We started our day practicing our new Heart Words ate, who and our.  We also reviewed the digraph /th/ and practiced our new diagraph /sh/.  We worked on fluency as we read a passage from our practice book.  We are working on reading the words so it sounds more like talking than stretching out the words to where it almost sounds like singing.  We are reading at a quicker pace, and scooping words in twos and threes so the words sound more connected.  
As part of our recognition of Arab American Heritage Month, we read a beautiful book called Mama Shamsi at the Bazaar by Mojedeh Hassani and Samira Iravani.  The two authors had similar experiences with their grandmothers' chador, which is the full length cloak worn by some Iranian women.  This story is about the authors grandmothers and is set in Tehran sixty years ago.  A little girl, Samira, and her grandmother are going to the bazaar.  It is the first time the little girl has gone to the bazaar and she is worried she will get lost.  Samira has an idea that she thinks will keep her safe.  Her grandmother's response to her ideas is very sweet and funny.  Ask me to tell you what the grandmother says about Samira's ideas. The authors' share their reason for writing this book.  Both authors felt safe and cozy under their grandmother's chado and wanted to share that feeling with others who may not be familiar with the chador. 
We got to have popsicles today as a reward for reading the most minutes in kindergarten for the Read-a-Thon..  We listened to the story The Library Lion on Storyline Online as we ate the popsicles.  Thanks to the PTA for the great treat!

Have a great weekend!
​Miss Wolfe

Today we started an author study about one of our favorite authors, Mo Willems!  The children learned a little about Mo Willems life and what inspired him to become an artist and eventually author.  Willems was inspired by the Peanuts cartoons in the newspaper.  He also loved making kids laugh as he was growing up.  Willems wrote for Sesame Street and had two cartoon shows.  We watched Mo Willems perform his first book, Don't Let the PIgeon Drive the Bus.  We brainstormed some other things we thought the pigeon should not do.  We didn't get to do a pigeon guided drawing like I thought we would, but during playtime a few students drew the pigeon and a couple even started writing their own pigeon books, which I had suggested we could do after drawing the pigeon.  They did it on their own!  I love when they get inspired and show their interest in what we're learning in those ways!
We also visited South Carolina in Read the USA today.  We read the book Follow the Moon Home: A TAle of One Idea, Twenty Kids, and a Hundred Sea Turtles.  This book was written by Philioppe Cousteau and is the true story of a class from South Carolina who wanted to do a campaign that would help fix a problem in their community.  The children identified a problem, researched the problem by reading books and talking to experts, and planned and implemented a project.  We read this book now because it's about how humans changed the environment by building beach houses which impacted sea turtles.  Ask me to tell you what the problem was and how the children help to solve it. 

I hope you were able to get outside and enjoy the beautiful day!
​Miss Wolfe

Today we had a great read aloud called Taco Falls Apart, by Brenda S. Miles.  This book is about a taco who feels so much is expected of him.  He starts to have negative thoughts and begins to fall apart.  Luckily, Nacho comes along and helps Taco to understand his negative thoughts shape his behavior and feelings.  This is a really great book with lots of good information in the back for caregivers to think about and ideas to use when working with children.  It's great for adults too!
We studied pictures of a dam and lodge built by beavers.  We studied the rodent's external features and discussed how these help the beaver to build and swim in the water.  This is an amazing animal to watch!
We also started our new science unit that focuses on how plants and animals change the environment.  Our first lesson is about zoos and how they provide appropriate environments for the animals to live.  We looked at photographs of more traditional zoos, and took a quick trip on the safari at Disney's Animal Kingdom.  We were able to see how the environment replicated where the animals would live in Africa.  The children will be able to look at and read many books about different animal habitats over this marking period.  This unit is always a favorite of the kinders!
We went to art and were surprised to find out we didn't have a substitute.  Instead of dividing the children up and sending them to specials with the other classes they had already been to this week, we went back to the classroom and did guided drawing with the amazing author and illustrator Grace LIn.  I hope the children showed you their work.  I have done these guided drawings with kids in the past, and this group was the easiest to work with because they were perisistent, followed along quickly, and didn't get upset if their animal didn't turn out the way they wanted the first time.  I was so impressed by their drawings!  I'm going to put the vidoes on our Google classroom, but I will also put them below so you can draw and see the videos as well.  Grace LIn is an author your children can grow with because she writes both children's picture books and chapter books.  We skipped through most of the parts of the videos where Lin introduces chapter books she has written so we would have time to draw more animals.  

Have a great evening!
​Miss Wolfe

 A quick update with some pictures!  We have been talking about life long ago in Social Studies.  Today we visited the state of Utah.  I'll be catching up on sending home the postcards for the states we've visted lately.  We are havi
​ng all kinds of problems with the team printer, and the copier in the office but I'm hoping to get caught up soon!  The children listened to the story The Wheat Doll by Alison Randall.  This story is about a little girl who lived in Utah territory in the 19th century.  Mary Ann lives with her family and helps out doing chores.  She has a special hand-made doll that is filled with wheat seeds.  Ask me to tell you what happens to Mary Ann's doll.  We wrote about a key event in the story.  We will be working on adding details to our writing to tell more about the event.

In Social Studies, we played with some old fashioned toys today.  We had a great time trying out the different toys.  As I was taking pictures of the children, I noticed how well they work play together and are respectful of the rules we have for playing safely.  The made their own choices of what to play with and moved from toy to toy on their own, following our rules we talked about before starting.  They enjoyed the toys!  We will play with these more and will write an opinion about them later this week.  Enjoy the pictures I was able to take in between trying to play Tiddlywinks.  I have to say that we have some very persistent kids in this class who are determined to get those winks in the cup!  Ask me to tell you about the toy I liked playing with best today!

One of the best part of Tuesdays for me is that I don't feel rushed since we don't have a special.  We get to take a nice longer Brain Break.  We enjoyed Moana today from Disney Family.  

Have a great evening!
​Miss Wolfe

Lots of excitement today!  We started our day with an Eid story called Amira's Picture Day, by Reem Faruqi.  This is a beautiful book about a little girl's struggle with missing picture day at school and not attending school to go to an Eid celebration.  Ask me to tell you what happens!  The little girl in the story makes goody bags for Eid, just like one of our students did for the children in her class.  I asked the children to wait until after school to open their goody bags.  They were so patient!
We went to see two short plays the fifth grade wrote and performed.  The children did a great job listening and being respectful, and the plays were a lot of fun!
We took a big test for Benchmark today on the computers.  The kids did a great job listening and answering comprehension questions.
We had time for play and working on the Chromebooks, while I finished up reading with the children.  They each had to read a decodable text and answer a couple questions.  They did a great job with the test.  The thing I was most excited to hear was that they are reading more fluently.  

Have a nice evening!
​Miss Wolfe

We had a great day!  We started our day with a picture talk about these three amazing photographs.  The children talked about what they noticed and what they wondered. 
We read two books about Eid today.  One was an information book called Rashad's Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, by Lisa Bullard.  We reviewed the text features table of contents, chapter headings, and text boxes.  We learned about Ramadan and why some Muslims fast during this time.  Ask me to tell you what I learned about Ramadan and Eid.
We read a second book, this time fiction, called The Night Before Eid: A Muslim Family Story by Aya Khalil.  This book is about a little boy whose grandmother arrives from Egypt with a suitcase full of ingredients to make a special cookie for Eid.  I will include a video of the story below so you can enjoy it with your child if you like.  The children really enjoyed this story!  I showed the video of the book below but we have the book in the classroom for the children to look at and retell the story.

We practiced making Zen Tangles today.  Making Zen Tangles involves concentration and working carefully.  I encouraged the children to watch their pen as they made the designs.  I showed examples of designs they could use in the different sections of the sun I gave them.  Going slow, working quietly, and concentrating on breathing make this a great activity for children when they are experiencing strong feelings or just need to "cool their jets" a bit!  Usually when I introduce this I play quiet music, but I had to play sun music today.  Apparently I am Team Sun, which I didn't know was a thing until I put on our screen NASA's coverage of the total solar eclipse in different places.  I couldn't help but sing along to some of the sun music!
We took a Heart Word test today.  Overall the children did very well not just with the Heart Words but with using lower case letters to write them.  Thank-you for practicing these words with them at home.  I will be sending home the homework sheets from last week and this week's as well.  We got so busy at the end of the day with so many children getting picked up early that I didn't get it passed out.  Here are just some of the Zen Tangles the chidlren did today.  

Have a great evening!
​Miss Wolfe

Today we read Before She Was Harriet, by Lesa Cline-Ransome once again.  The children listened to remember one important event and the name Harriet was called then.  They also listened to this quote, "Every great dream begins with a dreamer.  Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."  This is a quote from Harriet Tubman and we used it to think about what we could do, no matter how small, to change the world.  I shared ideas with the students and they wrote their dream of how they could make life better for others in some way, big or small.  I will send these papers home tomorrow so the children can tell you all about Harriet as well as their dream. 
Later in the day, we continued with that theme with our read aloud book before recess.  We read Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed, by Emily Pearson.  This story starts with Mary picking blueberries and leaving them on the porch of her neighbor.  Ask me to tell you what happens next.
In Really Great Reading, we worked with long vowels.  Right now they are learning to listen for the long vowels, but not spell them.  Because there are so many ways the long vowels are spelled, we are stretching a bit into looking at how to spell words with a long vowel with a silent e at the end of the word.  We have also talked about how two ee's together make the long e sound.  

Have a nice evening!
​Miss Wolfe

We started our day studying these interesting nests.  The children were particularly interested in the octopus nest and the nest on the cliff.  Ask me to tell you which nest I found the most interesting.  
We had another SEL lesson about worrying.  We read a really great book for helping children learn about their worries called Avocado Feels a Pit Worried by Brenda Miles.  Avocado, the main character in the story, worries about everything.  His "what ifs" make it impossible for him to do anything.  His just sits in his house doing nothing.  He finds a way to turn his what if's around to make them positive.  I highly recommend this book for anyone who struggles with anxiety or worries.  In the back there is a lot of information about how to help your child with worrying and anxiety.  This author has a few other books we will be reading as well that are really great!
In math we are working with story problems, and representing them with pictures, number bonds and number sentences.  We can use the words "and" and 'is" in our number sentences or use the symbols + and =.  We are working with numbers 6, 7 and 8.

Have a nice evening!
​Miss Wolfe
  
Avocado Feels a Pit Worried: A Story About Facing Your FearsAvocado Feels a Pit Worried: A Story About Facing Your FearsAvocado Feels a Pit Worried: A Story About Facing Your Fears

We started our day talking about leaders and teamwork.  We watched some short videos and talked about what the leader did and how the others worked together..  This is a topic we will be talking about throughout the month.  I am putting the videos below if you would like to take a peek yourself!  Ask me to tell you how the animals and characters worked together.

In Benchmark reading, we read about technology in the future.  We read about a space elevator and jet packs.  We have some pretty brave friends who are all ready to try both!  The space elevator seems to be an idea that ran out of steam, and probably won't ever be built, but I couldn't help myself and showed the children a short clips of the space elevator simulation at Epcot's Space 220 restaurant.  It shows going up and how everything below gets smaller and eventually we are able to see the state of Florida from space.  Then we saw the reverse from space, back to Epcot.  The children were especially interested in the jet packs.  We identified key details in the text.  Ask me to tell you about the space elevator and the jet packs and which I'd like to try!

We read a beautiful story today called Before She Was Harriet, by Lisa Cline-Ransome.  This beautiful book tells about the many amazing things Harriet Tubman did in her life.  I introduced her as a super hero who didn't need bat belts and being able to fly, but instead was brave, patient, and was determined to make life better for so many whose freedom and choices were taken away.  I shared this with the students on the board today because there is a wonderful recording of the author reading it, and I'll post it below for you to enjoy.

In math, we worked with finding numbers between other numbers.  For example, I asked the children to write a number on their whiteboard that is more than 8 but less than 12.  They did a great job.  We went on the show how to draw a quick number line to show our number.  We will work with number lines more, but this was a good opportunity for children to use it to explain their thinking.
We continued working with number bonds, and represented our decomposition of numbers with a number sentence.  For example, we wrote 7 = 3 + 4 to show the whole group we started with and the number partners that we broke apart from 7.

Keep reading for the Read-a-Thon.  Have a nice evening!
​Miss Wolfe