Playdough Fun

Sometimes you just need some time in the day to sit back, relax and squeeze some good play dough!  I am so thankful to the preschool teachers for sharing their recipe for the BEST play dough around.  I picked up the ingredients and made my own play dough for the very first time and brought it in for the kids.  I was amazed at the creations they made in just a short amount of time given.

My goal is to have a new batch of play dough every now and again for students to just mold in to whatever they can think of.  Maybe next time, they'll create something and have to write a few sentences about it.  I can always find an academic purpose for play :)

Alicia created an amazing butterfly!

Several students created snails.  I believe this to be Jonna's work ~ check out the details of the feelers!

Kaden and his snake!

Gavin made a waffle that looks real enough to pop in my toaster!

Joey showing off his bumblebee ~ amazing details not seen in the picture!

Smurfy Traits

Anyone who knew me as a child would not find it surprising that I have found a way to bring Smurfs in to my classroom teaching!  They'd probably be more surprised to find it took me this long to figure it out :)

While working on character traits in class, it dawned on me.  My favorite childhood cartoon and toys were all based on character traits!  Greedy Smurf, Handy Smurf, Brainy Smurf, Grouchy Smurf, Lazy Smurf, and the list goes on and on.

I have taken the opportunity to capitalize on this and the kids are loving it!  We've begun charting different traits we have found in smurfs, in stories we've read and in ourselves.  Why the emphasis on character traits?  Well, when students begin understanding personalities, they can begin thinking deeper about the characters they read about and why they behave the way they do.  I hope this will easily cross over in to their writing also.  We'll begin seeing them develop characters who act a certain way to display a personality.

In the process of looking at different characters, our classroom has been overrun by Smurfs!  They are all over the place and it definitely makes me smile as it reminds me of my childhood fun!

How I'm feeling after this long day!

Oh This Class!

Oh the sense of humor with this batch of kids!  I previously posted about how funny they found that the Rainbow Fish was sel'fish' ~ they laughed at that for quite some time.  Today, as we were going over this week's spelling words the students just start giggling away.  I look over the words and it took me a few moments to realize they were giggling about the word 'bun.'  In all the years we've had these words I don't think I've had a single group make THAT connection!  But this group, I tell you!  They were enjoying that spelling word way too much this morning.  So, as your students begin practicing their spelling words, be warned, the word 'bun' brings about fits of laughter ~ I'll have to think up a REALLY good sentence for this week's spelling test!

2 Weeks Down

Two weeks under our belts and where are we now?  The students are doing an amazing job getting adjusted to the start of school.  They are tired and restless at times; but, most are beginning to be familiar with my expectations and how I like things done.

This past week we started our first reading theme on Friends.  We have been exploring characters and how they can change in a story.  We've discovered the Rainbow Fish was a very selfish (and yes, the kids loved laughing at the fact that 'fish' was in the word 'selfish' ~ little goobers!) and greedy; but, by the end of the story, he changed and became a friendly, giving character.  It is very important for the students to begin to think of the characters and how they develop.  They need to also begin to think of what type of person the character is ~ we are working on getting away from 'nice' and being more specific with our answers.

I think the biggest challenge students are facing right now is in math!  Students are beginning to explore math concepts and many are doing great with the new ideas; however, when it comes to explaining or defending their answers, they struggle.  This has been very fun to watch them figure out how they want to explain how they got the answer!  Several think if they just stare off for a bit, they'll be off the hook.  WRONG!  No one is off the hook in Mr. Price's class, no wallflowers in here.  The students took a couple days, but they are now getting used to having to explain their thinking and aren't as worried about being right or wrong as they once were.

I'm especially proud of how this class is shaping up and treating one another.  As we begin to explain our thoughts, sometimes it makes us nervous because no one wants to be laughed at.  Only once have we had 1 student laughing at someone (luckily it was me being laughed at and I can handle it!)  The nice thing with that, the other students learned real fast that Mr. Price will protect them and not let them be made fun of when they are trying their best!  This class is beginning to trust one another and that's a great thing.

In closing, please be on the lookout for permission slips coming home soon.  I'd like to start putting photos on our class blog and class web page.  It will take me some time to get the forms together to include all I'd like to do this year; but, I think it will really jazz this site up and get the kids excited!

1st Day of School

The first day was a success!  We started the morning with nervous kids, excited kids, sleepy kids, and hungry kids; but, they all came and they all left with smiles on their faces!

The day was a long day; but, it was a fun day and I can tell this is going to be an awesome group of students.  I love when the day takes a turn and you just have to abandon those lesson plans and take the class in a different direction than planned.  This happened yesterday on our 1st day of school and it allowed me the opportunity to introduce the class to our theme song for the year:

This has to be the BEST resource to help students learn the idea of tolerance and accepting others as they are.  We had the chance to have our class talk about how we may not all be friends but we do need to always show each other respect.  Please take time to view the video above.  The pictures are the actual illustrations from the book; so, if this speaks to your family, you may want to find the book for your home.  (I have it in the classroom!)

I'm looking forward to a great year with this group of kids and I think we'll have a lot of fun learning!  I hope they are as excited as I am.

14 Days and Counting

Spent a great deal of the morning working on my new class web site and I have to say, I'm loving Google Sites!  They have this great countdown feature that will automatically keep a countdown to an upcoming event.  Love the feature, but didn't really enjoy seeing 14 days until school starts!

I've been spending the past few weekends working in the classroom and I am glad to say, I think it's just about ready for the kids to come!  I have the finishing touches of name tags and setting out individual materials; but, the basic preparation is done and I am ready for the doors to open!

With the classroom prep ready, that leaves the planning.  With the upcoming common core standards, I feel the pressure to be more organized than ever before.  I've spent the past few days prepping an organizational binder and I think I have my perfect tool to keep me prepared and focused!  I'll spend tomorrow planning math with my grade level and will continue next week planning reading.

It's a good thing I'm feeling ahead of the game right now!  This will help ease the stress of the weekend before school starts because I'll have a busy non-school related weekend celebrating Austin's 7th birthday and getting to see Tyler's first return home from college!

Schedule Changes

Got the e-mail with the new schedules for this coming school year.  Anyone who knows me knows I don't like change!  First, I'm losing the BEST enrichment time primary grades could have :(  It was great while it lasted but I knew it was bound to go away.  The hardest change will be lunch.  Our lunch is now 45 minutes later than it has been for years.  Boy, these kids will be HUNGRY come lunch time being so much after their schedule ~ and so will their teacher! 

I'm sure these changes will be great once we get used to our new schedules and in a routine.  A big positive is that the kids will have less time in the classroom after lunch.  We'll have an hour less of class time during the time of day when students begin to tire and check out.  Just be sure the kids have snacks to eat during recess!

Now that I have my set schedule, it's time to start scheduling the classroom reading and math times.  I love this part of my job, the planning and scheduling!  Only 30 more days until school starts!