Matilda

We watched Matilda today and I made them all pancakes.  It was a great morning and I LOVED hearing them discuss the differences in between the book and the movie.

Enjoying the Weather

We have been trying to get outside almost everyday for a few minutes, as long as we complete what we have scheduled for the day.  That incentive has been great motivation!

Also, some of my boys have gone a little crazy this afternoon and tried out a new style... I HAD to share!

Rainbow Writing

These last 6 weeks of school I wanted to focus a lot more on paragraph writing.  I found an awesome idea and ran with it.  The kids tried it today and LOVED it! It is called rainbow writing.  There are five sections on laminated paper with all the colors of the rainbow.  The red one is for the introduction, the next three are for details and we finish it off with blue for the conclusion.  The kids can revise and edit right on the lamination.  They think it is more fun than paper and pencil and I am already seeing better quality writing! Their topic this week goes along with our shared reading.  They are writing all about their dreams.  I gave them free reign and told them to be silly or serious about it.  They came up with some interesting things! Below are some pictures and a picture of the book we are reading for the week. 

Way to be HERE!

Cookies by Design has been gracious enough this year to offer up cookies to students with perfect attendance for the quarter. In order to have that, you need to be here daily and you can not leave early or come late.  Third quarter we had 4 students that did that.  Way to go kiddos!

Gardening

Today, Mrs. Brauer and Mrs. V. came in and taught us about planting.  It was a lot of fun! I wish they would come every week! After we learned about flowers and vegetables, we ate pizza dip made from the ingredients we are planting.  It was delicious! The kids had a blast! Thanks for coming!

Social Work

On Tuesday, I chose to stop math a few minutes in and have "social work hour." It is that time of year where the kids are getting spring fever and they are sick of each other.  It happens every year but, this group has taken their annoyance for each other a bit farther so, we needed some time to work on that.  We talked about how to talk to each other, how to respond, tattling and respecting other's space.  Then, we worked in groups with people that we normally don't spend time with and learned about them.  I LOVED hearing what the kids came back with.  They learned things they otherwise would never have known they had in common with someone they see everyday but, rarely talk to. I also brought in something I hadn't done with them yet, called classroom compliments.  I usually do them once a week, but we will be doing them more often before Spring Break to try and help build each other up. Check out their folders to see the results! I have already seen a difference in them in many ways.  Let's hope it continues!

I caught Drew at a bad time! 

Celebrations

Below are some pictures from Tropical Island Day.  I did not get a lot... it was a busy day! There are also some from my birthday.  Mrs. Gassman was kind enough to bring in a cake, ice cream and juice.  It was a lot of fun!