Ask Me About Tuesday, December 20, 2016

We started our day studying this birds-eye view photograph.  Ask me what I noticed and what this place is called.  

We continued on our Read Across America Journey by traveling to Hawaii.  We noticed the crater landform left from a volcano.  We read a book called Grandma Calls Me Beautiful by Barbara M. Joose.  Be sure to look at the Hawaii postcard I am bringing home today!
We read two short information or non-fiction books today about stems and leaves of plants.  We identified ways we know the book is an information book.  We looked at some text features such as the contents page, headings, the glossary and the index.  We noticed that many information books have photographs, but can also have illustrations.  Ask me to tell you how a stem is like a straw.  We also read a fiction book about seeds.  The story is called Miss Maple's Seeds, written and illustrated beautifully by Eliza Wheeler.  This book really is a fantasy book about a tiny woman who collects seeds that didn't get planted somehow.  She shows them what they need to do and keeps them safe and warm for the winter.  Although this book was fiction, we found that fiction books can also teach us things.  This book had a page of differernt tree seeds that we could use to identify seeds found outside.  
Postcards have started to arrive for our Postcard Project.  We got a postcard from Wyoming, two from California, one from Louisiana, two from Florida, one from Texas and one from Holland!  We will keep the postcards in a basket for children to use during literacy stations to match to our rug map or a map on a door.  Children really love maps.  Right now, during literacy stations, one of the big attractions right now is the bag of maps.  I have laminated maps of different places the children are familiar with,, and they would spend their entire station time studying those maps if I let them!  We you visit different museums, theme parks or anywhere with a map, it's a great souvenir for kids that is free!  
If you have not sent out your postcards yet, it's not too late!  We will receive postcards for a while, and I will keep them out for the kids to use.  If you misplaced the postcards sent home or would like additional postcards, just let me know.  I'll be happy to send more home.  As you travel over the holidays, if you get a chance, send us a postcard!

Have a nice evening!
Miss Wolfe