Hello Friends!  Did you know it's National Waffle Day?  That reminded me of one of our favorite Book a Day books.  We all really enjoyed Woodpecker Wants a Waffle, by Steve Breen.  I found a video of the book on YouTube for you to enjoy.

Now I want waffles for dinner!  This rainy day would be a great day for breakfast for dinner!  What would you put on or in your waffle?  I would put blueberries in my waffle batter, and I would use real maple syrup on top.  
I added a couple books to your book assignments on Epic, that are suggestions not really assignments, that are about woodpeckers. But I Want It and Woodpeckers: Backyard Wildlife. 
But I Want It is about wants and needs.  What are some things you want?  What do you need?
The other book is learning about woodpeckers.  You know how much I love birds.  I love looking at the photographs in the book to see these interesting birds close up.  What did you learn about woodpeckers?

Who needs a Brain Break?

One last video for you to enjoy, and to make you hungry.  Here's How It's Made showing how waffles are made in a factory.  

I'll post more tomorrow!

Stay safe, stay healthy, and see you real soon!
Miss Wolfe

Hello Friends!
I'm sorry for the late post, but I had trouble getting on to this site today and publishing.  So better late than never!
Interestingly enough, today is National Awkward Moments Day!  This is a day when we recognize that everyone has an awkward moment from time time.  What does awkward mean?
Awkward means that something is difficult or tricky, or something that causes embarrassment. I can relate to that!  It's like when you make a mistake and others see it, or you trip or fall in front of others.  Once, when I was in elementary school, I dropped my lunch tray and my food went everywhere!  I still remember the green peas all over the floor, and a big splot of mashed potatoes on the floor next to where a teacher was sitting! 
Today's Book a Day is The Hula Hoopin' Queen, by Thelma Godin.  What happens in this story that is awkward?

Do you have a hula hoop at home?  It's great exercise and a good stress reliever!  

Awkward moments reminds me of mistakes, so today's How It's Made is about erasers.  I think we may have watched this one, but like a good book, you can learn more each time you see it or read it!  This one is a little fuzzy, and it's not an actual How It's Made from the television show.  This was made before that show was on t.v. and it's from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.  Enjoy!

You might want to practice subitizing to ten now.  Remember looking at the dots on the Promethean and looking for different groups of dots?  Several of us saw different groups; some saw 2 and four, some 3 and 3?  Here's a video with Jack Hartmann to practice subitizing.  

I'll be sending out an e-mail later tonight about a site you have access to with books that you can read on your own or with some help, books that are read to you, and books someone in your family can read to you.  The instructions below will get you on to the site and in our Epic classroom..  
1.  Go to www.getepic.com/students
2
Log in with our class code:  rqw3095
3 Select your name and you’re in!

I made homemade potato soup, bread and pudding today!  I also washed a few windows!  But the best part of my day was opening up my school e-mail and finding e-mails from some of you!  I love the pictures and seeing what you are up to while we are away!  The second best part of my day has been doing this blog.  It sure isn't the same as being with you, but it makes me happy to know that we can still connect and learn together.  

Stay safe, stay healthy, and see you real soon!
​Miss Wolfe

Hello!  Happy St. Patrick's Day!  How about a virtual field trip to Ireland to start off this blog!  What did you notice about Ireland?  Does it look like Maryland?  How is it different?  The same?

Here's a story about a leprechaun.  As you listen to the story, think about what the word grant means.  I loved the illustrations.  Did you notice that the leprechaun lived in a tree?  I can visualize a little house inside a tree.  It would be very cozy!  I also loved all the shoes the leprechaun made.  Enjoy!

Enjoy this St. Patrick's Day brainbreak!

I sent out an e-mail with this link yesterday, but I'll post it again here.  Scholastic has an awesome site with books and links each day.  The Book Flix books that are on the site also have great activities to do that kids can do on the computer without help from a grown-up!  We know that during this stay at home time, parents have to work from home too, so this might help kids with learning they can do on their own.
Remember, anything I post on here is not an assignment and is not graded.  Just click on the link below, and you will find five days of learning each week.  

https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome/grades-prek-k.html

Watch and practice reading and spelling with Jack Hartmann.  

Get up and move with Jack to practice counting to 100!

Here is a great How It's Made video that shows how chocolate coins are made.  I thought this would be good to watch on St. Patrick's Day when we are thinking about finding a pot of gold.  Which would would you rather find?  Chocolate or gold?  Why?

Stay safe, stay healthy, see you real soon!
Miss Wolfe

Hello Friends!
I was waiting to read this Jory John book to you when we could have a good discussion about it, but I bet you will enjoy listening to it now.  As we have been learning in our Benchmark lessons, it has an important message in it.  I hope you enjoy it!

Here's one of my favorite How It's Made videos.  It shows how jellybeans are made.  What is your favorite jellybean flavor?  I love the black beans and the purple beans best! 

Here is one of our favorite Go Noodle brainbreaks, and one we haven't done together.  Have fun!

Remember when we read the book about moonjellies?  Here's a quick virtual field trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to see their jellyfish!  Check it out using this link!
https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals/live-cams/jelly-cam/

I miss you guys already.  I hope you are staying busy and letting mom and dad work from home if they need to.  I'm going to post some paper on the website that you can print at home to do some writing.  

Stay safe, stay healthy, and I'll see you real soon!
​Miss Wolfe

We started our day with our Book a Day.  We read The Cool Bean, by Jory John, which I read at the reading night.  I had told the kids we would read it since we enjoyed The Good Egg so much, which was also written by Jory John.  We talked about what we thought it meant to be cool before we started reading the book.  Then we took time as we read to talk about what we saw the "cool beans" in the book doing.  We also recognized that by being empathetic and paying attention to others, we can be kind and help others.  Ask me to tell you about the story and what it means in the book to be a cool bean.  Here's a book trailer or the book in case you would like to know more about this book.  This book is in my top ten books because it's message is so important!

We are learning about motion in science.  We looked at the path different balls would take, and the speed and distance they would go based on the force. We drew the path the balls took and talked about why the balls stopped, or bounced higher than other balls, or rolled faster or went farther. 

Have a great weekend!
​Miss Wolfe

We continued to work with decomposition, number bonds and math stories in math.  We are working with bigger numbers now since the children are doing so well decomposing numbers.  We are also working hard to find all the bonds for a specific number.  The children now are coming up with stories to go with their number bonds.  We are also working on writing numerals without reversals.  We worked with five and seven today.  
We spent time today talking about how to stay healthy and what to do if you have a cold or the flu.  We did not mention the coronavirus, but instead just continued talking about healthy habits.  We are doing more handwashing.  I told the children today that after they unpack each day, I expect them to wash their hands with soap and water, which is what we always use in the classroom.  We are also washing hands after recess, and after play time.  As I have all year, I will direct children whose hands are in their mouth, up their nose or rubbing their eyes to go and wash their hands.  I had begun giving children the opportunity to work on the carpet to take a break from sitting in chairs, so they could stretch out.  I talked to them today about sitting in other areas of the classroom as well so we can implement flexible seating.  The other thing we did talk about was not hugging which I love but it's probably not a best practice right now, and reminded them that kissing is not ok in kindergarten.  We watched a short video with Annie and Moby about colds and the flu and what to do when you have them.  Ask me to tell you three things to do when you are sick with a cold or the flu.  
Today we visited Idaho.  We read a short story that was set during The Great Depression about a family from Idaho who lost their house after the father lost his job.  The family borrowed a car and went to Idaho for two weeks to pick potatoes.  The didn't make much money, and they lived in a tent while they were there, but the farmer told them they could pick the leftover potatoes at night and keep them for themselves.  They took burlap bags full back to Iowa and traded them for food and clothing.  Eventually, the father got a new job.  Ask me to tell you the story!

Have a nice evening!
​Miss Wolfe

We studied this  photograph this morning.  We talked about the job of the window washers.  We noticed and wondered about many things in this photograph.  We really enjoyed seeing the reflection of the clouds.  Not many of us would want to do this job unless we made a lot of money doing it!  We talked about other jobs today.  We looked at photographs of different jobs and talked about why this job was important, what you would do on the job, and where you would work.  Later in the day, the children wrote about what job they think right now they would like to have when they grow up.  They know they will probably have lots of different ideas of what they would like to do as they grow up, but there are those people who knew very early in life what they wanted to be.  We read earlier in the week about Ronald McNair who knew early on he wanted to fly.  Today, we read about another person who wanted to fly, and boy did he ever fly!  We visited the great state of Ohio and read about Neil Armstrong.  We read One Giant Leap, by Don Brown and learned about how from the age of two Armstrong was interested in flight.  Ask me to tell you about Neil Armstrong and to tell you where he is from in Ohio.  I'd like to apologize now for teaching them the OH - IO chant.  I was sorry about 30 seconds after I started it!
We also reviewed our health topic of eating a healthy diet.  I introduced them to Captain Vegetable.  You may need to show them this as a distraction to the OH-IO chant...

We know it's important to eat a healthy diet of colorful foods.  We used My Plate to sort foods into the different food groups.  Ask me to tell you foods that go in each group.

We continued to work with decomposition and representing them with number bonds in math.  We tried to show different ways to decompose a number.  We used the Rekenreks to show different numbers, as well as ten frames.  
Have a nice evening!
​Miss Wolfe

We continued working with number bonds in math.  The children are very good at decomposing numbers1  In the homework section of our website, you will find a couple new math games.  One of the games is a decomposition game that is a lot of fun for the kids with fuzz bugs! 
We met with our Bear Cub Buddies today.  We talked about empathy and re-read one of our favorite books called I Walk With Vanessa, by the husband and wife team called Kerascoët.  This wordless picture book shows how important it is for all of us to be aware of others and what is happening with them.  This book is about a young girl who moves to a new school and is confronted by a bully.  One young girl witnesses this and thinks about how she can help this girl.  Ask me to tell you what she does and how the story ends.  We talked about how this girl showed she was empathetic and what she chose to do because of her feelings.  We thought about a time we were empathetic and made bubbles to fill in the word kind in our hallway with the other kindergartens and third grade.  It looks great, and shares little stories of how we are focused on learning to be empathetic.
We read a book set in West Virginia today for our Read the U.S.A. book.  The book we read was Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver.  This is a special state for me because my mother's family, as well as my mother, are from West Virginia.  The pictures in the book are really cute because they are like a quilt, but they show things you would see in a trip through West Virginia.  Be sure to read the postcard for a fun fact about where this song was written!
Have a nice evening!
​Miss Wolfe

Today we began talking about goods and services.  We studied this photograph of woman selling food.  We compared it to our stores, and also to Farmer's Markets.  We watched a short video that explained goods, services, producers and consumers.  We will continue to talk about these words to get a better understanding of them!  
In math we worked with decomposing numbers up to five.  I introduced number bonds, which are when we break apart a number into two or more parts.  I sent home a paper today that gives you more information about what we will be studying in math for the next five days.  
In reading, we began a new unit called "Stories Have Messages."  We will be identifying the central message and finding text evidence to support it.  We read a short story called All Together Now!  Ask me to retell this short story to you.  

Have a nice evening!
​Miss Wolfe