Today we re-read a story from yesterday called The Three Billy Goats Fluff, by Rachel Mortimer.  This is a story with the same problem, as the traditional Three Billy Goats Gruff, but with a different solution.  The setting is also the same, but there is an additional character of Mother Goat.  In this story, the Mother Goat has empathy for the troll.  Ask me to tell you what empathy means, and what Mother Goat does to show her empathy toward the Troll's problem.
In math, we worked with writing subtraction number sentences to go with story problems.  We talked about how we need to think about what happens to remember that we start with the whole group and one part is taken away, and the other part is left.  Some of the students were getting mixed up with the symbols, but we will continue to work with this and how it relates to number bonds as well.  We also played a fun short game called snap where children took turns with a partner breaking apart a stick of six cubes.  They showed their partner one part, and kept the other part behind their back.  Their partner had to tell them how many cubes were in the stick behind their back.

Best wishes to everyone for a relaxing, fun and safe Spring Break!  
​Miss Wolfe

We continued to learn about fairy tales.  Today, we had a Cinderella Book Tasting.  I had Cinderella stories from around the world for the children to sample.  We talked about what the word sample means, and that's just what the kids did.  The children moved with a partner around the world to look at the illustrations in the Cinderella books.  They looked for the settings, the characters, and the magic in the story.  Ask me to tell you about the books I sampled today.

We had a great day!
​Miss Wolfe

We read The Three Billy Goats Gruff today.  This folktale tells of three brother goats who are trying to cross a bridge to eat more sweet, green grass.  We listened for words we didn't understand, or maybe have heard but were not quite sure of the meaning.  We talked about the words rickety, damp, furious, and course.  Today, your child is bringing home three cards to retell the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  Ask me to tell you the beginning, middle and end of the story, as well as the problem and how it worked out.
In math we worked with story problems.  We practiced representing them with equations and number bonds.  We are paying close attention to be sure our number bonds match the story.
We visited Louisiana today.  We read Petite Rouge, by Mike Artell.  This story is a Cajun version of Little Red Riding Hood.  The book is written with the Cajun dialect, so I did my best to read the book without tripping over my words!  Ask me to tell you about the characters in the story.
We looked at collections of toys and tried to find how they all were related.  We looked at toys that used imagination, technology, puzzles and building.  We talked about how some of the toys were toys we play with now, some from long ago, and others were both.  Then we read a great book called Doll-E 1.0 by Shandra McCloskey.  The story is about a little girl who is all about technology.  Her parents worry she is too into technology after seeing a report on television, so they buy her a doll and stroller.  The little girl doesn't know what to do with it!  Ask me to tell you what happens!  

Have a nice evening!
​Miss Wolfe

We had a busy day!  We started a new unit of study in reading.  We will be reading fairy tales.  Today we read an Alaskan version of Cinderella.  Ask me to tell you how it was different, and how it was the same as the traditional Cinderella story. 
In math, we worked with writing number equations to go with number bonds we created from pictures.  We know it's important to pay attention to the signs when we are writing these equations.  We also practiced mixed addition and subtraction problems.
The big event of the day was to take the MAP RF test.  This year, we took this test twice, but starting next year it will be given three times a year.  This is a way to look at the progress, strengths and areas needing additional support in reading.  The children use headphones that have a speaker, so basically the room looks like a call center for QVC.  We do the testing in two groups so the microphones don't pick up 21 readers.  While students were waiting their turn, they got to visit with Mrs. Goodhand's class.  In return, Mrs. Goodhand's class will come visit us later this week.  It was really stress-free, and the kids enjoy this test.

Just a reminder, this is the last week of school for our kinders.  Next Monday and Tuesday is Kindergarten Orientation for next year's students, so your children WILL NOT come to school.  

Have a nice evening!
​Miss Wolfe

We read the classic Beatrix Potter story The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse today.  This story is about two mice; one lives in a town, the other in the country.  Timmie Willie was a country mouse who accidentally ends up in a vegetable hamper that is taken to a house in town.  He lives in town with other mice for a couple weeks, but is eager to go home.  He prefers the country.  His friend Johnny Town-Mouse comes to the country for a visit and finds that he prefers the town life.  The story ends with the narrator saying, "One place suits one person, another place suits another person."  ​Ask me to tell you what suits means, and what this line means.  
We wrote about whether we would like to live in the country or in town.  Ask me to tell you where I would live if it were my choice and why.
Today the children are bringing home a ziplock bag of flashcards with addition and subtraction facts.  We will be practicing these over the next couple weeks.  The children need to learn them so they know them automatically.  They know they need to pay attention to the sign.  Some children know these already, so I will be doing a quick check, and if they know them automatically, I will give them a couple other quick checks to see what we can find to challenge them with addition and subtraction.  
We visited Alabama today and learned about the Tuskegee Airmen.  These heroes of World War II were an African American group of flyers who escorted bombers in the war.  Although some of these brave men lost their lives doing this, the Tuskegee Airmen never lost a bomber.  We read The Wind Flyers, by Angela Johnson.  This story is told by a young boy who is telling about his great great uncle who was part of this group of flyers.  All his uncle ever wanted to do was fly.  We made a text-to-text connection to Neil Armstrong who also wanted to fly as a young boy.  
We had a visit today from Rohan's dad.  He talked about recycling and the trash transfer station.  The children seem to have a huge interest in trash.  They had lots of questions and comments.  You can go and tour the transfer station.  The hours are:Visit without an appointment for a self-guided tour
Monday – 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Tuesday – 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Wednesday – 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Thursday – 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Friday – 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Saturday – Closed
Sunday – Closed

You might want to put this on your bucket list for the summer!

Thank-you to Surina's family and Michael's family for sending in games and play-doh for indoor recess.  The kids were thrilled to have indoor recess and use them!

Have a nice weekend!
​Miss Wolfe

Today was all about learning about choices.  We talked about what we need to do to be healthy.  We looked at the word self and saw what each letter in the word stands for when talking about staying healthy.  

We looked at each word, but zoomed in on the tricky word, leisure.  We learned that it is important each day to take time to do something that is fun for you.  We talked about the choices we have and what is fun for us.  We know it is not the same activity for everyone.  It's important to remember you can make this choice, most of the time, but when you are younger, mom and dad may give you some of the choices you can make.  We talked about, and made a list, of our favorite choices for leisure time inside, outside, and on vacation.
We also talked more about choices we can make with money.  Today we shopped.  Each child had ten pennies to spend at the Penny Store.  Let me tell you, there were some incredible deals at the store!  We talked about thinking about the choices we make.  Each child could choose to spend it on something they needed, something they wanted, they could save some pennies, or give it to charity or buy something for a family member.  We discussed how these choices were personal, and that each child was going to make their own choice.  However, we did talk about saving some and giving some to charity as you get more money in your piggybank.  Ask me to tell you how I spent my money. 
We read a story later that takes place in Concord, Massachusetts, close to the setting for  Make Way For Ducklings that we already read.  The story is called Henry Hikes to Fitchburg, by D.B. Johnson.  Two bears in the story are going to see the country around Fitchburg.  This story was set 150 years ago, so the bears needed to decide whether they were going to walk or take the train.  To take the train they needed money.  One bear decided to take the train, so he did jobs to earn the 90 cents for the train trip.  The other bear, Henry, walked.  Ask me to tell you what happened and who got to Fitchburg first. 
We discussed the choices the bears made and why.  The story is really about Henry Thoreau and how he would walk up to 30 miles a day, and always had a book to press flowers in and items to examine nature.  Ask me to tell you how I would get to Fitchburg, and why.
In math, we worked on addition and subtraction facts through 5.  These are the facts the children need to know fluently by the end of kindergarten.

We welcomed Mrs. Park back in Art today from her maternity leave.  I hope you enjoy their art portfolios they are bringing home today.

Have a nice evening!
​Miss Wolfe
  

We had a great day!  We were learning about people making choices in how they spend their money.  We started our day by looking at this photo and thinking about what the story might be behind this scene.  Interestingly, what I thought and what they thought were very different!  They thought maybe the boy fell down or was playing.  I guess based on my own personal battles with my mother over fancy shoes and dresses or sensible shoes and pants that my mom wanted me to have, I thought it showed a little boy throwing a fit over something he was not allowed to get at the store.  Perspective!

We read a book together about choices we make with money.  We talked about how people use money to buy what they need, what they want, they may save some money, and they may give money or use their money for gifts for friends and family or to give to charity.  We will work more with this tomorrow, but the kids seemed to enjoy talking about money! 
We worked with number bonds today.  We looked at groups of items and found two ways to make a number bond that went with the group.
We visited Virginia on our reading journey across America.  We visited Virginia today to learn about George Washington's home, Mount Vernon.  This was a great introduction to learning about life in the past, which is what we study at the beginning of the third quarter in social studies.  We read a quick silly book called George Washington's Cows, by David Small.  This book shows some of the animals found at Mt. Vernon doing some very un-animal type activities at Mt. Vernon.  Ask me to tell you what the cows, pigs and sheep did in the story. 
The other story we read is called Where Was George Washington?  This book, written by Carla Heymsfeld, is about Washington's cat looking for Washington.  As he does so, we are shown different parts of Mt. Vernon estate and how life was very different 234 years ago.  Ask me to tell you what I notice that was different from the way we live in our houses today.

Have a nice afternoon and evening!
​Miss Wolfe