Polar Express Day

Hope everyone is having a wonderful vacation. Here are some pictures of our Polar Express trains.  Everyone was very creative and had lots of fun. 

Week of Dec. 21st

It's a short but busy week. We will finish writing our stories inspired by Mo Willems' "Elephant and Piggie" books, learn about how holidays are celebrated around the world, make cards and gifts for some special people and have a Polar Express pajama party. 

Monday - Purple Day

Tuesday - Red Day, PE 

Wednesday - Orange Day, early release, Polar Express pj party.

A letter about our pajama party will be coming home Monday. Thank you to those who've sent in the goodies for our graham cracker trains. It would be great to have everything in by Tuesday so I can get ready. Thanks!  

Room 8 actors and actresses

We've been having so much fun with our Mo Willems stories. To culminate our unit, students were put into groups to act out stories. Each group chose roles, rehearsed, and presented to the rest of our class as well as some other classes. Everyone put in great effort and had fun. 

Week of December 14th

Thank you so much to all of you who came in for conferences last week.  It was the best attendance I've had for conferences in 15 years!  Your support and your interest in your children's education is apparent and appreciated.  Here's our schedule for the week...

Monday - Red Day P.E.
Tuesday - Orange Day P.E.
Wednesday - Yellow Day  Early Release Day
Thursday - Green Day P.E.
Friday - Blue Day Media Center

Week of Dec. 7th

Monday - Orange day

Tuesday - Yellow Day

Wednesday - Green day -Gym and Early Release

Thursday - Blue Day - Media Center and Early Release

Friday - Purple Day - Early Release

We are starting to learn about different December holidays in America and how holidays are celebrated around the world. If you would like to come in to share any of your holiday traditions, please let me know.   

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful and delicious Thanksgiving Feast today.  Thank you to all those who contributed. We spent a great deal of time learning about the Pilgrims voyage to America and how difficult  life was for them.   I think the children got a good understanding about what it means to be grateful for everything they have.  Wishing you and your families a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Feast

We will be having our Thanksgiving Feast next Tuesday.  Don't forget to email Cindy Newman at cnew02@optonline.net ASAP if you are not already on her email list and you would like to help.  Thanks!

Bookmarks

Check out these adorable and creative bookmarks that we made last week. The students earned a special art activity by getting many "happy faces" on our chart by following our school rules. Let's keep it up 😊

Reading Fun

Here's a glimpse of some of our Readers and Writers hard at work during our Daily Five stations last week. I love to see the children actively engaged in their reading and writing. 

Students reading books on Razkids. They also practice  phonics skills on Starfall.com which is a great  free website  you can use at home. 

"Buddy Reading" is a favorite station and a great way to practice fluency.

Finishing up stories at the "work on writing" station. We read the story "Ira Sleeps Over" a couple of weeks ago and children have been writing their own "Ira" stories such as "Ira Goes To a The Zoo", "Ira's a First Day of School" etc. 

News-week of Nov 16th

Monday-Red Day PE

Tuesday- Orange Day PE, library trip

Wednesday- Yellow Day 

Thursday- Green Day PE

Friday - Blue Day Media Center

Don't forget to send in permission slips if you haven't done so already.

Remember your Family projects are due this week. I can't wait to see them.

Class News Week of Nov. 9th

Monday - Yellow Day
Tuesday - Green Day - Veteran's Day Celebration
Wednesday - No School 
Thursday-Blue Day - Media Center
Friday - Purple Day

Remember to start working on your November Family Project.  If you have any questions, please let me know.

We are collecting food to help those in need have a Happy Thanksgiving.  

 

 

Schedule week of 10/26

Monday -Purple Day

Tuesday - Red day *Phys Ed 

Wednesday - Orange Day *early release

Thursday -Yellow Day

Friday - Green Day  *Halloween parade 2:00 (no Phys Ed)

If you don't celebrate Halloween and you do not want your child to participate in the parade, please let me know. Most of the day will be "business as usual" so attendance is still expected. An alternate activity will be available for those not participating. 

Looking forward to a "spooktacular" week 

Share Schedule

Share Schedule

Red – Omari, Elsy, Gianna

Orange – Matviy, Emilia, Maria, Genesis

Yellow – Audric, Harshitha, Brayan, Kevin

Green – Collins, Cielo, Maya, Addison

Blue- Gia, Juliana, Abigail

Purple- Isaiah, Bhuvana, Sebastian

Schedule and News Oct. 19-23rd

Monday Red Day Phys Ed.  Wear Sneakers    
Tuesday Orange Day Phys Ed.  Wear Sneakers
Wednesday Yellow Day
 Thursday Green Day Phys. Ed.  Wear sneakers
Friday Blue Day Media Center - Don't forget your library book

I'm not going to continue to list names for share every week.  Please see the schedule below.  You can copy it down for future reference. Most children know their color day.  I'm going to also post under separate heading so you can search for it any time.

Share Schedule

 Red – Omari, Elsy, Gianna

 Orange – Matviy, Emilia, Maria, Genesis

 Yellow – Audric, Harshitha, Brayan, Kevin

 Green – Collins, Cielo, Maya, Addison

 Blue- Gia, Juliana, Abigail

 Purple- Isaiah, Bhuvana, Sebastian

Making Predictions

One of our reading comprehension strategies we worked on last week was "making predictions". Good readers make predictions before, during, and after reading. We stopped halfway through the story Too Many Pumpkins to predict what Rebecca Estelle was going to do with all the pumpkins. We had some great predictions..."sell them", "make pumpkin pie", "give them to friends" etc. 

Please practice making predictions as you read with your child at home. Ask questions such as "What do you think this book is going to be about?"and "What do you think will happen next?"

Math Fun

A big part of Everyday Math is playing games to practice the skills we are learning. Here's just a glimpse of some of the games we've been playing lately.

Rolling for 50 - learning how to navigate the Number Grid

Penny, Nickel Exchange (The trading game) - reinforcing trading 5 pennies for a nickel

Springdale Sprint

After much anticipation, the Springdale Sprint finally arrived. The weather was perfect and we had so much fun walking and/or running to the music with our friends. We loved seeing Mr. Greutzner in his spiffy jaguar suit and our very own Isaiah participate in the silly string battle. Thanks to all the parents who raised money and came to cheer us on. Here are just a few photos from the event. You can find many more on the Springdale PTO  Facebook page. 

I hope everyone had a nice 3 day weekend and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  Let's hope we get just as nice weather for our rescheduled Springdale Sprint this Wednesday.  Also, don't forget Picture Day is on Friday.

Here's our schedule this week...
Tuesday - Yellow Day  Share: Audric, Harshitha, Brayan, Kevin
Wednesday - Green Day - Springdale Sprint *Wear sneakers Share: Collins, Cielo, Maya, Addison

Thursday - Blue Day - Media Center  * Remember library book Share: Gia, Juliana, Abby
Friday - Purple Day - Picture Day Share: Isaiah, Bhuvana, Sebastian

Week of October 5th...

No days off, no short days, it will be a busy week in Room 8 this week.  We will continue writing our narrative stories, begin learning how to tell time, practice addition including different ways to make 10, read some Fall stories and much much more.

Here's our schedule this week…
Monday - Green Day *PE    Share: Collins, Cielo, Maya, Addison
Tuesday - Blue Day   Share: Gia, Juliana, Abby
Wednesday - Purple Day   Share: Isaiah, Bhuvana, Sebastian
Thursday- Red Day *PE   Share: Omari, Elsy, Gianna
Friday - Orange Day   Share: Matviy, Emilia, Maria, Genesis

Please help your children think of ideas and practice for their share day. We like to hear about all different kinds of things…things they've done, places they've gone, pets, parties, new toys, losing a tooth etc.

Here's to a better blogging year

Last year was my first attempt at keeping a blog and it went well for while but slowly fizzled out.  This year I am looking forward to using this blog to share classroom happenings on a weekly basis.  In addition to posting pictures and recaps of exciting activities and events, every weekend I will post important information for the upcoming week including our PE schedule, "share" schedule, homework information etc.  Please visit often.

Our One of a Kind Mittens

Here are all of the wonderful and creative mittens students designed with their families (from rooms 7 and 8).  The students had fun sharing them with their classmates and reading their descriptions.  

The Pencil Trick

 We have begun our 2nd science unit on Balance and Motion.  We learned how weight affects balance and how you can add counterweights to make something stay in a stable position.  By far our coolest trick so far was getting a pencil to balance on it's point.  It took some time and perseverance but everyone finally got it.  As you can see by the smiles, the children were quite amazed.  One of the students remarked "It's like we are defying gravity!"

 Some of the pencils leaned over and even "danced" back and forth but they still stayed up.  Pretty cool!

Check out this article about what scientists say about the benefits of dancing in the classroom.  http://teacherpop.org/2015/01/science-says-your-classroom-needs-more-dance-parties/

We love our dance breaks.

December Happenings

Know it's a little late but after a busy holiday season, I'm finally getting around to sharing all of the fun we had.

Room 8 was definitely feeling the holiday spirit.  Reading holiday stories, learning about different holiday traditions, singing holiday songs, making presents, seeing the winter concert, and having a Polar Express pajama day, were just some of the many activities we enjoyed.   Of course, there was plenty of learning to go along with it.


One of my favorite stories to read around this time of year is Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett.  In this story, the Gingerbread baby loves living with Matty but he is lonely when Matty's not around and goes out to search for some friends.  While he is out having some adventures, we can see that Matty at home busy baking more gingerbread.  What a great surprise it is when the Gingerbread Baby comes home to find so many new friends.  it's such a sweet story and the illustrations are amazing.  The children really enjoyed it.  They then got a chance to make their own beautiful illustrations and write about why they liked the story.  I loved their details.

After learning about Chanukah, the children had fun playing the Dreidel game.

Our Polar Express Pajama Party was enjoyed by all.  What a fun, and comfy way to enjoy the last day of school before Winter Break.  We read the story, sequenced the events to help retell and then made our own Polar Express trains out of Graham Crackers.  Love the creativity.