Pajama and Stuffed Animal Day!

We had a great last day of school before the winter holiday!  We celebrated all of our hard work so far this year with a pajama day.  The kids were also able to bring in one stuffed animal.  The stuffed animals joined the kids throughout the day and helped them with their work.  Here is a Smilebox of some pictures that were taken on this fun day!  

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Coding

This past Monday our amazing Digital Integration Specialist, Lisa Knoche, came in to teach the kids a coding app on the iPad.  The students were so excited to play "The Foos"!  One child said, "It's a video game"!  They learned how to be programmers and learned how to tell the character on the app what to do.  The kids had to use problem solving skills and overall they did a great job!  Here are some pictures!

Writing Celebration!

Last week we had our first writing celebration of the year!  All of the kids have grown so much as writers and they have all been working so hard.  We have been making books for the past couple of weeks and we were wrapping up a writing unit so it was a perfect time to celebrate our accomplishments so far!  Here are some pictures of our writing celebration!  We started by sharing one page out of our favorite book and then we read the whole book to a small group.  The kids seemed so proud of their work!

Lee Anne Lamar

We had so much fun during our in-school field trip today with Lee Anne Lamar!  We learned so much about Native Americans; how they hunted, what they hunted, what they used to play music, etc.  Here are some pictures!

Lake Murray Long Ago

We had so much fun at Lake Murray Long Ago this past Friday!  We have spent these past few weeks talking about Native Americans and Pilgrims and how things have changed from the past to now.  It was great to engage in activities that kids could have enjoyed in the past!  Here is a Smilebox of pictures of our day!

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Book Fair

This Friday we will be able to go into the library to browse the book fair and look for books that the students may like.  A parent volunteer will write down the books that they found interesting and then the list will go home in your child's folder.  Next week, Monday, November 14th- Wednesday, November 16th, students will have the opportunity to go to the book fair during the day and purchase books if parents send in money that is intended to be used at the book fair (please put this in a labeled envelope).  The book fair is so much fun for students!  We will also have a family book fair night where parents can come with their child to purchase books.  That night is next Tuesday, November 15th from 4:00-6:15.  Don't miss the book fair!

Bronze Paw Winners!

Today was a special day for bronze paw winners!  Any student who already received their bronze paw was able to get extra recess!!  Not only did they get extra recess, but they got to play on the "big" playground on the hill!!  Our class is amazing and all of our kids ended up having their bronze paw.  Students earn paws slips when they make good choices throughout the day.  Any teacher can give a child a paws slip.  After students earn 20 paws slips they receive a special bronze paw.  Since all of our students have already received this, they are all working towards their silver paw!  I think that extra recess was a HUGE hit!  As soon as we left many kids asked "when can we go back".  Here are some pictures!

50's Day

Last Thursday we had a great time celebrating the 50th day of school!  We enjoyed dressing up like we were from the 50's, listening and dancing to 50's music and learning about the differences from the past and today.  Here is a Smilebox of pictures from our fun day!!

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"Fun" and "Safe" Switch

We have one of the most amazing guidance counselors around!  Mrs. Sitsch is definitely loved by all of the students in our class.  We are always so excited for her to come and visit us.  This time when she came to visit she brought three friends with her!  She used these friends to help demonstrate ways to take care of our bodies.  She used light switches to represent that we have a "fun switch" and a "safe switch".  She showed how the "safe switch" should never be turned off.  When explaining to the kids about this she talked about how if you get an "uh oh feeling", a feeling that you can get when you feel like something is not quite right, that there are two things that you need to do.  The two things students were advised to do when they get an "uh oh" feeling, that could result in feeling nervous, scared or confused, is say "no" and go (to get a trusted adult).  An example that Mrs. Sitsch used was kids knowing that they should not swim in the swimming pool without an adult.  The "safe switch" should stay on even if they are encouraged by another child to get in the pool without an adult.  They should say "no" to the child and then go to get an adult.  Here are some pictures!

Fall is Here!

Last week we really started to talk about weather and season changes.  Since we are moving into fall we talked about what fall looks like, feels like, etc.  One thing that students brought up was how the leaves on trees start to fall.  We then talked about how the colors of leaves on most trees change too.  We decided to take a leaf walk to get a closer look!  The kids loved seeing the signs of fall outside.  We also read poems and books about fall to connect our new learning.  Here are some pictures!

Dr. Doug!

We had so much fun at our in-school field trip with Dr. Doug!  We learned how to be great observers by using our senses.  We classified objects by their size, shape, pattern, color and more.  Here are some pictures.  We cannot wait for Dr. Doug to come back!