Right Around the Corner....

Wow, Thanksgiving is really right around the corner.  This year has really been flying by.  We've been having a blast doing Thanksgiving activities and crafts, but my absolute fa.vor.ite is this adorably colorful turkey.   I really have an addiction to scrapbook paper.  But I just love how they turned out, each one so different and so stinking cute.

And they made the cutest bulletin board!  I just love them! 

We also had a "layover" in learning about apples.  I started by giving each child an apple half and we counted seeds.  We read books about apples, we made homemade applesauce in the crock pot (nothing beats that smell!), and we made applemen.  They turned out just adorable.  AND they went perfectly with the hanging laterns I already had up for my space board.  Woo!  I just love when it works out like that.

We officially have 5 1/2 more school days until Thanksgiving break!  Not that I'm counting or anything.... :)

 

VETERANS DAY

I AM SO PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!  I seriously get teary eyed just thinking about it.  I live in a military town, and sadly I've seen first hand how de-sensitized they can become.  But, I hope we all take a few moments out of our lives to sincerely thank a veteran (or two or three) for his or her service to our magnificent country.  Let's never forget that there are sooo many men and women today who bravely chose to enter the service out of love for their country, knowing exactly what it meant to do so.  I am so very thankful, and I have tried my best to show that to my class this week.  Friday is not just a day off.  It's special!  So, we made these as a tribute to our veterans (many of whom are the very parents of children in my class.....and my very own husband). 

 Got this cute idea from Babbling Abby!

They sure do make for a messy door, but I think I can take it until Thursday.  I told the kids that they could take them home Thursday and give it to a veteran.  Many of them will be giving theirs to their own dad.  :)  So sweet.  What a blessing to live in an area full of such awesome and selfless men and women.
THANK YOU VETERANS OF ALL AGES FOR YOUR INCREDIBLE SACRIFICE FOR THIS AMAZING COUNTRY OF OURS!  AMERICA WOULDN'T BE WHAT IT IS TODAY WITHOUT YOUR SERVICE AND GOD'S BLESSING! LET'S NOT TAKE IT FOR GRANTED.

HELLO NOVEMBER!

Whew.  I made it through October.  Not that I don't love October, because I simply adore it: the leaves, the break from the crazy North Carolina summer heat (!), the smells, everything.  It's just been a bit of a doozy of a month....class-wise.  Don't get me wrong.  I. love. these. kids.  They totally have my heart!  I am so crazy attached to these guys already.  BUT (and isn't there always one?)  they have been pushing my buttons a little much lately.  It all started with a field trip, followed by a long weekend, followed by my being absent and having a substitute.  Isn't that just a haunting combination?  Plus, I introduced "even and odd" and counting by twos last week, and it didn't go so well. 

On the plus side, we had a blast on our first field trip.  We went to Neuseway Nature Center and Planetarium.  These are my girls. :)  Doesn't this photo just drip personality? 

We also tried out some awesome new math tubs (thanks to Cara Carroll and Babbling Abby). 

Also, we had a great time learning about bats.  We read the nonfiction book BATS by Gail Gibbons, and we made a class list of interesting facts about bats.  Then we made our own bat, and each student got to choose 4 interesting facts they wanted to include.  This was our result:

Pretty dang cute, if I do say so myself.  Then we read the fiction book STELLALUNA by Janell Cannon.  This is so stinking cute.  We just loved it.  I definitely recommend it.   

Happy November!! :) 

Mystery Reader

No, you are not hallucinating......Two posts in two days!  I think that qualifies as "on a roll!"   Just a quick general announcement: I saw Courageous the other day.  Awesome movie!  You need to see it!  One of only a handful of movies I've ever seen where the entire theater gave it a standing ovation at the end. 

So...anywho.  Back to "business".  This year I started something new with my class called Mystery Reader.  I carefully select our Mystery Reader and send home a Top-Secret invitation along with a questionnaire.  Our first Mystery Reader was the grandfather of twins in my class.  The last one was our "custodial engineer".  So really, they never know what to expect.   I then use the questionnaire to come up with five clues.  I give them one clue each day leading up to Friday, and they carefully record each clue on their form.  Just before I introduce the reader, they are to record their final guess.  Then, I bring in our Mystery Reader, and he or she reads either a book they brought from home or one I have already chosen for them.  It has been so much fun!! Who will I choose next?..........dun dun dun......

Pizza Pages

So, yeah.....it's been a while, I know.  I've been super busy lately. In the classroom and out. What's up with that? 

But here in Room 165, we are hanging in there!  The beginning of school is always a huge review of foundational things they should already know. But now is the time when we take the next step, and I have to tell you, it usually scares the mess out of me.  I always find myself trying to compare my class to previous classes, but it never fails.  They are just different. What worked one year, just might not work at all the next.  And that's exactly what I'm going through. But it's all good. in the neighborhood. :)

PIZZA PAGES
I started doing a new thing I got from Teacher Tipster.  If you have never checked him out, do it.  He seriously cracks.me.up.  So, anyway, I got an empty unused pizza box from the nice folks at Pizza Hut.  I printed tons of extra worksheets and told my students that when they finish their work and are all !BORED!, they can complete a "pizza page" worksheet, slap a big P on the front of it with their highlighters, and place it in the pizza box.  At the end of the month, I will randomly pick a pizza page from the box, and if the worksheet is completed and correct, that person will receive something special.  (Not sure what yet....Maybe sitting with a friend at lunch, or switching desks with someone, or doing their whole day's work in a colored pencil. It's the simple things really....) Let me tell you guys (or more specifically--Laura, my one follower!), they are ALL.OVER.IT!  And I certainly have no complaints because they are actually doing more work...shhhh, don't tell them that.

Later, 
Melissa.

Out Of This World!!

Yesterday, I was delighted to try one of the activities I got from Babbling Abby.  You know my class theme is outer space, so this was perfect!  I introduced my class to Astronaut Ice Cream!  (So cool, right?)  I ordered it online, and it's actually really easy to find.  So when it finally came in, I just couldn't wait! 

We all tried a little, and I must admit that it was pretty good.  The texture freaked me out a little, but I got over it.  I ordered two pack for my class, so everyone got a small taste, and a few got seconds.

Then, I asked each child which they preferred: Regular Ice Cream or Astronaut Ice Cream. We graphed the results, and here are the results........

(Wow, sorry for the sideways view......what's up with that?)

.........It looks like Astronaut Ice Cream won with 9 votes, while Regular Ice Cream received 8 votes (including my own).  I mean, it was OK, but it sure doesn't beat the cold stuff.  :)

I then had the children complete a graph on their own paper to show the results.  We really had a blast with this!  Thanks, Abby...It was a big hit! :)

Desk Pockets and "I'm Finished! Notebook"

We all have those kids who are just done too dog-gone early.  I found this cute little tip from TeacherTipster.com.  (I love him, by the way!)  Each student now has a binder that they can work in when they are finished early.  I call it the "I'm Finished! Notebook".  The binder has page protectors with different worksheets in them that I can change out regularly.  My firsties use a dry erase marker to do the worksheets, and then wipe the boards clean with a colored sock that I bought at the Dollar Tree (buy 3 pairs for $1, so I only had to buy 3 sets for my class of 16).  I got the binders for .70 each (not bad!) at Walmart. 

Did I mention that they LOVE them?  They are just crazy about these things!  (And I am just crazy about the fact that they are doing WORK while having fun and not being bboorreedd.)



So, who doesn't love those chair pockets that you can order from reallygoodstuff.com?  I definitely liked the idea, BUT I soooooo didn't want to spend that kind of money on them.  YOWSAS!  So, I did some experimenting, and I found that you can use stretchy Jumbo Book Covers for chair pockets.  They are affordable AND adorable!  Ijust love how they brighten up the chairs!  And the kids just love them!  :)  Check it out....

They have really come in handy for storing the "I'm Finished! Notebook" and also for storing the dry erase boards I bought for each student at.......wait for it.......Dollar Tree!  (So glad I did that, by the way!)    I got my book covers at Walmart for $2.  I got blue, purple, orange, and red.  Make sure you get Jumbo if you try it.  The regular ones are just a little too small.