St. Patrick's Day Thursday Party

Hello! I apologize for the lack of posts. It's been a crazy semester but a good one! Today we had a party just for fun and learned more about St. Patrick's Day, clovers, and leprechaun lore. We read a book that described what leprechauns do and learned they are very mischievous. I've been talking to the class how last year a leprechaun came and visited our room but when we tried to find him and his gold he made a mess of our room. Yet again the class decided we should try to trap him. So we laid a trap out (it had to be green they said!) and added some glitter and a gold coin to entice him into the trap.

Just a few minutes later Pastor Pam came running in the room saying she was out walking and something blurred by and a note was left on the ground. Here's the note:

So we all decided the next place to go was Ms. Jen's office and they were all a little excited! Can't you tell??

In Jen's office we found yet another note! This one was particularly funny and I was able to capture a picture of them all cracking up and the line. :)

So they all headed off the the bathroom and looked for the leprechaun but found yet another note!

The class wasn't sure if this note meant to play inside or outside so we voted and decided to check the playground first because he said he was running and we all know in the classroom that we have walking feet. Here's what we found next:

                                       

They all thought this was quite funny since they had just seen Miss Lindsey at the bathroom and couldn't believe she would know where the leprechaun is. When we got to her we asked her about him and she hadn't seen him but then one student noticed there was something on her back so she turned around and sure enough, she had a note taped to her back!

Oh no! Trouble in our room! This had me quite concerned so off we went and yep, just take a look at what we found! That pesky leprechaun is mighty mischievous!

When they went to check the trap it seems the leprechaun was able to run in and grab the gold coin before the trap was sprung. But he did leave all the students little gems for their effort. They were all a little disappointed they didn't get to see the leprechaun and didn't think it was fair they had to clean up after his mess. (hehe) But we had such a good time trying to catch him! We ended our day with a fun snack and activity. I love these kids. They spent 45 minutes just sitting and eating their fruit rainbow and talking to each other. I had another activity (a fun color by number leprechaun) for any of them who wanted to complete it as well. What a fun day today was!

Community Helpers Week 1 (Wednesday/Thusday)

Review at home:

Capital R, recognition and sound

Lowercase r recognition

Vocab words like community, community helpers

Ask them how they can be a community helper

Hello! This week and next are two fun weeks! We have special visitors coming and sharing about their jobs. Today we had Nurse Lori come and chat about how she helps people in recovery after they have surgery. All the kids got to listen to their own heartbeat and belly with a stethoscope. On Monday we have a police officer and hopefully his car. Then next Thursday the Northwest Fire Department will come show us around their truck. 

I introduced the concept of community helpers on Tuesday and Wednesday. I have continued to reiterate what a community is. The kids have had a hard time understanding that we live in a community and what is considered a community. On Tuesday we discussed construction workers and what they do. We then made tool belts and constructed a building zone where the students created a community and pretended to build different structures for buildings they know. My favorite structure they built was the pizza place "because you have to have pizza!" in your community. I was so caught up in all the action. I forgot to take a picture. Sorry!

On Wednesday we discussed fire fighters and their job. I have several boys that think it's cool to be a fireman. We made hats from paper plates and then practiced Stop Drop and Roll exercises. This went on for quite awhile and was a hit with my active group of mostly boys that day. Here are a couple of pictures making the hats.

Today I introduced this class (the Tues/Thurs group) to centers. This is a new element to my class that I will be incorporating. Each morning the kids get a free period. This period will be cut a bit and instead the kids will participate in learning centers. I currently have all my literacy centers completed. To do this, I am introducing one activity from the center area at a time. This way all children will know what to expect and how to use the materials. While I met with students one on one and assessed alpha-skills, the rest of the group manipulated wiki sticks. If you've never seen them, check them out here. They are pretty neat and the kids LOVED this activity. I could almost literally see the wheels turning. Here are a couple of pictures of the class using them.

Space (Wednesday)

Review at Home:

Letter Q sound and recognition

Vocab words like planets, solar system, astronaut, and other space words

Discuss syllables and clap along with them

Hello all! I know it's been awhile and I apologize. I have a new camera and will get back to daily posts. This week is all about space. There are so many things we can talk about and just not enough time! On Monday we discussed what space and planets are. Tuesday we discussed how planets move around the sun and our moon. Today we discussed astronauts and what their job is. We even dressed up for a bit. Check out these pictures!

Yes that is foil. The kids wanted to put it around their legs too but we ran out of time. After dressing up we jumped around slowly like we were walking on the moon. 

Yesterday we made name rockets and watched a video about when rockets were first built and how  large rockets were made to carry astronauts to the moon. They all loved that monkeys have gone to space too. 

So I took some pictures of some activities we do each day. Every morning they get a free play of sorts until about 8:30. Most of the time I let them choose what to do. I have such an easy going, imaginative group this year that I really let them take the lead. I also took some pictures during our daily read to self period after morning snack.