Mayborn Museum

 We had such a fun day!  One of the kids said it was the best day ever.  Our appointment at the museum wasn't until 11:30 so we started out at the park behind the Cameron Park Zoo.  The kids played for awhile and then we ate lunch.

 Today is Xavier's birthday.

 The Mayborn Museum has an outdoor village that shows the kids what it would have been like to live in the 1800's. 

 This is the Commisary.  The kids noted how different it was from Walmart.

 This is the one room school house. Girls on one side.

 Boys on the other side.  No desks, just hard benches and slate boards to write on.

 They also got to practice washing clothes by hand

 and then wringing out the wet clothes.

 They pumped water from a well.

 This is the church.  It was a warm day so we all noticed the lack of air conditioning.

They also got to churn butter and see how corn was ground.  In just a couple of hours, they were exhausted from all the chores.

Things In My Room!

 Oh My Goodness!  The Cat in the Hat had Thing 1 and Thing 2, but today I had Thing 1,2, 3, 4, 5...all the way to 17!  I've never seen so many things running about.

 Some were having better hair days than others.

 Things like to eat so we ate Dr. Seuss hats. 

 We made them with vanilla wafers, bananas, and red frosting.

 Things also like to wear their pajamas to school. 

I hope on Monday that I will have my students back and those Things will stay away.

Reading is So Much Fun!

 The class is so excited about reading!  All they want to do is read and take AR tests. 

We had a special visitor last week.  Clifford came to visit because we met our goal of books sold during the book fair.

 Isabella got her first tag today.  That makes 4 kids in the class who have earned tags.  Brodie, Gabe, and Madeline have also earned a tag.

When we aren't reading, we do some math.  Today we worked on putting the numbers in order in this pattern.  Speed and accuracy are important.  You can make some number cards at home and practice doing this.  I have the class race me to see who is faster. 

100th Day of School

 We celebrated 100 days of school last Friday.  It's quite a milestone for us because we have been counting up to it since the first day of school.  It's taken a long time to get here.  Some of the kids were a little disappointed to find out that they would not be going to first grade yet.  The 100th day is not the end of Kindergarten.

 We sang our "Count to 100" song for the last time. 

 We made fruit loop necklaces with 100 fruit loops and gummi savers. 

 The kids also brought collections of 100.  It was fun to see what everyone brought.

Reading Stations

 With the new semester, we started Reading Groups.  This is a little different from the stations of last semester.  Each station is longer and when the kids are in the group with me, we are reading!  I'm always so excited to see them take off with reading.  I couldn't do it by myself.  I know the kids are getting a lot of help from home and now your hard work is paying off.

I completed middle of the year testing last week and sent home a note telling you what level your child is reading on.  By the end of the year, I want everyone to be reading a 3 or 4.  If you have any questions about this, please let me know and we can set up a conference. 

 When I am working with a reading group, the other kids are at stations.  Some stations are work stations and others are just for fun.

 We've been working on color words.  Color words are not on the sight word list but I like to teach them anyway.

 Blocks are a station that is just for fun but what they don't know is that they are learning to cooperate and work together in that station.

The computer is a favorite station.  When they go to the computer, they are working on reading skills.

If the red folders have seemed a little strange lately, it is because I am trying to teach the kids how to code the behavior chart and put the papers to go home in it all by themselves.  It's not going very well right now.  I noticed today that some days are not being coded and I pick up loose papers all over the floor after everyone leaves.  I'm not ready to give up yet.  Since we aren't having naps anymore, I have a hard time getting the folders ready by the end of the day.  So please be patient.  I think they can learn how to do this.