Kacsko's Kiddos: 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!