Day 2 went very well!  We are continuing to work on learning classroom routines.  We worked on unpacking and getting our lunch and water bottle ready for lunch, putting a water bottle at our table, and coming to the carpet.  We are also learning our morning routine for our Picture Talk.  Today we practiced Turn and Talk.  Turn is Talk is when the children face each other and talk for a couple minutes about the picture.  They need to stay on topic, listen to their partner and share what they are noticing.  We studied the picture above today and compared it the picture we looked at yesterday.  
We are working on smooth transitions from one activity to the next.  We know we need to push our chairs in, follow class traffic patterns (go in the in and out the out for the cubbies), and traffic patterns on the carpet.  
We also worked on the routine of going to our classroom library and reading books.  I was so excited to see books in kids' hands again.  Nothing makes me happier than seeing kids reading books.  I'll try and snap some pictures tomorrow so I can post them.
We listened to a short story from Benchmark, our reading program about a little girl who doesn't want to get up and go to school.  We are working on looking at the illustrations for clues and to learn more about the story.  We also listened for rhymes in sentences.  
We read some great books today.  We read Yoko Writes Her Name, by Rosemary Wells, then practiced writing our first name using an uppercase letter to begin, then lowercase letters for the rest of the letters.  Ask me to tell you what happens when Yoko writes her name using Japanese characters.
We also read School's First Day of School, by Adam Rex.  This story is about a new school who isn't sure he wants all those kids in him!  
I didn't have time to read the book I choose to read at the end of the day yesterday, so I read the kids I'm Sticking With You, by Smriti Prasadam-Halls.  This book is so sweet about a friendship between a bear and a squirrel.  Ask me to tell you what happens when squirrel decides he wants to be alone.
My math was all on the Promethean Board, and I messed up the board sharing with our new computer, so I will have to catch up in math tomorrow!  We will be learning about looking at objects that are exactly the same, objects that are different, and then sorting.  The children will have a math workbook at school that they will keep in the pocket on their chair.  They will learn to tear the pages out so they can bring them home.  
I'm having a great time getting to know your children.  Thank-you for sending such polite children to school!  It makes my job so much easier!

I PROMISE to send home the Daily folder tomorrow, and to give the kids time to play!  The afternoon seems to go by so fast, although I think that was mostly because they come in pretty tired after recess so I give them a little time to cool down before jumping back into instruction.

Have a nice evening!
​Miss Wolfe

Hello Families!
Today we had a good start to our year. Each morning we will do a Picture Talk.  The picture will be photographs or artwork, or possibly even just a quote or cartoon.  This morning we studied the picture above.  We talked about what we noticed and what we wondered.  Today we practiced thinking in our head first about what we noticed.  We will usually turn and talk to a partner, but we will work on that tomorrow, then we share out.  Ask me to tell you what I notice about this painting.

We unpacked, found our cubby, and ordered lunch.  We listened to a funny story called "You're Finally Here!," by Melanie Watts.  We noticed the bunny character and how his feelings changed throughout the book.  We will be talking about feelings often this first marking period in Health.

We watched a short video of Bert and Ernie today to learn about a portrait.  The children drew a portrait of themselves.  We will save this in our time capsule that we will open at the end of the year.  

We had a great first day!
Miss Wolfe