Wow - it's been too long!

I sincerely apologize for the length of time between posts.  Unfortunately the blog is an easy thing to push to the back-burner!  Here is going to be a quick update on a few things we've been up to!


We have  a FABULOUS writing celebration for our first (long, difficult) unit of narrative writing.  The kids worked SO hard during this trimester.  It was fun to have a chance to share their writing with others in the grade as well as have a little "toast" to all the things we learned.

We also had a fun time with our kindergarten book buddies right before Thanksgiving.  We made a dinner plate glyph and also pumpkin muffins - YUM!

We also labeled Nolan as we began to learn about the bones in our bodies.  We only need to learn the common names in third grade but it was fun to try with the scientific names! 

Voicethreads to Review Soils

We tried the text comment feature on Voicethread, a program we will be using this year. Students were able to post the things they remembered about the three types of soil we learned about.

Click on the links below to see their Voicethreads.  (Please let me know if it doesn't work for you at home.  There isn't an easy way to put the Voicethreads on here, so I'm trying the links first).

Sand
Humus
Clay

Fire Safety

Some of the fireman from the Town of Lawrence recently visited our classroom to help us learn more about first safety.  The kids were sent home with a few tasks to accomplish.

1. They need to know their address if they don't.
2. They need to learn where their family meeting spot is in case of a fire,  if one hasn't been decided.
3. They need to check their bedroom to make sure there is a smoke detector there.

Make sure to ask your child about these things!  Here are some pictures from the visit.

Botanical Gardens Field Trip Video

Book Buddies

Today we got to visit our book buddies for the first time! We are paired up with Mrs. Neuen's kindergarten class. We had lots of fun getting to know them with M&Ms. We picked one out, matched the color to what we had to say (something we are good at, something about our family, etc) and kept going until we ate them all! I was very impressed with how well all the kids did the first time.

While we were down there, the Golden Apple representative came through and gave Mrs. Neuens and I golden bars from Seroogy's for the kick-off to Golden Apple. As a teacher of distinction last year, I can tell you that the program is a pretty cool one for educators. If you want to nominate a teacher who impacted your child/family, the forms are in the office or can be found here titletown.org/goldenapples if you prefer to email it.

Plant Wordles

We recently learned how to use the website Wordle.  It is a tool to put words together in a unique way.   We will be using it for a variety of projects this year, so we tried with a wordle about ourselves and also words that described our plants.  Enjoy a few of the plants ones below.

Back in the Swing of Things!

I can honestly say that this week finally feels like we are in the swings of things. It definitely took a few weeks to practice routines and learn expectations. We've had the opportunity to use both netbooks and iPads to learn some tools we will use on those. We've finished two MAP tests in the computer lab. We've launched our Daily 5 and CAFE routines in our classroom. Writer's workshop is definitely new and different but something we're working very hard on every day. Multiplication is in full swing! PLants are going and not quite blooming. Compost bags are stinking and rotting. Ew! It's been a busy few weeks and it's only the beginning!