Today we learned about collaboration.  We started by figuring out what it means to collaborate by watching three short videos of animals collaborating to avoid being eaten by a predator.  Ask me to tell you how the animals are collaborating.  

Although we didn't see it, we know that somehow the animals worked together to make a plan.  We also read a story called Friends, by Helm Heine.  This is a story of three animal friends who work together to do things they couldn't do alone.  Ask me to tell you what Johnny Mouse, Fat Percy and Charlie Rooster did in the story.

In the afternoon, we practiced collaborating by building towers using paper bathroom size cups.  The great thing about building with the paper cups is that it is fairly quiet.  The kids have to concentrate and carefully place the cups.  They learn that it's okay if the cups fall because they can rebuild.  We talked about being encouraging others by noticing and complimenting as we notice what other groups are doing.  For some groups, it took some time to understand they needed to work together and build just one tower, but soon, as they saw what others groups were doing, they worked it out and began building one tower.  Check out these builders! 

Thank-you again for helping us get off to such a great start this school year!  The kids have adjusted so well and are coming in ready to unpack and do their morning routines.  They learned to sign-in on the promethean board to show whether they are packing and buying.  They know to unpack, put their folder in the green basket, but their lunchbox on the bottom of their tall cubby and sign-in.  They are reading books, getting drinks and using the restroom before we come together to say hello.  They are learning each other's name and greeting each other every morning.  I don't want to jinx it, but this has been the easiest kindergarten start ever for me!

Have a nice evening!
​Miss Wolfe

We had a great second day of school!  We put on our VIP sunglasses and took a little tour and met Mrs. Kanter our school counselor, Mrs. Messina our health technician, and our school secretaries Mrs. DeMarino and Mrs. Vincenty.  We looked around their offices and noticed the tools they use to do their job.  Here we are on our tour!  Ask me to tell you about the people we visited!

We read a beautiful book called Hello, My Name is Ruby by Philip C. Stead.  This book is about a little bird who introduces himself to others to make friends.  We studied the illustrations to see how the characters were feeling throughout the story.  Most of the other birds the little bird encountered wanted to be his friend, but one bird, the peacock, did not.  The little bird was sad, but soon met other friends.  We talked about the importance of introducing ourselves to others and asking them to play or take a walk and talk at recess.  It's a great way to make new friends.  We watched a short video that shows how the author/illustrator of this book created the illustrations.  check it out!

In math today, we collected data to find our how everyone was feeling the first day of school.  We made a graph.  Ask me to tell you about the graph!

Today your child is bringing home a paper that shows the best thing that happened to them today, although the paper says yesterday.  We were too rushed to do it yesterday, so we used the paper so as not to waste it.  Be sure to ask your child the best thing that happened to them each day!  There is a great TedTalk I will post on another page on our website that is called ISFP, Interesting Stuff for Parents.  Be sure to watch it when you have the chance!

Thanks to everyone for getting the website permission slip back to me the very next day!  A+++ for all of you!

Have a nice evening!
Miss Wolfe

We had a great first day of kindergarten!  Thank-you so much for your help in making a smooth transition to kindergarten.  Having almost all of the forms filled out and sent in helped a lot!  We took it slow and easy today.  We worked on team-building by learning something about each child.  We took time to play as well.  The children went to P.E. today with Mr. Romans.  Ask me to tell you about the two games we played in P.E.  (I will post Ask Me Abouts on this blog.  You are to ask your child about these to help you in talking about what is happening in school.)  
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In health, we are learning about feelings.  We studied some pictures of children and used their facial expression to identify how they might be feeling.  Then we read a very funny book called You're Finally Here!  This book, by Melanie Watts, is about a bunny book character who has been waiting for a reader.  His emotions change throughout the story, and we noticed what his face looked like to help us understand how the character was feeling.  

We studied some pictures today of birds.  Our critical thinking skill for this marking period is analyze.  I will post more information about this on the website in the coming days, but today we were studying pictures to notice what was alike and what was different in the photographs.  Students turned and talked with a partner or two about what they noticed in the photographs.  The thing that was the same in all the photographs was that there was a group of birds in every picture who were the same.  We discussed how there are ways we are the same and different, but one important commonality is that we are all in the same class.  We talked about how our group is like a school family and that we look out for each other, support each other, and get along.  Ask me to tell you about the feather I brought home today.

I will try and post daily to this blog to help you get an idea of what is going on in school.   I will post pictures when I have signed release forms for permission to post pictures of children.  I will never put names with the pictures.  I will also be able to share some of the things we look at on this blog, so your child can tell you about them as well.  I hope this blog will be helpful to you.  Additionally, I will be opening up some pages on this website so you have a better understanding of expectations in the content areas, as well as student work and other items of interest.

Again, it was a great first day.  I look forward to working with your child this year!
​~Miss Wolfe