Have you "herd" about Mrs. Swims' little "deers"?

Thanks to instructions from Heidi Butkus at http://heidisongs.blogspot.com/ , these reindeer turned out PRECIOUS!!

Centers and Stations

Our favorite parts of the day are Reading Stations and Exploratory Centers.  Reading Stations are assigned by table group during our Reading Block while Exploratory Stations are "Free Choice" activities in the afternoon.

Since Thanksgiving is coming, I have swapped out our puppet theater Library Station for a Teepee with a real deerskin rug.

Sorting Solid Shapes

We sorted solid shapes in class. Can you tell which group will slide, which group will roll, and which group will do both? We Can!

We enjoyed working with solid shapes!

Shapes!

Today in Math we worked with making larger objects from individual shapes. Through our SITES-M grant and partnership with Lane College, the teachers at our school have embraced the philosophy "exploration before explanation", so after I showed some parquetry patterns to the students, I let them "loose" to make their own pictures. It was so quiet as they worked diligently to translate their ideas into reality on their desks. It was a HUGE help to be able to use our new ELMO document camera, allowing everyone to see me move the blocks on my workspace before they began to work with theirs.

Grandparents' Day

This Friday, September 10th we will celebrate Grandparents' Day with breakfast and going "Back to School" from 8:00-9:30.  Grandparents will be treated to coffee and muffins and will then participate with our class as we have Morning Meeting and read the story Whose Baby Am I? We will then do a literature response piece with our "grands".

I am looking forward to meeting my kids' grandparents and having a wonderful morning together!

Donors Choose Request

I have posted a request at DonorsChoose.org.  This is the group that is linked to Sonic's Limeades for Learning.  If you would be willing to donate to our classroom and help us get iPods for our listening stations we would really appreciate it.

Substitute Teacher

OK...we have a substitute teacher today.  I hope that everything goes well.  I'm always so nervous leaving my kids in someone else's care.  I hope that I left everything that she needed for the day to go smoothly and that the kids remember that I expect them to behave better for a sub than they do for me!

On Tuesday we will begin using our FISH Folders.  These are 3 ring binders that are used for home-school communication.  I am spending some time this weekend putting them all together (it takes a while for 20 students) and I will post pictures soon!

Living and Non-Living Things

Today we wrapped up our learning about Living and Non-Living things. As a culminating activity, we went out on the playground and found both living and non-living materials. We also enjoyed playing outside for a little while and enjoying the cooler temperature!

TN Science Standard 0007.7.1 The learner will identify living and non-living materials found on the school site.

Back to School

These pictures show "before" and "after" in my classroom. I hate packing everything up in May, but it is nice to get a fresh start in August!

The first few weeks of school have been WILD! We began the year with 25+ children in 3 classrooms. Last week we were given a new K teacher, so we now have about 20 in each of our classes...it was difficult to give up the students, but it will be a better experience for all of us because the students will receive more attention and we can work in smaller groups.

In Reading we have been working on naming and matching upper and lowercase letters. This has been a challenge for some of us, but the kids are making great progress. We are also working on writing names and identifying our names in print. With so many names beginning with the same letter (especially D, J, and N) the children are having to learn to look past the first letter and examine the whole word.

I have already had to rearrange our seating a few times in order to make sure that everyone has enough space and can easily see. We have also been "tweaking" our behavior management system to better address the needs of our class.

Our agendas should arrive soon and we will begin taking home our FISH folders on Sept. 7th. Parent Teacher conferences will be on Monday, September 13th. I look forward to talking with each of my parents then.

I am really proud of the progress that my students are making...I expect great things this year!