Hello!  We have been learning a lot in January!  The pictures you will see throughout this post are when we are doing Read to Self.  Everyone's making improvement in reading and it's so wonderful to read and discuss books with the students.  During Language Core, we are working on comparing and contrasting.  We started with nonfiction learning about animals.  We are now working on fairy tales and have enjoyed different versions of Jack and the Beanstalk, The Three Little Pigs, and Cinderella.  We will be finishing the unit this week and starting biographies next week.

 In writing the students wrote their own version of The Three Little Pigs.  We will be taking that writing through the writing process together.  Then we will publish our final copies.  They will be in our classroom library for us to share and I will put them out at conferences.

 In math we are continuing to learn about different ways to show numbers and place value.  We are working towards adding three digit numbers.  The students love math and it is amazing to talk about their math thinking with them.  We will also strengthen our focus on having the kids explain their math thinking in writing.

 In science we are learning about rocks.  This includes the layers of the Earth, different kinds of rocks, volcanoes and more.  The students seem to really like science!  Cheers went up when I said we were starting a science unit and learning about rocks:)

February promises to be very exciting and full of learning!  Of course, we can't forget about our party on Valentine's Day.  I will be sending a class list home soon so that you can start on the valentines.  It's amazing how excited the students get about Valentine's Day!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!  Hopefully you are all enjoying the season with your family!  Before we get back to school I would like to share with you photos from our fun Winter Party.  Thanks to Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Prims for organizing our party!  Also thanks to Mrs. Hendricks and Mrs. Wheeler who helped make the party terrific!

This friendly guy turned out to be a challenging and fun game.  Those holes look so easy to throw a styrofoam snowball through.....but they are not.

The kids really tried to get the snowballs in!  Lots of concentrating...

 Another great game that we played was pin the nose on the snowman.  This also proved to be lots of fun.

 As you know by now, one of our crafts was to make beautiful button snowflakes.  The kids' creations were fantastic and unique!

For our second craft we used foam and wood to make some wintery decorations.  The kids loved these!

I am looking forward to getting back to school 

and seeing all the students again!  

Election Day in Room 40

 We have been learning about elections the past two weeks.  We read books about elections and completed activities.  Yesterday was the big day!  We voted for president.  After checking the students' voter registration card, I let the students pick up a ballot.

Next they took their ballot to our private voting booth.  We know that who we vote for is personal and that we don't have to share with anyone.

After they completed their ballot (no names, of course!) the students put their ballot in our ballot box.

After we all voted we tallied the votes.  In our classroom President Obama won.  He also was the winner in our school-wide election.  We knew that we could be happy if we voted for President Obama but that we wouldn't make too big a deal of it so people who voted for Governor Romney would be unhappy.  It was a great learning experience and the kids had fun!!

A Chance to Donate

Here are two chances to donate to our classroom!  

So many of you already help out, but I thought I'd share two projects I'm working on in case you or a grandparent or a friend is looking for a great project to help fund:)

Do you have any personal CD players that you don't use?  You know those listening devices we used back before the days of the ipod and iphone?  We can use them at school.  They become a mini listening center!

Here are some friends of mine from last year.  They are reading to each other with books from our classroom library.  Currently I have a project up on DonorsChoose.org to get more "boy" books into our classroom.  You can click on the link above or the button on the side of my blog to read more about it.  Every little bit helps! Some companies even offer matching gifts.

Thanks for ALL you already do:) 

Happy Halloween!!!

 We had a spooktacular time at our Halloween party!!

The pictures tell the story!

We made a neat pumpkin craft!

 We played an awesome mummy game!

 

We played a terrific ring toss/witch hat game!

We also played a chocolate-frosting-on-your-nose game! 

Our treats were wonderful!  Our round table was spread with healthy and yummy food!

THANK YOU to Mrs. Danca for planning and organizing our party.  

Thanks also to Mrs. Duray, Mrs. Hubbartt, and Mr. Tyler for helping at our party.

Storybook Characters

We had an awesome time sharing our storybook characters today!  It was so fun to see everyone's different character and how they made it.  It was also interesting to hear about the character!

 Our storybook characters are on display outside our classroom.

 You can also catch a look at our "haunted house for sale" final drafts and designs.

The kids had a great time with both projects and are very proud of themselves!!  I am proud of them too:)  Thank you for your help in creating your child's storybook character!

October is Fire Safety Month

Firefighters from the Gurnee Fire Department visited our class today.  We played a game with Mrs. Sniegowski's Class to review the fire safety guidelines.  Several students spoke for us and called on friends to speak.

 We had a great time!  The students know lots about fire safety.  They remembered Stop, Drop, Roll, and Cover Your Face.  They know to have several places to meet with family outside if there is a fire in the house.  They also know that it is important to have more than one way to get out of the house.

We had fun and talked about important things!   Be sure to review this important information with your child.