September 28, 2012

Today was a great day, however we had a different lunch.  We traded lunches with fifth grade due to a trip they had to take to High School across the street.  I am sorry for not posting it on the blog yesterday, or letting the class know.  We did our reading and had CAFE time.  We completed make up work and also made sure to have our connections sheet finished before heading home.  Please while reading have your child model how to make connections while reading.  This will enable them to retain comprehension and build their reading level.  I am working hard to have all them writing short stories about themselves and we are moving to small moments in our life.  I would love if you would point out something you or they do together throughout week that leads to a write able moment.  This will help them see where stories come from, examples if you go to a special place, game, movie,...etc.  We started our unit on number sense.  We played our lunchbox game, where we read a math problem and try to work it out. Also we played the secret number game, this is where I tel them I am thinking of a number can they guess it?  I told you we had a busy day, we even ate lunch in the class.  The final thing was we got a treat from Courtney for her birthday, THANKS!!

September 27, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COURTNEY!!!!  Today was Courtney's birthday and we all had a pretty good day.  We did our reading and CAFE station time.  We discussed asking questions while reading and locating answers in the text.  In reading groups Ms. Wolfean is working on parts of the text, foe non-fiction books.  We had a time assessment test, so Ms. Wolfean could collect data.  She also needs to have a focus for what should be retaught.  We then completed our science capsule experiment.  The students were shocked at how long it really took without be able to use their hands.  They loved watching it change into different sea animals, and some had desert ones.  We will be completing this activity tomorrow and moving onto our next experiment. 

September 26,2012

We had a "BATTY" day, because tonight we will be heading to watch the bats fly.  7:00 PM is the time and NAPA Parts at I35 frontage road just past McNeil is where to be.  I hope to see you there, ready for an adventure to write about the next day.  We had our Cafe time and moved right into writing about if we were a bat.  Then we silently walked outside to have a break and play.  After returning from recess we began our science and math activity.  We made a Venn Diagram comparing bats to birds.  We watched a video on bats then wrote in our science notebook about the interesting facts we learned from it.  We shared as class our findings then we attended PE.  They exercised and were hot when I picked them up.  I look forward to seeing you tonight.

September 25, 2012

Today we were lucky enough to receive a classroom student helper.  She is in a class, in high school, which will allow her to come to our class twice a week.  She is taking the class to see if teaching might be something she would like to do in the future.  She wants to become a second grade teacher.  We are looking forward to her support.  We discussed proof from the text, to back up our findings.  Readers make questions in their head and we have to find the answers in our text, this is proof from the text.  We did our CAFE stations and then we went to the library for check out.  We learned we will be using the computer to sign in at the library.  Then we came back to class and we began writing.  We are still discussing our noticing of what excellent writers do to their writing.  Then we moved onto science and began our first experiment, but not before we had to set up our science notebooks and make a plan.  We look forward to seeing what the capsules will turn in to?  Please ask them about their day, adn what they think thier science experiment will be?

September 24, 2012

Today was a fantastic day, we all seemed rested and ready to learn.  We started off with reading learning how to build our fluency and use expression to guide our reading.  We discussed having a conversation with our books.  We practiced this strategy for a bit in the class and headed to CAFE stations.  Ask your child about their CAFE time.  Then we discussed what writers do in their writing.  They not only use words they use punctuation marks, capital letters, and complete thoughts to tie in their ideas.  We discussed our noticing we found in books and discussed them as a class.  Then it was time for a break and off to recess we went.  After our play time we got right back to work and continued to learn how to write time to the hour and half hour.  The class is finally, well most, are getting how to write the times.  We watched a video on time and began our science lesson.  We discussed what a scientist is and their preception on what one looks like is interesting.  They all pretty much thought of a mad scientist type and they all mix chemicals.  We discussed that a scientist explores the natural world to discover to new knowledge that was not there before.

September 21, 2012

They are to get their Science notebook signed, this is due to safety in the class.  I like to have the parents involved in knowing the rules too.  I have had mothers come in and we are all wearing goggles, for safety.  I want them to know you will also be a partner in their safety.  We did our reading groups and had our cafe talk discussing books.  we also focused our attention to the connections we make to our reading.  We also read independently in our dessert books, they love them.  Ask your child about their dessert book?  We made a fold able book about our self to display in the halls.  This project is cute because the students will come home with traits that others in the class think about them. This project will take one more day to complete.   We reviewed how to write time to the hour and half hour.  Then we left our day with creating our Science notebooks. 

September 20,2012

Today was a fantastic day, we got through all our planned activities.  We are working hard on staying quiet in the halls and we will continue to make sure to respect others.  We did two rotations of reading work stations and we discussed connections we have in books we are reading.  We shared about how connections help us build on our comprehension as a reader.  We continued our CGI problems in math and are doing one problem tonight at home.  I look forward to seeing what they do for you and hearing about it.  Then we continued to discuss telling time to the hour and half hour.  Some students are having trouble and others seem to grasp it.  We completed our National symbols unit and we will be moving on to Science and experiments. YEAH

September 18, 2012

Today was a fantastic day, Ms. Wolfean was here again.  I love to see them and have them report to me they missed me.  I am trying to get back to the swing of all we need to do.  The students will start their CGI math problems on Thursday.  Also Kona Ice will be here tomorrow the students must be with a parent, unless they are a bus rider or day care.  THEY MUST HAVE MONEY, this is a fund raiser to support the school. They need to have 3 to 5 dollars because it depends on the sizes they offer.  I hope this clears up any questions. 

Today we did our reading and discussed connections.  There are three types text to self, text to text, and text to world.  Please ask your child during reading time to practice making connections.We also took a math test which involved number sense.  They could not study, but we will be reviewing items and games in class to bring up scores.  I am proud of them and rewarded them with no math homework because of it.  We discussed letter writing and practice writing a letter to Ms. Wolfean about test taking and if recess is important or not?  Please ask your child what they will be writing.

September 17, 2012

YEAH, MS WOLFEAN IS BACK!!!!  I loved hearing all the kids say this as they were coming through the door this morning.  I am okay, but still am weak.  We had a great day reviewing our reading strategies on how we read in class.  Then we practice buddy reading and independent reading.  I can not wait to get them in to groups tomorrow and begin listening to them share books.  We Spent a lot of time writing as well, we discussed ways to begin a story and where writers get ideas for their writing.  Then we did CGI in math, this way we will begin solving problems at home.  We will begin our unit on time and continue working with addition and subtraction.  We reviewed social studies by breaking  down the pledge of allegiance.  The students should be able to explain the words behind the pledge.  I am sorry for not updating the blog before now.

September 7, 2012

Today Ms. Wolfean was not herself, but she is a trooper and came in to teach anyway.  We started out our morning writing and Ms.Wolfean model the best way to journal write,  She gives a prompt if we don't like it we can choose to free write.  We practice the time line plan and drawing before we write.  However, she also began to show us how we can just start writing to get thoughts down on paper, if we have a topic already.  We then moved to reading and we did group reading and plotted our books we read.  We plotted the setting, characters, problem, and solution.  Then we of course got to run and play, we were sad Ms. Wolfean was study hall no play time with her.  We came back and completed our map of plotting and headed quickly into math.  Ms. Wolfean taught was a game called target number and we wrote on the table.  IF YOU ASK THEM TO SHOW YOU, GIVE THEM PAPER!  You will need a die.  This is finally when we began discussing our patriotism unit.  Last but not least we said, "Good-bye!"

September 6, 2012

Today was a busy day, we got almost everything done.  Reading we continued to discuss plot and character traits.  We had a great time reading to self and practicing the correct way to read.  We went over how to focus on the words and pictures.  We also giggled because Ms. Wolfean was modeling reading and was acting up, she modeled what not to do.  They tried to explain that reading a book upside down is not what good readers do.  Then we moved into writing and Ms. Wolfean issued out our white binders for writer's workshop.  They were excited to see how they were going to keep their writing together.  We created a draft for our first story to place in our binder.  Then we went outside to play and we were sad because Ms. Wolfean does not go out on Thursdays, she has it off.  Then when we came inside it was time for math.  We began our CGI math, which is our problem solving notebook.  The will come home next week for you all to see.  They will solve a problem and I will grade it the next day.  Finally we ended the day with a lock down drill, some were scared.  I reinforced it was a drill and all relaxed.  Then we finished up our community lesson and continued to discuss the symbol of our Nation.

September 5, 2012

Today was another day of excellent students, however, we do need to work on our behavior in the lunchroom.  There are some, who need to make sure to  remain focused on themselves not others.  Overall, almost all are doing AWESOME!  I am excited to report we had another citizen from the community, of Gattis Elementary, come visit the class.  Mr. Brillhart came to visit the class, we interviewed him about what it was like to be a good citizen.  Please ask your child what they learned about him?  During reading time we took a spelling test for Ms. Wolfean to guide us in spelling this year.  It was not a test I am grading them on.  It is to see what I need to teach your child.  We began our reading unit on story plot. We discussed setting, problem, characters, and solution.  Ask them what they mean? Then we discussed the types of books we can read fiction and non-fiction.  We moved on to math, but after we had recess.  In math Ms. Wolfean did silent teach, this is when I do not say anything and the children pass a marker writing their thoughts.  Please ask what they learned from silent teaching?  Our last item before leaving the class was finishing up our citizen paragraph.  The students chose a person, wrote about what they do to be a excellent citizen, and why they felt that way.  I hope you all as parents find this helpful and take time asking your child about their day.

September 4, 2012

Today was a fantastic day, I loved seeing their writer's notebooks they created over the holiday.  If they did not do this they will bring it home over the weekend to decorate the cover.  I am enjoying getting to know the students and I love the fact we got four compliments from teachers around the building. I hope this behavior continues to stay just the way it is.  I love feeling like I have the best class in the school, but just a secret...I DO!  They did a lot of work, however it seemed like not much because we had a special time.  We made it to the library for our first check out.  They thought that was exciting, because I could not get them to stop reading.  I love to see them enjoying their books and having fun reading.  Then we returned to the class for our writing and this will be the focus for us, writing more instead of just drawing.  We continued our day with math and worked on doubles and doubles plus one.  Finally we ended the day with Social Studies, our focus is moving towards our country and their symbols.