ASk Me about friday, january 21, 2022

It is so good to be back with the kids.  It was a long day with no special, and with lunch in the classroom and indoor recess, so I was with the kids all day.  That accounts for the three hour deep sleep I did after school instead of the half hour nap I planned when I got home!  I really do enjoy the weeks when the children eat in the classroom, or in Miss Wolfe's Restaurant as I call it.  We listen to fun music and try and have quiet conversations.  Sometimes it gets a bit loud, but as always with music on in the classroom, I remind them that if they can't hear the music, they are too loud.  We enjoyed some Disney Jazz today since Friday is Jazz Friday in our classroom.  If you enjoy Dave Brubeck, or love Disney, Dave Digs Jazz is a great album!
We reviewed words with multiple meanings today.  These words are homophones.  We enjoyed the book Did You Say Pears, by Arlene Alda which is a book of photographs with witty text.  We noticed the homophones but also used it as an opportunity to dig deeper into vocabulary.  For example, we clarified the word "pairs" which many of the students didn't really understand.  With vocabulary developement, children have often heard words but don't have a good working definition of the word.  We have been working on vocabulary strategies such as using the context of the sentence to understand the words.  I call the children Word Birds and use a bird graphic on the slide in the slideshow to remind the children that this is an important word in our content.
In math, we have been writing numbers that come before  and after a given number, and identifying words as more than or less than.  We are also using the word "fewer:" when we talk about quantity.  We can use the words "less than" when talking about the value of a number, and "fewer" when we are talking about quantity.  It's a pet peeve of mine when I hear it used less used to describe quantity on tv, but I think I'm going to have to get over that!  But it's important the children know this, especially since it comes up on the MAP P test.  
I am continuing to see reversals in writing numbers and in letters.  We will continue to work on handwriting to address this.  It is very common for children in kindergarten and first grade to reverse letters and numbers.  
The children brought home Read to Me, Talk to Me books today.  Remember they can keep this book at home for a week so you can read it several times.  Don't forget about the questions that are in the front or back of the book.  These were written to support the curriculm and give you a focus as you read the book during the week.  It's not necessary for your child to answer all the questions.  I want this time to be enjoyable and to not feel like a quiz.  We have one child in the class who does the class project each week, and several others who do them sometimes.  I am moving the display for the projects in the classroom so we have more room for projects..  The projects are optional but encouraged.

Have a great weekend and stay safe!
​Miss Wolfe