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. 

August 31, 2012

I guess the computer did not save yesterday's blog.  I noticed it today as I sat to create today's.  I am truly sorry about that, I might have forgot to click publish.  I know I did not check to see if it posted that might be something I never forget to do.  I love to here the children's replies when we are learning math.  I ask them to explain how they know things and they say, no lie, "My teacher told me or my PreK teacher told me."  I have to giggle inside because I hope this is not what you all are hearing when they come home.  Ms. Wolfean says so it must be right.  I would be the first to tell you I just might be wrong.  During reading we practiced reading with a buddy and how to talk about a book.  Then we wrote about our first day of school or free wrote.  We had a special visitor come to see us, Mr. Mike Ms Wolfean's future husband.  He works in the Army and I asked him to come to the class.  I wanted the children to be able to interview him about what it means to be a good citizen.  This is what we are studying in social studies.  We had a great first week, please be safe over the long holiday.  I will see you all bright and early on Tuesday, ready to learn!!

August 29, 2012

The Wonderful Wilderness of Wolfean is off to a great start we are quickly getting to know one another.  However, we do need to work on silent in the halls.  Also we were lucky Ms. Wolfean gave us our money bags and explained to us what we will use them for.  Please ask your child what the money is given for and what they will use it for?  We discussed how to pick books for reading time, shopping for just fit books.  The students love to pick books, but we are still working on finding the just right book for our self.  We are also starting to write, we wrote about our fears for writing.  This helps Ms. Wolfean with what she might need to teach us this year.  The class as a whole I can already tell writing will be a focus.  I promise I will get your child to become a better writer.  During math we discussed number sense and how they know how to count by five.  They discovered why it is so that adding five more is like counting by fives.  It was interesting to hear them say because my Pre K. teacher told me that's how we count by fives.  I loved to see them finally understand they are adding every time.  Then we ended our day by discussing communities and the people in our community are the citizens.  Please discuss with your child the importance of a great citizen?

August 28,2012

Today was the second day of school and boy was it filled with lots of fun and interesting activities.  We played a scavenger hunt to locate children in our class who had pets, lived in a house, and who might have traveled to another state.  Also there are more questions we have to found answers to and locate the children in our class.  Ms. Wolfean is going to continue this activity till we have found someone for all the questions.  We reviewed rules in our class and laws in our community.  W ear working on number sense and how numbers work.  We are working on the strategy counting on.  Please make sure parents to sign your child's homework folder and behavior calendar.

August 27th, 2012

YEAH, made it through our first day of school.  I love my new monkeys they are all very special.  I already love the relationship I am creating with all of them.  I hope they came home today excited and want to come back.  We had a special time getting to know one another by menial to music and name tag activity.  We played our dice addition game you roll it I add it.  We went outside an played with all our second grade friends.  This was exciting and then took a tour to get familiar with the school.  It has been a while since we were here, some need ed to remember.  Also they are in a new hallway, so for some they could not remember where to go.  We taught the new Gattis Gators where everything was because they need to most.  We welcomed they with open arms and got to know about our families.  We ended our day with PE, and then had to say, "Good-bye to everyone!"  I can not wait till I see you all tomorrow!!!