make up fo it.  He thought art was a fun because he started his scarecrow project, but was disappointed he could not finish it.  Sam liked math becasue of CGI and homework was different.  Sam loved having Ms. Hughes' class come visit becasue he got to visit with Brian and Christian.  He hopes that we might get to switch class to allow them to play with Sleeping Beauty.  reading was cool becasue we designed our covers to our books.  Last, Sam will be playing Dand D tonight!

September 28, 20111

Sam reported he had a lot of fun in PE because he liked doing the running, push ups, and sit ups.  Sam saw a bunch of costumes around the building due to career day.  He loved seeing his classmates Clara, Kaira, Gracyn, and Caleb all dressed up.  Sam thought the nasty long math test we took was OK, but would have enjoyed doing other fun things.  It seemed like it took forever to get it done.  Our friend Mrs. Doyle came for another book visit in the middle of the test which was AWESOME.  She read the book Anansi the Spider by Gerald McDermott.  Sam thought her lesson was fantastic because he got to be one of the characters in the book, the Stone Thrower Spider.  We read in our reading groups and Sam stated, "I was the only boy!  I felt a little worried because I wanted to have another boy in the group."  He asked Ms. Wolfean, "Can you make sure to put another boy in my group, next time?"  Ms. Wolfean answered, "It is a done deal."

September 27, 2011

Sam's question from yesterday was answered Ms. Wolfean returned to school well and okay.  She shared to the class where she had disappeared to?  Every student's prediction was better than where I really was.  I wish I could have done some of your child's plans they had for me.  Please ask them to share the news?  Sam shared his poster and reported to the class about he has done archery in scouts. Also that he has been on a train at Cripple Creek, I am sorry Sam if I spelled it wrong?  Sam reported today was awesome because he enjoyed playing the math game in groups.  He loved discovering who had the next number and what number he had.  During writing he thought it was interesting to explore new words for how we say things in our writing.  Sam felt library was the best part because he thought the scavenger hunt was fantastic.  We learned how to call or locate a book using their address.  "You know the call number Ms. Wolfean,"  Sam shouted to me on the phone.

Sam's Question for this week: What is your favorite fancy word and why?

September 26, 2011

Sam stated, "OH NO! Where did she go?"  Ms. Wolfean was missing and Sam was depressed because he had no idea where she could have been?  Sam shared his, however, he was curious all day what could have happened to Ms. Wolfean?  He told me the class wrote their predictions about where I was, and they even wrote about what they would do if they had a day off?  They played the number game in math.  He stated,     "He enjoyed having Mrs. Jones because he had her last year as a sub."  The most important question of all was, WHERE WAS MS. WOLFEAN?

September 22, 2011

Kaira shared out the rest of her poster and we are all looking forward to seeing what she brings for show in tell.  She shared that she loves the beach and remembers creating a pool in the sand.  Her classmates even thought she might have made it big enough to swim in.  She cleared that up by explaining it was just big enough for fish.  She describe her many fish she has and enjoys watching them swim.  Kaira reported " I enjoyed learning about matter and making our head bands."  During recess her and a group of students pretended to be horses.  She played red light and green with friends and thought they should do more games tomorrow.   She treasured doing her CGI math problems because it is a challenge for her brain.  She thought the book Why did the Chicken Cross the Road?  made her laugh and had a blast creating her on page to extend the book.

September 21, 2011

Kaira shared her poster again today and we learned she loves dogs and horses.  We also learned that horses are smelly.  Kaira's favorite show when she was little was Backyard Again, I think that is the right title?  Please let me know if I am not correct?  Today Kaira stated, "Today was another good day because we played a game in specials."  I have to say "OH BOY, they did play because they were hot and smelly."  HE HE!! Kaira enjoyed writing because we had to take a test for writing.  We wrote almost all morning and I was shocked at their ability to get the task completed.  They were reward today for their EXCELLENT behavior while taking their pictures.  Kaira loved, loved, and loved their extra recess.  WAY TO GO!!!!  We had a blast in science and continued discussing matter.

September 20, 2011

Kaira reported today that her favorite part of her day was specials.  She enjoyed singing the patriot song they were learning.  She made a connection to the song because we learned about being patriotic in Social Studies, last week.  Kaira had a blast using the counters in Math to create groups for the number of their choice.  They were to take their counters and model different ways to group their number.  We discussed all the different ways to make numbers 1-10.  Kaira loved being able to plan her story out in her notebook and is looking forward to starting her story tomorrow.  She thought it was cool to be able to share her memories or connections to her buddy during reading.  Kaira shared her some of her pictures on her poster, and it sounded like she had a fantastic time playing in the snow.  We are excited to hear more from her tomorrow.

QUESTION:  Describe your favorite part of your day and WHY?

september 19, 2011

WOW, Mondays are tiring. We had a weekend away from school and my brain is not on yet. Kaira reported, "Today was exciting becasue we were taught new ways to study our spelling.  There are thirty different ways to study, but Ms. Wolfean will let us do any way!"  She loved finishing our science experiment with the capsules because it was fun to watch them hatch.  She loved making predictions in reading becasue she discovered you do not always have to be right.  In math, we did our time problem and Ms. Wolfean tricked us.  Kaira learned we need to read carefully when doing our math problems.

September 16, 2011

Time to say good bye to our beautiful Clara who did a fabulous job as our Top Banana.  We learned a lot from her and her show in tell was wonderful.  I would like to give a shout out to our next Top Banana Karia.  She reported today her favorite activity was our class science experiment. We observed floating capsules and she stated, "It's like they come alive as they leave their egg."  I agree with her it did seem like they came alive.   She also enjoyed presenting and trying the math problem as a group.  Karia loved all the books we read this week and is looking forward to next week and reading more Arthur books.  Have a restful weekend.  Please make sure to sign your child's purple folder calendar.

Question: what were some of your observations during science today?

September 15, 2011

Clara stated today after school, "We are crazy heads for not posting yesterday!"  We are sorry and I am sorry I was late tonight. I was up at school for the 3-5 open house.  I arrived home and remembered I needed to post today's blog.  Clara chatted with me after school and told me today was a blast!  She thought it was wonderful that our class received two compliments from Mrs. Thomas and Ms. Zahm.  I agree with them your behavior has been terrific.  I was impressed how in this short amount of time that you all are doing this well.  I can only imagine what it will be like towards the end.  Today Clara enjoyed writing because she loved the Road Map Strategy I taught. She also thought the book, Author's Eyes by Marc Brown was the best.  She loved the connections she had to the book.  She had a fantastic time doing math CGI problems in class.  Clara also can't wait to see what happens to the capsules in science.

September 13, 2011

It seems as if the year is going by fast, this is already the fourth week.  THANKS, to two students who have answered the blog question almost daily.  Clara and Sam you are doing a fantastic job.  I know others have come on to answer, but these two have done it everyday this week.  Today was a fabulous day which started off in the library and ended with Science.  However, we did not complete our Science lesson, I am sure it will get done tomorrow.  I had a blast reading their letters they wrote to you.  Their letters are to inform you about their year in regrades to their strengths and weakness.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.  Clara reported that her favorite part of today was our class visitor Mrs. Doyle.  She read a book to the class and we made a text to text connection.  Her book she shared was The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, by Mordicai Gerstein. Our connection was to the book Ms. Wolfean shared yesterday September 12th We Knew Everthing Would be Alright, by a class of first graders.  We continued studying connections in reading and worked on our understanding of using frist, next, then, and finally in our writng.  During math our class investigated doubles again and continued our CGI.  I hope you all are on your way to dinner and see you tonight.
Question:  Clara asked, "What is your favorite book you enjoy reading and why?"

September 12, 2011

Monday is always a difficult day because we are really too tired.  Our weekend is on our minds and we want to keep sleeping.  Clara shared her poster and explained about being the Top Banana. She enjoyed having recess alone, good dog!  She also loved reading silently to continue her chapter book. At the end of the day we practiced our severe weather drill. Clara stated "I loved having Mrs. Schultz say over the load speaker it was the best drill ever!" She reported math is better when we get to use our calculators.  Writing was spent practicing our four box drawing plan and writing our personal narrative stories.  The class watched a video on safety, and we took our journals home to write about why it is important to be safe in Science? This is Clara who is finished reporting the news, see you tomorrow!

PS Question: Clara wants to know, what animal would you like to change into and why?

September 9, 2011

Today our class was glad to welcome their Grandparents to Gattis Elementary.  We were proud to see them and have lunch with us. Clara reported again to me she had fun swimming in class to music, but sad we could not see the video.  She enjoyed reading and writing letters to our parents.  Clara has been chosen to be the TOP BANANA of our class.  She is our spot light child for the up coming week.  I will be asking the Top Banana to give me their ideas to put in the blog. Please be on the look out for when your child will also be our top banana.    We took another quiz in math on our time, and continued to count on by 1, 2, and 3.  In Social Studies we discussed soldiers in Iraq and the heroes of September 11, 2000.  I felt a need to inform them because we are discussing patriotism in class. It was also brought up by a student during calendar time.  We were recording important events, and one child made the connection.  Please look in your child's purple folder for your invitation to Open House on September 13, 2011, at 6:30.  Your child wrote the letter and worked hard on this.  I am proud of their writing and look forward to a wonderful world of writing.

September 8, 2011

Clara reported, "Today we had a blast!"  She enjoyed writing our letters to our parents.  She is liked learning about the holidays we studied in Social Studies.  I have loved getting to know the students and I will continue to post students comments.  I feel this will be a fantastic way for you all to hear what others have to say about our day.  We practiced our CGI strategies for math and continued with counting on by 3.  Today in writing the students wrote letters to the parents, be on the look out for them on Friday.  Then we of course had a small amount of time to practice reading.  I hope you all have a great Thursday.

Question: Describe your favorite Holiday and why?

September 7, 2011

I do not understand why my post from last night did not take, guess the Blondie in me forgot to push publish.  I feel silly and of course, and had to laugh this morning when I came in to post our daily schedule on our blog.  I am excited that our day covered everything we needed to do and more. I have been loving the fact we have a routine in place and I am getting the majority of our items addressed.  Today continued looking at letters and the purpose for writing them.  We wrote to Texas Tech University to try and persuade them to send us information on our college to complete our research unit. In reading we discussed the use of asking ourselves questions throughout our reading.  We investigated clocks and the way we need to make sure when the hour hand is between two numbers we go back to the lower hour.  Students are confusing the time.  You might want to review with your child the importance of how we tell time to the half hour.  I see an improvement on most students, I love seeing their mental light bulb come on. We decorated the binders for writing time and they seem excited about getting to use them.  I can not wait till you see what all they are doing, during Open House. 

September 6, 2011

I can't believe my life I was told at the end of the day there was a fire near my apartment.  I was scared and then the worse was over.  The fire was out and I could return to normal life.  My first thing was to unpack put items away.  Then it was to update my blog.  I hope I do not upset parents and students, for my late post.  Today was again filled with lots of learning and laughter.  We learned a small way to the parts of our body for remembering the parts of a letter.  Please have your little monkeys show you.  We discussed mentor texts and the purpose of them.  We learned the three ways to set a purpose for writing and why a mentor guides use to make our process easy.  We wrote to anyone we wanted and will continue to study letter writing.  We will be writing letters all week.  We read Henry and Mudge and learned how to pair read with our friends.  They read using their new ways to read and enjoyed reading with friends.  Finally in Math we discussed counting on by three and explored our Mountain Math wall.  We recorded our answers on paper and tomorrow we will be better.  I hope that all the families who have relatives battling a fire are safe and all ends like mine did, it being PUT OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

September 2, 2011

“WE FEEL GREAT OH WE FEEL SO GREAT!” my little monkeys reply when Ms. Wolfean asks, “How do you feel?”   I love my time here in second grade, they were productive yet again.  We were able to practice our last café strategy fluency today.  This is when we read accurately with expression and checking our punctuation.  We were writing in class using our strategy write, draw, write, and draw when we need to try to remember what happens next.  The students are coming along in their writing and I am surprised they are writing as much as they are being in second grade.  Then again no I am not because I love to write.  I write when they write and they see their teacher doing it.  Guess what they try to beat me and write more than myself.  In math we practiced our show strategies for the problem solving problems.  I am working with them on draw a picture and number line.  I would like to see what they come up with.  These are the two you can use and have them show you. They should be successful with these because we have been practicing them in class.  I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday.  I will see you all on Tuesday September 6, 2011.

September 1, 2011

WOW, I just discovered I did not do my homework last night.  I am a bad girl and need recess out, and have study hall.  I decided to make this one a double.  We had a productive day and reviewed our ILAC sign activity.  This activity was to prompt positive behavior, ask your children to explain.  This seems to be working on the class because we are getting better at how we communicate with one another.  In reading we are working on our comprehension strategies and accuracy strategy to decode words and break them down.  We are look for chunks of the words we already know to help us figure out the harder words.  Please have them model this when they are reading for 20 minutes at home.  In writing we are learning how to sketch our stories when we get stuck and move on to writing. The purpose is to write more and draw less.  During math we worked on CGI problems and you should have seen this come home last night.  We are working on this and it might be difficult the first couple of nights but I think they will get the hang of it soon.  I have been impressed with their strategies thus far and look forward to what they will produce for me in the future.  I promise to try never to forget the blog again; I must have been doing my other homework.  I was planning lesson to use in the class for your child!

August 30, 2011

WOW, what a day!  We were busy with our learning and we almost were able to get through all we needed to do.  However, we had library lesson and the computer gave us trouble.  This means our time ran over and library took longer than usual.  The students are allowed to check out 2 books.  I am trying to make sure the books are on their level.  If they struggle please read the book to them.  During reading we worked on the strategy read, cover, and tell.  Please have them model the strategy to you.  We worked on our road map strategy in writing and composed their story on their own.  Math was interesting we counted on by one.  They were given this as homework.  Then I tried to count on by two.  We used our magic number bowl trick and the students seemed to struggle more with adding two.  We will continue to practice more with counting on by two.  I will be sending the count on by two on Thursday.  I hope you will take time to let your child model their new strategies, at home.  This will help reinforce what is being taught in class. 

Thanks for all you do

August 29, 2011

My class was productive, we were able to complete everything I had planned for.  YEAH!!!!!  The students were able to stay focused and their behavior was spot on.  We do have some who love to chat, and we are working on this.  We have our math homework spirals ready for Thursday. They will complete their first CGI problem, with your help parents.  We practiced our Mountain Math and will be recording it on paper tomorrow, the graded papers will come home tomorrow.  We were able to read even longer today, using our comprehension strategy locating the story elements.  We will continue this strategy and others this week.  We wrote today on our own topic and listed our story on our road map.  I hope your child will show you this strategy.  We will continue to practice this strategy this week till we are all successful.  The students were continuing to learn what builds a great community in Social Studies.  We investigated by researching the text book to discover if there was more information we should discuss. My class noticed we knew a lot, but the text book gave us more information than what we knew. Today in PE it was reported, "My class had a fantastic time in PE."  My class, way to go keep up your positive attitude.

QUESTION FOR STUDENTS:  Describe your favorite activity to do on the weekend and why?

August 26, 2011

The first week is here and gone, we are off to a rolling great start.  This week was filled with getting to know you games.  We have been discussing what makes a powerful citizen in our class and community.  Please ask your child to share, "Who did you interview as a citizen today?"  She filled their minds with some excellent knowledge of the qualities of a well rounded citizen.  Her name was Mrs. Doyle, a delightful teacher who works in our library.  We continued our time lesson in Math with a review of our song about the clock.  We need to continue to review time to the half hour. This might be something you may want to practice with your child at home?  The students wrote on their own about a topic they loved. Please ask them, "What they are writing about?"  You could ask them to share with you My Duck, the book I read to them.  We even had a visitor drop in during our writing time, Mrs. Schultze.   My students reported they enjoed her time with us.  During reading, we discussed reading to self and the strategies for reading.  We have a chant to help them with their success in reading too.  I hope I am continuing to give your child the love of learning in their education, and them wanting to come to school everyday.  Have a restful weekend, see you bright and early on Monday!

August 25, 2011

I am sorry for the late posting, guess I got side tracked? Mike called from Iraq and I totally forgot what I was doing. I tell my students there is not any really great excuses out there, and look I just gave you all one.  Now on to the important business, your child and I had a day filled with learning and laughs.  However, I promise there was serious time as well because we got through everything I planned for, YEAH! We learned a new song and movements to guide them with telling time.  Please have them share this cute song with you?  We continued our discussion on community, and what qualities an excellent citizen has? Take some time to discuss this as well to reinforce what I am teaching?  I am looking forward to you all coming to Open House to share how their writing is coming alive in the class.  I think with their imagination and mine we have writing made in the Wild wilderness of Wolfean!!!  Thank you to all the parents who have reported they love the blog, I am enjoying sharing my thoughts with you.  Please continue to share your thoughts and  your child's thoughts with me. This year is starting off on the right track!  Again, I promise to try to be earlier with the posting, however, at least I did my homework! 

August 24, 2011

Today was another day filled with just as much work and not enough time.  We were working hard and time slipped away, our class did not make it on time to recess.  I promise not to have that much fun.  I know the students were sad to miss seeing their other friends outside.  Ms. Wolfean was kind enough to take us outside, not at our normal time.  She sure is great!  We wrote on the tables to complete math problems for our mountain math, now we are ready for it on our own.  The class went over rules for the class and what our reading rules are.  Ms. Wolfean of course reported out after hearing the News Reports from her Gattis Gators, that our 10 rules for reading are 1. Read 2. Reading 3. Read 4. Reading 5. Read 6. Reading 7. Read 8. Reading 9. Read 10. Reading.  I think they got the point to read during reading time.  I do not want to leave off the fact we wrote about one of our memories from our memory basket. I am looking forward to what we have in stored for tomorrow.

Question: What do you hope to do in class?

First Day In Second Grade

Our Day

Today was filled with fantastic learning; we had a blast playing the name game.  We laughed when Ms. Wolfean was having a silly moment.  The class took a tour of the school to discover where all the grades are, and we discovered third grade is in the portables.  We chatted with our new friends and got to know the old friends we held dear to us.  The class of course played outside, but not till learning was completed.  They have homework READING 20 minutes and DECORATING their writing notebook.  They are to use pictures of everything they love.  They can cut them out of magazines or use real pictures.  This is not due till Friday.  We did not have enough time in the day to do all the items Ms. Wolfean had planned, of course that is normal.  The first day usually is a time of getting to know one another and getting back into the swing of school!
PLEASE COMMENT

Question: Describe one thing you enjoyed about second grade?

SUMMER

Describe your likes and dislikes about your family's summer vacation?

Fifth Grade

What are you looking forward to about fifth grade, and what will you miss about fourth grade?

Talent Show

How do you feel about the talent show?

Describe what you have enjoyed about this year and what you would like to see change?

TAKS Strategies

What Strategies have you learned this year in Math And Reading that you will use on your TAKS Test?

I hope everyone has a safe weekend get rest and here is something to think about.  If you could make our class better what would it be?