Ask Me About Thursday, March 15, 2018

Today we had an assembly most of our morning.  We went to the fifth grade plays.  These plays were written and performed by each fifth grade class.  The children thoroughly enjoyed the plays, and I enjoyed trying to recognize my former kinders!  The kids really liked one joke in particular, and I'm letting you know in case you have Alexa at home.  One of the performers has Alexa call 9-1-1 but instead Alexa calls 1-1-9.  I don't have Alexa and don't know how it works, but I know several of my friends talked about this ALL afternoon, so I'm guessing you will hear it too!  Hopefully Alexa won't call 9-1-1!  There was lots of humor in the plays, but most of it went over the kinders heads, but they still loved it! 
Yesterday and today we continued to work with decomposing numbers.  We talked about finding all the different ways to break a number apart and how to write it as an equation.  So kids are writing 9=5+4 to show one way to make 9.  They are encouraged to use their fingers, counters or other manipulatives we have in the classroom.  They are not expected to learn those basic facts, however we will be working on the basic facts within 5.  So, kindergarten students will be practicing adding and subtracting numbers that equal 5. 
We read What Pet Should I Get, by Dr. Seuss.  We talked about what we need to think about when making choices such as that, and what we need to consider.  We talked about other choices, such as what to buy at the grocery story, picking out shoes, getting a hair cut, etc.  We also talked about want and need, and the financial part of these choices.  
We continued to work on a book we are working on to learn how to use text features in an informational book. We know putting headings on pages helps the reader know what information to expect which helps them to organize this information.  We also practiced making a few important words to the topic on the page in bold print. This class really loves information books, so writing their own book has been a lot of fun!
Today during recess the kids had a practice Lockdown Drill.  The students need to know what to do if the school goes into Lockdown and they are outside.  We talked with the kids before recess about always listening for the whistle outside and to look at the paraeducators when they hear the whistle.  I emphasize "quick, quiet and listen" when we have any kind of drill.  This drill required them to line up and walk along the edge of the property and up the hill close to Georgetown Hill.  Obviously, if it were a real lockdown they would be taken on to a more secure area, but for the drill they went as far as the hill.  The paraeducators said they did pretty well, but some children were leisurely, and when they got to the hill they cheered going up it.  I'm sure they were encouraging each other, and I could hear it in the classroom, but we have to emphasize quick and quiet.  We also had one little friend picking flowers along the way!  They have no idea why we are doing this, and when someone asked I just said once I was in a school that the sprinkler accidentally went off so we had to leave the building quickly so we didn't get wet.  We don't want to frighten the children, but we are going to have a school wide Lockdown Drill again soon to be sure they know what to do.  You can help us with this by talking with your child about listening to all adults in the building.  At times, our students do not listen immediately to substitute teachers and sometimes to our paraeducators.  We emphasize they are also teachers and that any adult that works in our building needs to be listened to immediately.  

We are still checking in on the eagles from time to time.  I'm starting to worry, but we have our backup eagle nest we can watch if Mr. President and the First Lady don't have eggs this year.

Have a nice evening!
Miss Wolfe