This makes me smile . Some mornings when I come to school I am greeted by a big yellow truck with great big cows on the side. School is a happy place!

Two more glimpses of students singing in the Friendship group - Tuesday afternoon Speech OT.

We are so fortunate to have Mrs. Decker, Mrs. Ingamells, Mrs. Chapman and Ms. Cipolla right in with us each week. They are a talented group and we look forward to seeing them.

What are these two students doing? Why is Mrs. Wentzel letting them crawl on the floor?

Actually, they're not crawling...they are break dancing to the music video from the BEE MOVIE. It's a favorite choice inbetween more academic moments!

In the Speech/OT group yesterday students took turns in the center of the parachute. What fun!

This morning we tried a new "trick" when adding. Say the BIGGER number out loud, then count on using touch points. It was hard work, and we'll keep working on it. Today's work was all done as a group as students were seeing it for the first time.

1st grade students had a new word in their reading this morning....banana. They noticed all the extra a's and n's. We practiced the sign for banana, too. Hold up your index finger and with the other hand pretend to peel it.

2nd graders read individual lessons and answered YES to the question "Do you want a piece of bubble gum?"

Speech /OT group this afternoon...I'll try to get some pictures.

This kindergarten student had lots of extra attention this morning. (Our other kindergartener was out today) He's tracing letters using a pen with a ball grip. He especially enjoyed the extra time on the computer!

These two first graders are enjoying each others company while singing and dancing to a story from Boowa and Kwala. It's the scary dinosaur song and they requested it. They wrote the word dinosaur (without complaining!) on their white boards before the song.

These 2nd grade students are working together on a reading lesson on the computer. They read for each other and can help and correct each other. I'm right in there, too, but, peers are powerful!

This creature has been growing in our room since last Wednesday. He was big, he got bigger, and now he's the biggest! Students have LOVED seeing him each day. Today we rolled up our sleeves and each reached in the water to pull him out. Now we will let him dry out and shrink. It was great fun!

Our high school buddies joined us at the pool. Two students went down the big slide for the first time with buddies. WHOO HOO! They loved it!

Happy Wednesday!

Kindergarten students did letter work, one-to-one correspondence with pennies, lazy 8's on the board and reading on the computer this morning.

2nd graders did a reading lesson using the computer and practiced spelling words.

1st graders read a short story using known words and practiced their spelling words. We have a test tomorrow.

We are all making progress with our numbers - saying them, finding them, writing them- sometimes without a model.

We were ALL VERY EXCITED to find a (rubber) red crab that will grow 600% in the bag this morning. We put it in a very big container of water. Then we just looked at it for a long time!
Maybe by tomorrow morning it will be bigger!

We wrote a sentence to go along with our cats that we cut and colored yesterday and the day before. It was all words that we can read and say, but boy, it's HARD to get it written down correctly.

This isn't as exciting without pictures, I know........ I'll try to take some at the pool this afternoon.

A character that we all like is from the NOGGIN site - Peppa pig! We did a directed drawing together and wrote his name before watching him with the hiccups.

Students at work this morning on a scissor task. They were all focused on their work and the room got quiet!

The last two pictures show students practicing spelling. Today's activity was RAINBOW WRITE, selecting 5 crayons and tracing over the word with each one, saying the letters as they write. Tomorrow we have a practice test (1st and second graders) and Thursday is the test.

There was ketchup in the bag this morning.....too bad there weren't any french fries!

Friendship group this afternoon (Speech/OT)

Love this weather!

It was YELLOW, put on a hotdog, put on a hamburger...........MUSTARD! This shows us trying the mustard from a little cup on pretzels. Then we did some writing - I like mustard!
We worked as a group following directions. "Color the biggest cat red. Color the littlest cat yellow. Color the medium size cat any color you want." We cut them out and wrote our names on the back. Tomorrow we will make a big pocket to keep them in and put them in order - little, medium, big. We will do some writing about them also.


The weather is warm. Children are telling me that they can leave their jackets in their locker.

We will go to the computer lab this afternoon. The lesson will be in the Kid Pix program. Students will use stamps to put in pictures and type a sentence to go along with the picture.

2nd graders have a special POND STUDY today.

A small group of us walked to the post office this afternoon. All of us made the cards together and practiced counting out coins to buy a stamp. We LOVE putting our envelopes in the big blue mailbox. Look for a card in your mail soon!

More tap dancing fun this morning! There were boy's tap shoes in the bag this morning! We all laughed and danced!

This student was a helper! When we finished cooking, he not only took the bowl to the sink, he washed it out! Way to go!

The children eating (or, in the case of the last photo, NOT eating!:-)) the finished recipe - potatoes with broccoli , cheese and ham. More than one adult in the room was overheard to say, "I think I'll make that for dinner tonight." Some of the children have their favorite parts of the dish - just the broccoli, just the ham, just the potato. All of the children like making it. And all of them like having their picture taken!

Frequently, our talented speech teachers will join us in the classroom. They can provide speech therapy in the environment that language needs to occur in - the classroom activities! Mrs. Cipolla did just that yesterday while we cooked.

Stirring the ingredients. She likes the ham!

Working together following a recipe, two students add ingredients to the bowl on Thursday afternoon.

It was green on the outside, red on the inside, and good to eat.........What was in the bag today?
WATERMELON! These two 2nd graders and our other second grader LOVED it! Our kindergarteners said "no thank you," and our first graders are out of the building this morning on a field trip to the planetarium.

We worked on reading and reading comprehension this morning. We are continuing to work on the concept "which is more?" Some students will point and count all the objects.....remember, for along time we have all asked"how many?" This is changing the question and questions are HARD. It's okay that they point and count or add the two groups together. They are showing us what they know.

The birthday girl from yesterday is famous for her dancing....in front of the microwave where she can see her reflection. She shows us lots of tap dancing. I wonder if she takes lessons?
I use to do some tapping, so I brought in my tap shoes today. Our other kindergartener was first to lift up his feet in a request to take off his shoes and try on the tap shoes. So in the photo you see one student eyeing the shoes on the other student. Then we heard lots of little tap tap taps across the floor. I'll be looking for some tap shoes in a smaller size!

Students are attentive to their handwriting work. I ask them to say the letters as they write them, and to say the word . For comprehension, they are asked "What day is it?" as we do a computer activity.

This morning I pointed to the schedule and asked, "What will we do next?" (The activity was the game, "Which is MORE?") A student answered quite proudly, "What's the MOSTEST!"

We are using a variety of material to play this game. Magnets on the board, numbers, cereal pieces, pictures, and MORE! Try it at home for fun......

Off to the pool this afternoon - I'm glad the sun is shining at the temperature is WARM!

Someone turned 7 today! She's a Princess!
She brought in cupcakes and juice to share.

Second graders at work this morning. Some completing a reading lesson on the computer, another practicing spelling words using shaving cream at the board. We're a messy group at times!

Kindergarteners at the table for morning work. Today they did some letter work, one-to-one counting objects, addition with touch points, and a reading lesson on the computer. They make me smile!

Good Morning and Happy Monday! This shows our morning schedule from 10:00 to 11:00. We'll start with the number song and identifying numbers quickly and accurately, play "What's in the bag?", practice handwriting, talk about the days of the week and the months of the year, look at the calendar for the week, play "Which is more?" and read from the Bucketfilling book and make our own buckets.

This afternoon we will go to the computer lab and practice typing our name and address.

It's FRIDAY! And even better, it is a half day of school! You can feel the excitement in the air.

This photo shows students working on handwriting . Way to go!

Next, guess what was in the bag today?

- cold, brown&white, good to eat

ICE CREAM BARS!

We read from the book " Have you filled a Bucket today?" Next week we will be making our own buckets.

I'll be working on progress report updates this afternoon and meeting with my team for some preliminary planning for next year. Have a good weekend!