Saturday, December 13, 2014

December part 1

Oh my word, we have been busy!  I'm already titling this post "Part I" because I know that I'll be posting again  ;)
I am home after only two Vetter basketball games as my son is elevating his fever one tenth of a degree at a time... he warmed up with his team but just felt too awful to play.  We're home now and he just fell asleep!  Some of our classmates have had this too so I feel secure in saying UES is full of germs!  I hope that everyone is enjoying their weekend and staying healthy.

Okay, these pics seem to be uploading "backwards" so bear with me.

Our third-grade Buddies came to visit us on Tuesday and we talked about Acts of Kindness.  Mrs. Triebel and I both read a story and the kids then made paper mittens with explanations of how they could show acts of kindness.  We always have such a great time when our Buddies visit us!














Mrs. R came to see us on Thursday and we worked on a spatial reasoning lesson.  Tons of fun!  










Here are our BIRTHDAY TWINS!  December 11 is a special day indeed! 




I actually snuck out of my chair at the Reading Table and took a few shots during Literacy Centers.  










On Friday, during Social Studies, we finally got to share our Family Traditions.  We have had several absences this week and I want to TRY to get everyone in attendance before we shared.  The kids did a great job presenting to their classmates.  











































We have been enjoying our unit on 2D shapes.  Thursday, we spent our Math period making pictures out of shapes that Mrs. Petrolle cut for us (thank goodness!).   









CENTER TIME!  





My favorite... READING TIME!  I can't believe how much they've changed since August/September!










Just before Thanksgiving (I told you these pictures were uploading "backwards"), the kids and I discussed our favorite Thanksgiving foods and then interviewed one another so that we could make a graph.  












As we finished our study of length, we measure everything that we could think of! Here we are measuring one another on the carpet.  For the record, I DID ALLOW the kids to measure me!  ;) 
















Here they are doing a "spelling test" during Phonics.  They spelled 20 words!  And then told me that we should add one word a day until we reach 100 words :) 










One of our classmates, Bailey, moved away and we really miss her.  We all write her a card and put it together as a book so that we could mail it to her.  The kids also asked that I put her picture up in the front of the room along with her "job clip" ... which is now on the front blackboard.  


















Another 2D shapes activity... making and sorting squares :)







We are up to 13 letters in our Phonics lessons.  Here are the kids spelling words with their tiles. 














The Magnet Unit in Science was a HUGE hit!  Why wouldn't it be?  The kids LOVED exploring with magnets.  












 Our computer lab time last Friday offered the kids some time to explore a shapes program during which they created pictures and patterns using 2D shapes.













These are all the stuffed animals that the kids sent to Bailey ;)
I only told them that we were sending them to Bailey since she loves stuffed animals so much.  If you'd like to read the full story, please "like" Bailey's Buddies on Facebook.  











The day before Thanksgiving break, we had a special guest visitor.... Mr. Kidd!  The kids listened to a story and then completed a labeling activity.  Thank you Mr. Kidd!




I told you these pictures uploaded in a crazy way... this is before Thanksgiving too.  
Our school-wide STEM project involved learning about a Pumpkin Chunkin' machine and then trying to create our own pumpkin chunkins.  I insisted that the kids use pom-poms ;)

























And finally.... a LOST TOOTH!  We had a tally mark on our class Tooth Chart ;)