Trick or Treat!

Today our regular lessons were replaced with Halloween themed lessons and it was a complete success. I had way more planned than what we got to but it was amazing :)

During Literacy Block we used our 5 senses to describe a pumpkin then used other adjectives to create our own pumpkin creations. I wish I would have taken a picture of all of them, their imaginations are incredible!

For Math we added two dice together and ate the candy from the answer on the mat. First player to eat all their candy wins... but I think everyone is a winner at this game!!

I think one of the funniest parts for me was "spooky" story time! I pulled down all the shades and turned off all the lights. After I give them a fright with my story, they got to use their flashlights to tell stories of their own.

Snack was amazing today, thanks to all the parents who sent in items for our Halloween Trail Mix :) It was a big hit!

Loved these Monster Cups for our juice! :)

{gotta remember to get the sticky back googly eyes next year!
Thank goodness I had a helper to glue the eyes on before snack time}

........and since I haven't posted yet this week, I have other pictures to share  :) 

Skills block yesterday--  CVC Spelling word segmenting and blending activity. 

Writer's workshop on Monday -- The Little Red Hen dialogue lesson. They represented dialogue in both pictures (speech bubbles) and in written form. (with macaroni quotation marks!). Love this lesson and love when they put dialogue in their stories :)

Today was a blast but I'm one tired teacher! I wonder who will last longer tonight.. my candy bowl or me?!

New Spelling Routine-- starts MONDAY

First off I want to say thank you, the first week of spelling homework was a success!! Most students completed all their assignments and it reflects in their test grade! You will get their test back in their Friday folder next week.

The turning in of spelling homework was kind of a mess, so I have decided to provide a spelling notebook to complete all written homework in. This will help cut down on making copies of the activity sheet, and also and the loose papers being turned in on Fridays. I apologize for not having these ready last week but I feel that it’s still early enough in the year to make the change.

Your child will still pick 4 activities each week, and complete one nightly from the activity sheet, but now all written work will be kept in one place all year. Please follow these guidelines to complete spelling homework each week:

1.       Turn to the first “empty” page in your journal.

2.     Pick your activity from Box 1. (the activity list has been glued to the inside front cover of the notebook)

3.     Find your spelling list in the back of your homework folder (same place as before)

4.     Write the date and the spelling list number at the top of your page.

5.     Complete spelling activity (use the back of the page if you need more room!)

6.     Have your parent initial somewhere on the page to show you did your best work. (Parents will initial the pages, NOT the activity page glued on the front of the notebook)

7.     Leave all spelling pages inside the notebook (DO NOT tear the pages out).

Repeat this two more times during the week. Please only do one activity per page, but you can use the backs of the pages for the next activity if they are “empty”. When you do your activity from box 2, simply write what you did at the bottom (or on the back) of one of your pages from this week and have your parents sign.

Bring your notebook in every Friday for the teacher to look over before the test.

I will be making the notebooks this weekend so they will be ready for next week’s spelling words. I will be explaining the new routine to the students on Monday and we’ll do a practice page so you can see what I am expecting for the spelling homework assignments.

Please contact me if you have any questions!

Red Ribbon Week and other Updates!

It's hard to believe it's only Tuesday and this week has been full of so many blessings so far!! We've been collecting non-perishable items for the local food shelter and for a little extra encouragement I promised a trip to the treasure box for each set of 10 cans a student brings!! We have about 12 items so far so please help us help out the less fortunate in our neighborhood! Items may be sent in up until Friday.

Now on to the good stuff :)

PTA started Student of the Week so we have our first shining star :)

It's Red Ribbon week so we're having dress up themes each day this week, yesterday was hat day!! I forgot to take a picture of the slippers today :( Tomorrow is Team Spirit Day!

These girls just made my day with their enthusiasm for our rhyming game today! They crack me up :)

And to wrap it up we had 4 students move up to PURPLE today for being Role Models!! 3 of them moved up for impressing the cafeteria staff and one for their hallway behavior. Purple is NOT easy to get, so I was MOST impressed today!!! And look everyone else is on GREEN :):):)

Feeling SO blessed today, looking forward to the rest of the week!!

Weekly update!

This week was full of some of my favorite lessons! An introduction to schema, and using descriptive words in our narrative writing.

Schema is your feelings, experiences, thoughts, and opinions, it's your background knowledge. During Reading this week student's learned how we use our schema to help us feel and understand when we read.
We made a schema backpack for our Reader's Resource Guide.

After a lesson about descriptive words we made a web of describing words that we can use in our writing.

We have been adding to the web every day when I spot descriptive words in their writing. I'll have to post an updated picture next week!!

I hope you saw the note in your child's folder about Red Ribbon Week! Students are encouraged to participate in the dress up days next week.

Enjoy your weekend!