Ask Me About Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Each day, we try and talk about a photograph or picture that is interesting, often related to what we are studying.  Today we looked at this photograph.  We know it's important to analyze​ photographs and pictures to see what we can learn.  In this photograph, we looked at the different parts of not only the chameleon, but the photograph itself.  We know the chameleon is the most important part.  We noticed the chameleon's tongue and the fly below it.  We wondered if the chameleon caught the fly.  We also looked at the parts of the chameleon, especially it's tail crapped around the branch.  We noticed the thorns on the plant.  We wondered how the chameleon didn't get stuck by the thorns.  We also wondered about that tongue!  How does the tongue fit in the chameleon's mouth?  Studying illustrations in books is important to readers.  We read a book about school and studied some of the photographs in the book.  We were able to see how the school in the book was like ours, and the kinds of things the students might do in their classroom.  This is a reading habit we want children to develop.
In math, we continued to look at hidden partners in numbers.  We learned about the addition symbol, the plus sign, and used it to tell about a number story.  The children are eager to have the equal sign included in the stories, but that comes in a few more lessons!  I am impressed with what the children know about numbers!  We are continuing to practice counting using our math fingers!  It's still tricky for some, but if they put their hands in a fist on the carpet or table, it will help them to be able to lift up the fingers to learn to count from left to right.
We had a fun time today reading some song books as we got drinks and used the restroom after recess.  We read and sang Old Mikamba Had a Farm, by Rachel Isadora.  Ask me to tell you what was different about this song from Old McDonald.  We also read and sang The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk, by Kabir Sehgal, which is also different from The Wheels on the Bus many of us had heard before.  Ask me to tell you what made this song different, too.
Then we read our Book a Day book, which also was a song.  It's one of my favorites because it's written by John Lithgow, and I think he's not only a great actor, but a good writer for kids!  We read and sang I Got Two Dogs.  This is just a fun song with some really cute pictures.  Here's John Lithgow singing about his two beloved pets.  Enjoy!

We spent time today just working to follow directions and get to work quickly.  The math curriculum has a lot of counters and quick worksheets, and the children need to really stay focused to get through it all.  We talked about quick-coloring today.  It's light and fast.  We don't worry about staying in the lines on this because no one is going to hang it in an art museum or even on the refrigerator!  This is hard for some kids because they like to color, but I remind them they can do that at home or in our art station during play time.  For the purpose of math, it's just to show what you know.  So don't be concerned if you see quick coloring on some of the math papers, it's just necessary to get through everything!

Enjoy this beautiful almost-fall evening!
​Miss Wolfe