Today we talked and compared food from different cultures.  We studied photographs of what a family eats for a week from different places in the world.  Ask me to tell you what I notice about these photographs.

  Mrs. Kanter came in and read Yoko, by Rosemary Wells to the children.  They shared food their family eats.  The children talked about food from their culture.  We read Dim Sum for Everyone, by Grace Lin.  We learned about this special kind of restaurant that serves small dishes.  Ask me to tell you what dim and sum means.  Later, we read another book by Grace Lin called Fortune Cookie Fortunes.  This book is about a family that opens their fortune cookie and wonders if their fortune will come true.  The story shows how each fortune came true.  Many fortunes were shared in this book, which inspired us to make our own paper fortune cookies and fortunes.  In fact, we wrote many fortunes!  I was amazed at the fortunes the children wrote.  Although we were inspired by the fortunes in the story, the children wrote their own without copying from the book.  There are some very wise little people in this class!  Ask me to show you my fortune cookie!
In math, we learned to play a fun game called Pig.  We will be playing this game in pairs tomorrow, but today we played it online.  This game involves rolling two dice and deciding whether to roll the dice again to increase your score.  Players in our game are trying to get to 30, (some to 50 or 100), using ten frames to keep track of points.  If on a roll, a one comes up, a players turn is over and the other player rolls.  If double ones come up, all that players points are gone.  The first player to get to 30 wins.

I have probably sent you home some very hungry children with all our talk of food today!  Have a nice evening!
Juliet

Yes, you read that right.  Today, instead of Friday, it was Funday.  That doesn't mean we didn't learn anything or talk about anything important though!  We started our day by studying this beautiful painting.  

We talked about what the main idea of this painting is and what the children might be doing.  We read a beautiful book from National Geographic called Brave Like Me, by Barbara Kerley.  This book is about servicemen and women and their families.  We talked about the importance of the armed services and how everyone in the family of someone serving their country has a special job.  We appreciate the sacrifices these families make and are grateful for their service.  Thank-you to all our military families!
Today we also learned about sketching trees.  Today we focused primarily on the parts of the tree and the shape of the tree.  We sketched from far away and also practiced using binoculars to see more from far away.  It was a beautiful day for sketching!
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In the afternoon, we read a book called Wind Flyers, by Angela Johnson.  This book was about the Tuskegee Airmen.  This prestigious group protected the bombers and never lost a plane they were protecting.  The narrator in this story talks about how flying is different now than it was a long time ago.  Ask me to tell you how it was different for the man in the story.
We made paper airplanes in the afternoon since we couldn't do it on our field trip Monday.  We made awesome paper airplanes that can really fly far and high.  We had two rules I know you will want to have at home too.  Planes could not be flown toward anyone's face, and could not be flown toward the lights.  We got one stuck on the lights and turned them off just to be safe in case the lights got hot.  I know you will want those rules at home too.  We designed and redesigned our planes after flying them.  We also enjoyed naming them and decorating them too.  Then we flew our best plane in a two person race to see whose plane would fly the farthest.  

Just an FYI, I have not had access to my e-mail at all today, and only off and on yesterday.  It is system-wide, although some teachers still have their e-mail.  Hopefully this will be fixed soon, but please send a note Tuesday if there are any changes, and please understand if I don't reply right away to your e-mail.  

I hope everyone has a fun, safe long weekend!
​Juliet

Today we began learning about our family heritage.  We read a beautiful new book by Faith Ringgold called We Came to America.  This book is about immigration, and how everyone except the Native Americans came to America from somewhere else. The book is very lyrical, and has a few simple ideas expressed through words and pictures.  People came to America, some by choice and some in chains or to escape injustice. They brought with them different traditions, songs, dance, music, food, and beliefs.  The book ends with these lines, "In spite of where we came from, Or how or why we came, We are all Americans, Just the same."  I encouraged the children to talk with their families about what they know about how their family came to America.  Some know well because it was in their recent family history, but for others it may not be known.  Over the next couple weeks we will be talking more about our family, traditions, and what makes us unique.
We also read a book called Same, Same but Different by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw.  This book is about two children who are pen pals, one from the United States and one from India, who share letters and pictures. Through their letters and pictures, they find that although their world is different, they are very much the same.  It's a Ask me to tell you how their lives were the same and what was different.

Enjoy the beautiful weather!
Juliet
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We had a great field trip today.  The children learned about the historic airport, The College Park Airpark, that is the longest, continuously running airport in the world.  We learned about the Wright Brothers and learned about many old planes.  The children got to sit in a small plane and work the controls that lift the flaps on the plane, then got to go to the hands-on area of the museum.  Our chaperones, Ashely's mom and Meesha's mom, were great.  The docent who took us around was also really good.   Here are some pictures I did get to snap.  Enjoy!!  

This is a great museum to visit with younger kids because it's smaller than the Air and Space Musuems so you might consider a visit sometime.  

Have a nice evening!
​Juliet

Today we started our day wondering about this extraordinary photograph from National Geographic.  We studied the photograph and had many questions.  I told the children it was called Krishna’s Butter Ball, and one of our students told us the story of Krishna's butter.  The students wrote down the questions they had, working carefully to include spaces between words, an upper case letter at the beginning of their sentence, an attempt at punctuation, and their best try spelling unknown words. Ask me to tell you what I was wondering when I studied this photograph.

We read the story Big Bear Hug, by Nicholas Oldland.  This book is about a bear who loves to give bear hugs, especially to trees.  One day, a man comes into the forest to chop down a very tall, special tree.  The bear runs to the man and is about to bite him, but instead he stops.  We thought about what the bear could do next.  We made a connection to Stop, Think and Do and discussed the options to decide whether they were good choices or not.  You will be happy to know the bear gives the man a big bear hug instead of biting him, but still. the man runs away.  We thoroughly enjoyed this story!
We worked with words with silent e today.  We read this poem by Eve Merriam called How to Eat a Poem then looked for words with silent e. 
                                How To Eat A Poem
Don't be polite.
Bite in.
Pick it up and eat the juice that may run down your chin.
It is ready and ripe now whenever you are.
You do not need a knife or fork or spoon
or plate or napkin or tablecloth
For there is no core
or stem
or rind
or pit
or seed
to throw away. 

We enjoyed this song about silent e.
We read a story called The Tree Lady by H. Joseph Hopkins.  This story is about Katharine Olivia Sessions who brought trees to San Diego.  Ask me why there were no trees in San Diego when Kate moved there.  

Another eaglet update!  The eaglets branched this week, which means they went up on one of the branches instead of staying in the nest. The mother eagle had dinner up there which maybe coaxed the eaglets up there.  They are on the railings of the nest often.  Every time we see the eaglets spread their wings, we are amazed.  They are enormous, and the eaglets are getting used to them.  They are flapping them and soon will be hovering.  Check them out if you haven't!  dceaglecam.eagles.org
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Have a nice weekend!
Juliet

Today we read Llama, Llama, Red Pajama.  What a great book with wonderful words.  We talked about the words drama, fret, and wailing.  Ask me to tell you about these words!
We thought about poems today and how they are the same and different from stories.  We thought of topics for poems we could write, and what would not make a good poem for us to write.  We found out that we could write an awesome poem about marshmallows, but we could not even get started on writing a poem about automatic transmissions.  So we know, choosing a topic is important.  We read a beautiful book called Daniel Finds a Poem, by Micha Archer.  This book is about a little boy who loves nature.  He goes to the park each day and is looking forward to a Poetry Night they are going to have at the park.  But Daniel does not know what poetry is, so he asks different creatures in the park.  He soon finds out that poetry is all around him.
We worked more with story problems today.  We thought about the different ways we can solve story problems.  

We continue to check-in on the eaglets, Freedom and Liberty.  They are getting so big and can do so much now.  They are self-feeding, beginning to sleep standing up for short periods of time, playing with branches, and stretching the wings.  Watch for hovering and branching in the next few weeks!  The website is ​http://dceaglecam.eagles.org/

Enjoy this gorgeous day!
​Juliet

Today we began talking about how animals move.  We looked at animals and thought about words that describe how the animals move.  Then, we watched a video that compared how animals and human animals move.  We got quite a good workout!  Ask me to tell you six ways animals move.
We read a wonderful book called Big Friends, by Linda Sarah.  This book is about two little boys, Birt amd Etho, who are very big friends.  They love playing with two big cardboard boxes, and they use their imagination to be kings, astronauts and pirates.  But most of all, they are always big friends.  A new little boy, Shu, finally has the courage to bring his own box and ask to join in.  Ask me to tell you what courage means and why this little boy needed it to join in with the other two boys as they played.  Soon,  Birt feels that Etho and Shu are playing together more and he feels left out, then begins avoiding the other two.  Ask me to tell you what avoid means.  The has a very fun ending.  Ask me to tell you how Etho and Shu get Birt to join in and play with them once again.  We stopped a lot along the way as we read this book today to make text-to-self connections.  It isn't always easy to play with two other children, especially when one child has been a very special big friend to you first.
We practiced finding the missing part with numbers today.  We looked at a number, then lifted one flap to reveal one part of the number, then used the "counting-on" or "counting-back" strategy to find out the missing part.  We shared other strategies some children used to find the missing part as well.  Then we introduced a new game to play during our math workshop.  We played math hopscotch.  We threw two beanbags on a hopscotch carpet.  We added the two numbers and got to keep the points if we were able to hop to ten and back without touching down on the squares with the beanbags.  

Have a nice evening!
Juliet
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Today we started testing in reading.  Each child will read and answer comprehension questions about what they read.  Some students will also do a written comprehension response.  Some students will also read word wall words for a check-up. 

Today we worked on making two-digit numbers with different manipulatives.  We used the digi-blocks, base ten blocks, and popsicle sticks and rubber bands  to show the tens and ones needed to make different numbers.

The next couple weeks testing will be occurring in other grade levels.  Because of this state testing, additional teachers are needed to give the test, so the media center will not be open for book exchange in the mornings except on our check-out day, which is Tuesday. 

Have a nice evening!
Juliet

Today we listened to a story called Love is My Favorite Thing, by Emma Chichester Clark.  This story is about a dog named Plum.  The dog tells the story.  Plummie, as he likes to be called, tells about all the things he loves.  Then he tells about a day when he made several poor choices.  He just couldn't help himself.  His owner told him not to, but he did it anyway.  Ask me to tell you the things Plummie did.  Plummie is put in time-out and wonders if his owners will still love him.  As you might guess, of course they do.  We made a text-to-text connection to No, George, No that we read earlier in the year about a dog who was learning self-control.  We also made text-to-self connections and know our family, as well as our school family, will love us even when we made mistakes or don't have self-control.  We know there will still be consequences, but that we will always be loved.  This is a great book!

Although we were in Code Blue for part of the day, the children were not aware of what was happening in the area and were fine.  We went on with our day as usual but students were not allowed to go anywhere in the building without an adult.  

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms!  I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
​Juliet

Today we studied these pictures to determine how they go together.  The children noticed moms were in every picture right away, but then after looking at each of the pictures they determined these pictures showed just some of the many things mom do for their children every single day.  We then thought of adjectives that describe moms and made a long list.  The students then thought of their moms and began a flipbook for their mom with adjectives they picked from the list or thought of themselves.  The children worked very hard on the books and are anxious to use colored pencils to color-in their drawings on Friday.  
In math we worked on story problems.  We worked with problems where the sum was known, but the addends were not.  For example, "Miss Wolfe has seven jellybeans.  Some are red, and some are green.  How many of each color could she have?"  For this, children are using what they know about decomposing to find possible answers.  7= 1 + 6, 7 = 2 + 5, etc.

Have a nice evening!
Juliet
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