Thank-you for all the birthday wishes and cards.  It made my day so special!  We spent time today writing about our favorite birthday party that we can remember. They really enjoyed talking with a partner about this topic, then got right to work writing and drawing.  I'm seeing more consistent use of punctuation by many of the students.  They are doing a great job with spelling word wall words correctly, and they are stretching out the words they don't know how to spell.  They are using more lower case letters too.  We will continue to work on having those skills become more consistent and fluent.  
In math today, I challenged the class to think of ways to cute a cube into four equal parts.  We used modelling clay to try it, and although the pieces squished a little, it was clear to see they were essentially equal.  We thought of four ways easily.  One child was explaining a fifth way but may not have been able to explain it so I could understand what they meant.  I meant for this to be a warm-up to the problem, thinking they might only thing of a couple ways, but they really impressed me with how they were able to visualize and explain their ideas.
We also reviewed solid shapes.  I gave clues by telling how many faces, what shape the faces were, how many edges and vertices the shapes had, and whether they could roll, slide or do both.  There is still some confusion for a few children between plane shapes and solid shapes, but we will continue to review this in class. We talked about cylinders, cubes, cones, spheres, rectangular prisms, triangular prisms and pyramids.  Yesterday we played a game in small groups where children had to reach into a bag and describe the solid shape using math words.  They love this game and it's great practice using the vocabulary.  These kids are smart cookies!

Have a nice weekend!
​Miss Wolfe

Today we read another Dr. Seuss book, although this one may not be as well known as others.  The children enjoyed The Big Brag.  We discussed what bragging and boasting meant and talked about why people might brag and how other people might feel when they hear it.  Ask me to tell you to the lesson Dr. Seuss was sharing in this story.  We decided it would be fun to try out bragging for about 45 minutes.  We really exaggerated our brags.  Then we wrote and drew a picture to go with the big brag we made up.
We worked with Cuisenaire Rods today to practice decomposing.  Cuirsenaire Rods are solid colored pieces of wood/plastic with the different colors cut to specific lengths.  The children used cm graph paper to help them determine the numbers that correspond with each color, then found all the different ways to decompose numbers under ten into two parts.  We made sure we were "smart cookies" and used turn around facts to be sure we got all the ways to show the number.  We used this website to practice together first, but you might want to use it at home too.  Ask me to show you how I can decompose with Cuisenaire Rods.  
http://www.mathplayground.com/mathbars.html

Some of the children who know all of the kindergarten word wall words took a 50 word spelling test!  Their hands didn't even fall off after all the writing, and I sure don't remember taking a spelling test ever with a huge smile on my face like they did! I will be giving them first grade words to work on in their own "Bag of Tricks" that they can use during Literacy Stations.  I'll do a quick check from time to time on the five words they will practice, and when they have those five, they will get five more words.  Now all the kids will have a Bag of Tricks to work with for spelling.

Enjoy the warm weather while it lasts!
​Miss Wolfe

Today we studied artwork by Romero Britto.  We discussed the patterns and colors we noticed in this pop art piece.  We also thought about the message Romero Britto wanted us to get.  Ask me to tell you what I think the message in this picture is.

We also read a classic Dr. Seuss book.  We listened to And to Think That I Saw it On Mulberry Street.  This is the story of a little boy whose father asks him each day what he saw on the way to school.  One day, thinking the wagon being pulled by a horse was not very interesting, the little boy invents a story that he finds much more exciting.  Ask me to tell you about his story.  We know the little boy used his imagination and exaggerated the story!  
We were inspired by the story and decided to write our own stories.  We wrote about what we saw one day on Bells Mill Road.  First we thought of ideas, then we sketched a picture.  We added many details to our picture to make it more interesting.  Then we wrote about the picture using adjectives, describing words, and exaggerated it just as the little boy did in the story.  We will work on these stories over the next few days.
In math, we worked with decomposition once again.  We will continue to work with finding ways to break numbers down into parts.

Thanks to everyone who sent back the blue form indicating whether your child would be returning to Bells Mill next year.  This information is important when we make class lists and plan for next year, so if you haven't already done so, please return this as soon as possible.  Thanks!  

Have a nice evening!
​Miss Wolfe

It's good to be back!  I got a very nice note from Mrs. C who had only good things to say about the class!  I know they worked hard while I was away.
Today we talked about plants and what parts of the plants are edible for humans. Ask me to tell you about different vegetables and what part/s of the plant humans eat.
We reviewed what a habitat is today and talked about different animal habitats.  We reread a story about a bear who goes looking for a new home, and named some of the habitats he visited. The story is called Welcome Home, Bear: A Book of Animal Habitats, by Il Sung Na.  Ask me to tell you the places Bear visits. There is some confusion with animal homes and habitats, but we will be digging deeper into different habitats so this will get straightened out.  

The blue paper that is coming home in folders today is very important.  Please fill it out and return it to school.  This helps us in planning for classes next year.  Thanks!

Just a reminder, in case you missed this, that Bells Mill is in a contest at WTOP to win money for our school.  Here's the information.  
WTOP accepted Bells Mill for participation in Click for Kids Sweepstakes! 
The school has a chance to win a grand prize of $15,000, a first place prize of $10,000, or a second place prize of $5,000.  The top three schools that win are based on the number of votes received during the voting period.  Voting begins at midnight Monday, March 6, and continues through 5:00 pm Friday, March 17, at http://wtop.com/contests/2017-click-for-kids-voting/ .  It is extremely important that you vote within the specified voting period or Bells Mill could be disqualified. You can also go to wtop.com and search “kids” to vote.
A person can vote ONCE per day but can only vote from one email address, so one vote per person in a 24-hour period.  If anyone creates multiple email addresses to vote, those will be disqualified and the school is at risk of being disqualified.  Anyone can vote who is over the age of 13 (those are legal rules).  We encourage you to get the word out to friends, family and neighbors.  The more people you tell, the greater our chances of winning.  Remember voting starts at midnight Monday, March 6, and goes through 5:00 pm Friday, March 17.  One vote per person per day.  Winners will be announced Monday March 20.   

Have a nice evening!
​Miss Wolfe