Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Here it is! With a lot of help from my technical advisor, John, now you can watch our class sing a special song just for you. It was all their idea. All I did was hold the camera and follow directions.

Christmas Party

The Christmas party was so much fun. Thank you to everyone who helped. It was one of the best parties we've had. The kids wore pajamas and we ate pancakes.

We had some wonderful volunteers from the Lion's Club make the pancakes for us.

They made handprint snowmen Christmas ornaments.

It looked like Christmas morning when the gifts were opened.

I felt like it was Christmas morning when I opened my gifts, too. Wow! You guys were so generous and kind. Thank you so much for everything. Most of all, thanks for sharing your children with me. I have had so much fun getting to know this class. We have quite a mixture of personalities. Something surprises me, or makes me laugh, or makes me proud every day. This really is a great job.

Christmas Fun Continues

This week has been full of Christmas activities.

Last week I read many different versions of the story of the Gingerbread Man then we made gingerbread ornaments for the tree. Are you wondering why there is a spider on the top of the tree? Ask your child to tell you the story of the Christmas spiders.

Today the kids got to decorate and eat gingerbread cookies.

The decorating is the best part. Some of the kids just licked the icing off, but a lot of them ate the whole thing, just like the fox.

Christmas Around the World

We have learned about Christmas traditions from 5 different countries this week. In my class, we learned about the legend of the Christmas spiders from Ukraine and the kids made a spider for your tree. I know you will be excited about that.

Mrs. Ray taught them about a German tradition of hiding a pickle in the tree.

In Mrs. Fogelle's class they learned about Christmas in Mexico and they got to eat homemade tamales.

Mrs. Brown taught them about Christmas in Japan and Mrs. Price had the kids make wreaths to wear like they do in Sweden.

The kids enjoyed going to all the teachers and learning so much about Christmas.

Short Stations

Once a week, we have short stations. Everyone has a partner and they rotate through a series of stations that last about 5 minutes each. That's why it's called "short stations".

The stations reinforce something we have been working on in class.

These boys are matching letter sounds.

Emma is reading on the computer.

Madison and Olivia are writing sight words with white crayon and then painting over the words with watercolors.

After Christmas, I will start reading groups with the class. They will rotate through stations, but each station will be longer. That is when we will start reading more and we we have reading groups 4 - 5 times a week.

Christmas Tree Farm

Feild trip days are always extra special. Just getting out of our normal routine and doing something different is always exciting. For some of the kids, riding the bus is the best part. Today we went to Salado Christmas Tree Farm. The staff was so nice to us and made us feel very welcome. 107 kids could be very overwhelming but they greeted us with a smile and took care of us. Our first stop was a lesson about the trees and how they grow. We learned that some trees are grown on the farm and others are shipped in.

The kids got to play in a hay pile. It didn't take long for everyone to just start throwing hay at each other.

A hay ride was next. We got a tour of the property and saw some very strange things in the woods.

We took our lunch to Pace Park. It wasn't exactly a great day for a picnic but we made the best of it. After they ate, the kids played for a while on the playground and then we went back to school.

Tomorrow we will start a Christmas Around the World unit. The kids will rotate to each teacher over the next 2 days and learn about a Christmas tradition from another country.

Friday Pictures

We've had so much fun this week. The kids have been great! Usually when it's this close to Christmas the kids have a hard time staying in control of themselves, but we didn't have any color changes this week. Way to go class!

On Fridays we have center time. They love to be able to choose what to do and who to play with.

I let them use watercolors this week and that was a popular center choice today.

We have a special surprise for you next week on the blog so be sure to check back.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I love Christmas! I love everything about the holiday season starting with Thanksgiving and going through New Year's. I think the kids love it as much as I do. While they are working, someone will start singing a Christmas song and everyone else will join in. It's great!Today we wrote about some of our favorite things about Christmas. Thomas wrote, "I like the hot cocoa."

Emma wrote, "I like to open presents."

Boston was an over achiever today and wrote a story. It says, " We decorate the tree on Christmas and we sit by the fireplace and we drink hot cocoa and we play."

Ariana says, "I like to put ornaments on my Christmas Tree."

I've been reading different versions of the Gingerbread Man to the class. Every story is a little different and the kids like to guess if the Gingerbread Man will be eaten at the end or not. Sometimes he gets eaten and sometimes he escapes.

Next week we will be doing a Christmas Around the World unit. They will learn about traditions in different countries. That's always a lot of fun.

Thanksgiving Feast

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast today. I had so much fun talking to everyone that I forgot to take pictures. Before the feast, we made table decorations with apples and gumdrops. The kids will be bringing them home today to decorate your Thanksgiving table, if they don't get eaten first.

I want to say"thank you" to everyone who helped today. The room was beautiful and the food was delicious. One of the kids told me it looked like a resort and I had to agree. It was very special.

I hope everyone of you has a special and restful holiday.

When we come back next week, we will start getting ready for Christmas. Don't forget that we have a field trip to the Christmas Tree Farm on December 7.

Kid Writing

I am so excited about the progress the kids are making with their writing. I want to share a few pieces with you. Emma wrote, "I like to go to the pizza place." She used a combination of sight words and kid spelling on her paper. They are working on using a capital at the beginning of a sentence, spaces between words, and punctuation at the end.

Kase wrote, "I like to eat turkey on Thanksgiving". Illustrations are important, also. On this paper, Kase knew it wasn't enough to just draw a turkey. He needed to add details to help the reader. You can see many details in his drawing that supports his sentence.

Thomas wrote, "I like chicken". He did a good job of listening to the sounds in the word "chicken" and he wrote what he heard.

This one cracks me up. Luke wrote, "I do not like to change my color to yellow". He's never had to change his color, but it must be on his mind. I don't think he was trying to be funny, but humor in writing is great.

Olivia wrote about something sad. She wrote, "We don't like when our fish dies". Somtimes the kids like to write about something that has happened to them.

Every student has a writing notebook and we use it for writing down ideas. Then on a day when we write, the kids take their notebooks and look for an idea. I never tell them what to write about. They have many of their own ideas and sometimes the problem is deciding which ideas to use.

They are doing so well with one sentence that I told them today that soon I would start requiring 2 sentences. They think they are up to the challenge.

Rock Stars

I've got a class full of rock stars. Since I posted the kids singing the ABC song a few weeks ago, they've been asking me to post another song.

Today they are singing "Little Bo Peep". We hope you enjoy the show. -

Communitiy Helper Parade and Fall Party

Monday, we held our Community Helper Parade. The kids came dressed as what they want to be when they grow up. Last week we had several community helpers come to talk to the kids about their jobs.

The kids looked great. We walked through the school so everyone could see us and then we went to the Intermediate School also.

In the afternoon we had a Fall Celebration Party. This was our first class party and the kids were very excited. They ate popcorn hands.

Then they played Halloween Bingo.

Thanks to all the parents who planned and organized the party. The kids had a great time and now they want to know when the next party will be.