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!