Scientists At Work

My kids LOVE the
science center! Here the kids are looking at their plants. We have marigolds, celery / food coloring experiment, basil, chives, parsley and cilantro growing.

The art teacher gave me some old goggles, I found some clip boards and - viola! They are scientists. A few of my kids will sit there for the whole hour of centers writing observations!

Jack Hartmann

We were so lucky to get to go see Jack Hartmann this week.

Last year we took the students to the show, the bus was late and we missed a song or two. This year I wanted to make sure we saw the WHOLE show, so we booked the bus for 15 minutes earlier. Well, we got to the show at 9:30 and it didn't start 'til 10:15.

BUT... because we were so early we were seated in the front row! How exciting!

The kids (and I) had a ball. We danced, sang, clapped and cheered. It was a great event.

I haven't gotten all the photos yet, but I wanted post this one. This is the "post-Jack Hartmann" picture. The kids were so worn out 12 out of 15 of my kids fell asleep almost instantly when we returned to school. They were so cute!

What Can I Say?

The face of co-teaching working!

Ms. Hack and I have been co-teaching this year and we love it!

(BTW - The A/C was out at school, and it's 84 outside today, that's why we look just so amazingly shiny.)

Making Words Center

My making words center is quite a hoot. My kids keep asking me to add more and more to it. So, I do. It has now taken over my entire science table! There are magnets, felt letters, foam letters, flash cards, and more. These two little guys were making much harder words, but then got camera shy. Don't they always do that??

Some of their favorite things to do here are make the "Mac Daddy Bonus Words", word wall words and names. I really like it when they make "new" words, create sentences and sort words my rhyme, number of letters or syllables.

Measurement with Unifix Cubes

The other day the children and I created unifix cube patterns. First, ABABAB, then ABCABC, and so on.

They wanted to see how long they could make the patterns, so I told them to make a pattern as long as they were, then count the cubes.

It was a great activity because it involved patterning, counting, measurement and tons of small motor work!

Ms. Cristina Meets Guided Reading

Ms. Cristina taught her first guided reading group in my class today. She did it with a DRA 6 book that was called "We are Special". I loved how she really made the kids feel special. They did some rhyming work with dry erase boards too. It was a great lesson!

Message Center

I got this idea at Dr. Jean a few weeks ago and started it recently. All I did was make a poster with all the kids names on it, then give them sticky notes and crayons, pencils, markers, and let them write notes to each other. So easy and so fun.

Paramedics!

Back in November we had the Great American Teach in and were lucky enough to have these paramedics come and visit our room. We learned to stay low, get out safe, how to perform CPR, what the paramedics gear looks like and more!

Thanks guys!

Geometry - Fun!

My Intern had a great idea, eat shapes!

She took straws and fruit treats and had the kids create squares, triangles and other shapes.

The kids loved it!

Read to Us!

Most kids just want to hear a good book and feel loved!

My Intern's mom came in one day and read to the kids. They just loved it. Some of them even climbed up in her lap for a story or two.

Thanks Mom! :)

Everyone is Welcome!

Recently two of my friends have come to read books and play guitar for my class. My kids think they are "rock stars"! It has really opened my students (and some of the teachers) minds to think about people that look different, and are "cool" and still read well.

Mr. Andy and Mr. Jesse have become role-models to my kids because of their love of books.

Thanks guys!