Twas The Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house...The students are becoming very familiar with this classic Christmas tale this week. At the end of last week we started practicing a reader's theater of Twas The Night Before Christmas. Later in the week we will be looking at all of the interesting vocabulary in this book and using the context clues to figure out the meaning of these words.  After learning the many interesting words in this story we also will be working on visualizing.  Grace is also going to bring in an extra special copy of The Night Before Christmas her Grandma gave her. Her Grandma recorded her voice reading the story!

This week we are continuing to work on counting money and making change. We are going to be using touch points to help us count this week. We worked on touch points to help us count last week and the students really seemed to like counting like this. Ask them to share this strategy with you!

On Wednesday we will be walking down to the post office with Mrs. Smith's class. The students just finished writing a Christmas card to a relative and will be sending this card out on Wednesday. The postmaster will be giving us a "backstage" tour that lets the students see where a card travels before it reaches their mailbox.

Just a couple of reminders:  The 2nd grade will be on stage for the Christmas program Friday December 17th at 9:50 until 10:10. There will be a bake sale and art fundraiser too. On Monday December 20th we will have a spelling test.

Have a terrific week!

Christmas Carols and Reader's Theatre

For the last few weeks we have be learning about visualization. The students are learning that good readers make mind pictures to help them understand and connect to a story. This week the students will be reading, listening and singing a few Christmas carols. After hearing them several times students will create a picture of the Christmas carol they visualized.

Just before Thanksgiving the students read a Reader's Theatre about turkeys. They've been asking for a Christmas one over the last two weeks. We'll be reading a Christmas play this week and work on improving our reading fluency.

This week students will be reading books and taking quizzes on Book Adventure.  It will be important for students to read carefully and use their reading strategies so they can earn points for some fabulous prizes!

This week in math we will be reviewing and practicing counting money, finding the fewest coins and making change. We'll be using the Smartboard and www.thatquiz.org to practice. We'll be having a quiz on Friday and students can practice on www.thatquiz.org at home.

Have a fabulous week!

Blogging in the Classroom

I probably never would have begun exploring blogs if I hadn't been required to do so for a graduate class, but I'm so glad I did! The assignments for class were to explore educational blogs, research blogging in the classroom and create a blog that could be used in our teaching. While learning about blogging in the classroom I came across Joy of Blogging. The article defines blogging, describes different ways to use blogging with students and discusses the importance of building a blogging community. I like this article because it not only explains to readers the many benefits of blogging; it also discusses ways to make blogging safe and educational for elementary students. I was hoping students would be able to blog about the daily or weekly activities in our class or blog about books they are reading but unfortunately blogger is blocked by the school district. I'll be sending a letter home to parents surveying them about what types of activities they would be comfortable with their students engaging in to be included in the blog or actual blogging. I wonder what parents will think about blogging in the classroom? Maybe their responses will help influence the district's decision on whether or not to unblock this and/or other blogging websites?

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! During this short week I will be reading aloud several Thanksgiving stories. On Monday we will be reading "The Thanksgiving the Jacks Built" as a projectable book on the Smartboard. Mrs. Heilman's kindergarten class will be joining us for this read aloud and then we are helping the kindergartners weave paper placemats. We will also be reading "Gracias, A Thanksgiving Turkey". After reading this adorable story we will be learning Spanish words with Ms. VandeBurgt's, the bilingual teacher, help in order to create a book about what we are thankful for using Spanish vocabulary words. On Tuesday we will be visited by Mrs. VanDaalwyk's first graders. The students are excited for her class to join us as many of the students were in her class last year! Our class and the 1st graders will be completing Thanksgiving activities on the Smartboard and making a yummy Thanksgiving treat! Have a happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the days off!