Back in Black

I just couldn't resist using that for the title this week. 

We had lots to learn and do this week after a whole week off; new color word, new letters, new sight words, new teen numbers. But, really, all the fun was had on Friday.  More on that shortly. 

First, an update on our centers. Some of the reading groups this week got to "read with a buddy" for the first time this week. We read our book all together, then I gave them a reading partner and they took turns whisper reading to one another. It went really well. Next week, a few more reading groups will get to try it and eventually it will become a routine thing for us.

The students used the LetterSchool app on the ipads in the writing center.  They couldn't wait to try out the new q and u.  But they are still just as excited to work on past letters.

By the way, another thing they couldn't wait to do was share how they'd lost teeth over fall break. All of these girls lost a bottom tooth!

Back to centers, the kiddos played a new game, Roll and Cover the Pumpkin.  This is a variation of Bingo where the students roll two dice, add the dots, and cover the sum. 

And in the Letter Work center, the students placed the candy corn pieces onto the master puzzle sheet to match upper and lowercase letters with their sound.

 Between here and Fun Friday there was a nasty stomach bug that brought about my first, and hopefully ONLY sub day.  Mrs. Taylor said the students did fine, though and she had them color pictures for me. 
   And now onto the best part of the week. All week we read books about apples and used our group writing time on sentences about apples. So today, we had an apple taste test.  The students tried a Red Delicious, a Granny Smith, and a Golden Delicious apple. Then we recorded our favorites on a graph on the SmartBoard. (This is the PM class's results.  The AM's graph looked a little different). Then they wrote about their taste for apples in their journals. (The journal pictured belongs to Alex).

And finally, THE WEDDING OF THE CENTURY!

Well, not exactly, but they were all pretty stinkin'excited about it!  It was a lovely ceremony.  Q and U exchanged things, not rings.  Q gave U an umbrella and U gave Q a crown and made her his queen.  (By the way, the first Ms. U had to leave before the second ceremony. So in the PM, it was more of a May-December romance). The vows were pretty short and silly. And the recession was even sillier.  The students waved little American flags that the cafeteria sent to all the students for Red, White, and Blue Day (I had no bubbles or rice, so we just went with it) and they sang the ABC song as the letter couple walked out. The ceremony was followed with a cupcake and punch reception.  Thanks to all who pitched in!  We really appreciated it.  Now enjoy the rest of the pics from the wedding, and since the bride has had her day - wear WHITE on Monday!

Mrs. Armishaw (our principal) and the rest of the office staff, were in attendance at the AM wedding.

The 2nd Ms. Q for the PM class.



Some students dressed fancy for the special day!

Fire Safety, Field Trips, and FALL BREAK!

This week has been all about Fire Safety.  Everyday we read books about fire engines, fire stations, and firefighters, and we learned what to do in case of a fire.  The kids really enjoyed watching "My Fire Truck," on youtube. It is a storybook written by Ivan Ulz and it is put to music. Fair warning! It's a catchy tune and it will stay in your head. Our whole-group writing and literacy time was spent at the pocket chart putting sentences together that taught us the steps to follow in a fire.
     1. I will stay low and go.
     2. I will get out fast. (I know that, grammatically, it should be "quickly" but 'fast' just seemed     to drive the point home.
     3. I will go to a meeting spot.

We also learned about "stop, drop, and roll." I tried my best to reinforce the concept that this should be done only if your clothes catch on fire (like at a campfire) and not to be done if your house is on fire. But I would double check their comprehension on that!  They wrote about what to do in a fire in their journals.  And today, of course, we visited Fire Station #1 on our first field trip.

This might have been staged....

When we came back, the students made Thank You cards for the firefighters, after all, we are Bucket Fillers!

Pink Day!

Meanwhile, in other learning news, the students learned letters O and P this week. The O chant is one of my favorites - the students sing opera style.  Today was the end of the first 9 weeks, so the first report card will include goals for writing, identifying, and knowing the sounds of the letters up to P.
Since October began this week, our calendar math changed.  For this month, the students will extend/predict a new ABC pattern on the October calendar. 

Next, the students work on reciting and describing the seasons.  We say, "Winter, spring, summer, fall: every year has four in all!"  The students have to find and drag pictures that belong in the fall season.

     Next, is the students' new favorite: Trick or Treat Addition!  The students spin the SmartBoard spinner and put that many pieces of candy into the ten frame. (The candies replicate themselves when the student touches it so there is an endless supply).  Then they get to spin again and see how much candy they have in all. We keep a record of each child's turn so we can compare and talk about the totals each day.

 The next activity has us add on to the days in school (not pictured). That activity is included on every month's calender math.   And then, once each week in October, we collect data from the class to make and read a graph. This week, we used tally marks to collect data about who was afraid of spiders.  Apparently, our kiddos are pretty brave.  Both classes had a majority that said they were NOT afraid of spiders.

 And now for center time. The students ordered many different sets of numbers in the Number Work center this week.  Those teen numbers can be very tricky to navigate, so this was good practice for them.  They played Ten Apples Up on Top (based off of a Dr. Suess book of the same name) in Math Games. For this game, the students worked with their partner to get ten apples on each character's head by rolling the dice.  They placed them in an AB pattern, too!

They used the ipads in the Word Work center and played on a free app called "abc 1".  The students see a picture of a cvc (consonant-vowel-consonant) word  and it is spoken to them. Then they must segment it and put the letters in the correct order.
     They played on starfall in the computer center, and with the trains in the block center.  I am so proud of how well they are reading in the library center.  The students find the books that they've already read in reading groups and are happy to sit and read quietly. They're quite proud of themselves, too!

Fall Break is next week.  It's easy to forget newly acquired skills and knowledge, so have your child do a little counting here and there.   Or ask them to find some sight words and letters they know in signs around town.  Read with them.  Little things like this will go a long way during a break. There's also the game and video links on the blog that could help out. 

Enjoy the break and wear BLACK when we come back!