First full week of school!

This week was our first full week with all 30 of our new friends together! It is crowded  and hot but doing what we can to make the best of it! 

We learned how to label their pictures of themselves with 'me' and how to use appropriate colors when drawing. So instead of drawing blue hair and green skin they looked at what color was closest to their skin, hair, eyes color, etc. 

Doing a 'marshmallow clap' with the word
Me where you 'clap' each letter but you
can't clap completely because you have an
invisible marshmallow in between your hands.

Kuryn checking to see if the crayon
matched her skin color.

Some of our other friends focusing
on drawing themselves for their self portraits.

    

I spent a lot of time this summer making the turn tables for the middle of our tables so we worked on how to treat them properly and how to put everything away in the right spot as well. 

We have been learning about letters and the sounds they make! We are currently making the cards for our word wall and have discussed the letters 'T' and 'B'. Pictures to come at a later time! 

On Friday we discussed rules in our classroom, school and community and why they are important. We also talked about what would happen if we didn't have rules and how they help keep us safe, happy and successful. Next week we will come up with a list of what the rules should be in our classroom and make a 'contract' for everyone to sign. 

We are also learning about our new friends!  Starting next week, we will focus and learn about one person a day who will share their treasure block with the class. We create a web from their treasure blocks and the children will write a story about their friend.  We then gather the stories and staple them together to make a book for our special friend to take home.  We have been learning that they can tell a story through pictures even if it doesn't have words on it yet. We started sharing Mrs. Garrabrant's treasure block but ran out of time so we will draw illustrations next week.

We have been discussing how saying, "I can't" or "I don't know how" is not acceptable in our classroom and they need to at least try. When I model drawing I tell the children that I am not the greatest artist but I try my best and I expect the same from them. Please continue to reinforce this attitude at home as well as it gives them a sense of confidence and independence.

We have also been exploring different math, science and literacy materials. The children investigated them and Mrs. George and myself have been pointing out some of the math concepts they did without any direction. They really enjoyed exploring with the materials. We have also been discussing how to use the materials correctly in order to take care of them, put them away properly and correctly. Here are some pictures of them working with the materials and documenting what they were doing as well.

      

Exploring with feathers and stones, seashells, and magnets. 

Exploring with wooden sticks to make letters.

Investigating with letter tiles, matching letter cards to pictures that start with that letter, foam letters, raised sandpaper letters, and 'telephones' made from PVC pipes to help practice reading. 

They enjoyed playing outside and exploring in our Here We Grow Discovery Garden!

Some more pictures from the week:

I had a meeting all day Friday and at the end of my meeting we went to a pep rally over at the high school and got to see the West Carrollton pirate hand out the spirit sword which was pretty neat to experience and one day these children will be doing the same thing! 

Don't forget we have a QPT day on Tuesday and the students will be released at 12:00pm.