Monday Our day began with a fun Skeleton Dance found on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns91jtuPHZI We then used Q-tips to creates these bones on our skeleton! Students had to listen carefully, and place full or half size q-tips step by step. Here is the finished result, hung near door. Come take a look! Mrs. Shea's phone died at this point.. but we: - Played centers, where Ms. Ormerod had a center which reviews the Zones of Regulation. - Invited Ms. Ormerod back to our class to continue reading a story we started last week about our thoughts/feelings we have. - Visited Mrs. Layte in the studio Tuesday So many missing letters from the morning message! Today's morning job was to help Mrs. Shea figure out a costume for Halloween! Students gave me suggestions, and drew beautiful pictures of me in their costume choice. Some were more elaborate than others, so we will see if I use these to help with my decision! After snack, we all gathered on the carpet to practice our new mini-book. These were sent home in Take Home Folders, and your child can use this to help practice their word recognition and reading skills. We recognized that this book is a pattern book, which helps us read it! Ask your child to read it to you tonight! Special helper Elynn brought in an Eagle and Emu book, as they both begin with the first letter in her name! Elynn told us a special story about her Grandpa who passed away, and how Eagles now remind her of him. Very special story and lesson! In the afternoon we visited Ms. Kranz in the library. When we got back, we learned a fun new math game called "Bump!" Students partnered with a friend in the class, and were given a game board, dice, and a handful of unifix cubes. The object of the game is to roll the dice, become more familiar with dot patterns on a dice, and place your cube on the numberal which you rolled. Throughout the game I was roaming the room to see where we're at with quick recall of dot patters, as well as numeral recognition. The kids seemed to really enjoy it, which is great as this is a game that can be played throughout the year (I just might add more dice or change the numbers to the written word!) Wednesday Woah, what a jam packed day! Here's the morning message, where we reviewed our Class Agreement (all jazzed up since last week). We visited the gym, and on Wednesday it's BIG equipment day! Students loved the spring board! Warning: turn down your volume for the jumping videos! They're slow motion clips, and don't record the best sound!! Ethan's show and tell was an interesting one! A toy that I grew up with, and was surprised to see that not many people in class had ever seen! Ethan did a great job explaining what the Magic Eight Ball does, and how to use it. We meant to bring it out at centers for others to try, but totally forgot! Today was a particularly special day, as we got to meet Baby Everly. Today was Everly's 2 month birthday, and we are so lucky to be able to invite Everly and her Mom into our room. Throughout the year, we will watch Everly grow, and make observations as to how she changes from visit to visit! For quiet time, we slowed it right down.. and gave ourselves a little foot massage (socks on!) It was so cute to hear them relax during this: oooohh'ing and aaaahhhh'ing. They respond well to trying new things and learning new strategies of slowing down our hearts and giving ourselves a little self-care. A new literacy center was introduced during centers today. Students will use a guide to help them write letters in salt. Everyone is eager to try this one!
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Tuesday Mr. Massey joined our class, and helped us create a class agreement. We focused on how we want our class to Look like, Sound like, and Feel like. Students provided their responses, and Mr. Massey and myself added a few as well! The final product will look similar to this, though each student has identified one word that means the most to them, and have included a "pinkie stamp" as a way of 'signing' their pinkie promise to the class. Final product will be posted in our class soon. Some new centers were added to our rotation: bead creation, and domino's! The students are enjoying matching the numbers and learning the rules of the game. So many skills are practiced while playing game like this; taking turns, playing fairly, and sportsmanship to name a few. Aliyah's show and tell were two alphabet books, both beginning with the letter Aa! Wednesday Mrs. Shea was away at workshop. Students had big equipment in the gym, and created a new class book about what they want to be when they grow up. It's so cute, come on in and take a look! Thursday We read a story about Pete the Cat and the 5 Little Pumpkins. It's a classic Halloween story which helps us practice our rhyming recognition. Whenever we read a rhyming book, I like to pause and let the students complete the sentences. This helps me scan the room and see where we are with rhyming. After reading the story, we completed this "5 Little Pumpkins" sitting on a gate number cutting activity. We used oil and chalk pastels for the gates. Beckham and Ben brought their show and tell, both special items to them which begin with the letter Bb! Friday
Professional Development Day - No school for students! I attended a Math Workshop in Vancouver. The workshop provided many fun games, activities, and songs to help teach math concepts to students. I had so much fun learning these games/activities, and got to wear both the teach and student hat. I will be incorporating many of the ideas I learned in this workshop throughout the year! Thursday We began our study of apples. We discussed the life cycle of an apple, with the help from a great book. We cut open an apple, and observed the 'star' shape on the inside which contains the seeds. To go along with our poem, students used the apple as a stamp (some more successful at capturing the star)! Students practiced what 'buddy reading' looks like; shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee. Sam was the special helper, and brought a toy to school that was quite popular among the students! I read "Have you Filled a Bucket Today?" to students, a true staple to any teacher's library. We spoke about what bucket filling looks, sounds, and feels like. We also discussed bucket dipping. Ask your child what bucket filling/dipping is all about. We practiced these two concepts, and their effects.. on an apple. In a circle, students were given the rare opportunity to say something mean (bucket dipping) to the apple. They were also given a second apple, where they had to say something nice (bucket filling). We discussed how these apples would feel (on the inside) if they were people. I gathered the students at a table, and cut open the apples to see how they truly felt on the inside. To their utter disbelief, the bucket filled apple was juicy and bright, while the bucket dipped apple was bruised (wink, wink) and squishy. Please note the photo was taken hours later.. and therefore doesn't show the full effect! But I bet you can guess which one was told hurtful things, and which was given many kisses by the students! Fun Friday Friday was jam packed, beginning with admiring each other's Western wear! We started the day with an apple tasting. Students tasted 5 varieties of apples, and were encouraged to explain what they tasted/how they felt about the apples in comparison to each other. Students remarked on the texture differences between apples, and the sweetness/sourness. In the end, students had to choose their favourite apple! The winner is seen in the video link! The apple festivities weren't over yet! Next order of business was some apple cooking! That's right, we made apple sauce! We invited Mrs. Yate's class to join us for afternoon play. Xander brought in Bey Blades for show and tell, a true crowd pleaser! Ohhh, the things you see during snack time! Monday Unfortunately, the only pictures I captured throughout the day.. Students did some paint mixing, to discover that red and yellow create ORANGE! We read a cute story about a "fierce and ferocious" pumpkin that changes colour right before Halloween, and is picked from a field and carved for Halloween night. These googly eyed pumpkins will help decorate our room for the next couple of weeks! Today we also: - visited studio (twice!) as our Wednesday studio time has been switched - welcomed Ms. Ormerod to our room, who taught us about two very important body parts that we can't see (our heart and brain) and how we use these body parts to think, and make decisions. We will see Ms. Ormerod again next Monday, where we will continue this learning. - got very wet during long recess, and had to use our spare clothes. Please replenish! Library day tomorrow, please bring library book if you haven't done so already!
Mrs. Shea Parker brought some cool wooden blocks for show and tell. He demonstrated many different ways to play with the blocks, and allowed us to use them during Exploration time! This week is Fire Safety Awareness, and so we discussed fire fighting symbols, and did a fun new activity called "write the room". I like to use activities like these to introduce students to new vocabulary, practice their writing skills, and eventually sounding out! They loved this activity, and are eager for more like this in the future! On Wednesday, Rees brought in a stuffed cat for show and tell. Wednesday is big equipment day. Here's a quick video of us enjoying the equipment. Fire fighter Alana shared some great fire safety tips with us, and showed us the equipment/clothing she wears to protect herself from dangerous fires! Friday Today we explored the concept of sorting. Sorting is when we group groups things together in groups, following a rule. We began by sorting our shoes. The kids found it fun to only wear one shoe, while I provided them rules to follow to sort them; by colour, by laces/no laces, velcro/no velcro, etc. We then moved to our desks, where I had set up many different items for them to sort: leaves, beads, kid buttons, Mrs. Shea's Grandma's old buttons, animals, and shapes. See pictures and videos below. Navy was our special helper, and he brought these cool wiggly worms! Our buddies visited, and read to us. In the afternoon, we invited Mrs. Wagner/Ms. Branzsen's K/1 class for a play date. Making new friends, and seeing old ones is always fun! Have a happy Thanksgiving! See you Tuesday!
Tuesday Liam was the special helper. He brought a nice collection of gold items from Australia to share with the class. We later opened a "Liam Center" where students could take a closer look at his gold items with a magnifying glass! We spoke about 'thankfulness', and what it means. We discovered things we were thankful for, and wrote them on the feathers of our turkey. These are now hung just inside our class! Come take a look! We also visited the library. New books would have come home, if your child brought home their previous book! For those with library books still at home from last week, please return ASAP. Wednesday Wednesday gym means big equipment! We're so lucky, and thankful, that Mrs. O'Neill's class sets this up for the school on Wednesday's! Thursday Meah's show and tell was a special panda bear that her Mom bought for her. Coming home tomorrow, just in time for the perfect Thanksgiving centerpiece, are these cute turkey's! But, be careful, they're pokey! Having fun! Fall painting peace. I am thankful for art. And focused artists. Just check out these masterpieces! I often have a "Mrs. Shea Center" where students can help with little odd jobs. Today's assembly line was filling folders with our first Scholastic flyers. The kids are excited! I never sent out the September flyer, as it came out at the same time as our Book Fair. I figured the offers would have been expired by now, but they are not. So they will be sent out tomorrow. Special thanks to Aliyah, Ben, and Eva who offered to clean up after painting. After dismissal, I found this neat pile of supplies! What a great bunch of tidiers I have! Our Fall art is now hung in the hallway. Come take a look and admire your child's work. They are so proud.
Thursday -Discovering a rainbow of foods! Students explored local flyers in search of healthy foods of all colours. We discussed how our bodies need nutrients to function, and prepare our brain for learning. We looked at some lunches which included some of these healthy foods! Here are some examples of healthy foods we see in our classroom. Also, some new lunch inspiration! Pete the Cat is always looking for a quiet lap to be read on! Students are eager to read with him each day! We had some intermediate students introduce us Kindies to the collection of toys available for the kids to play with at long recess. We studied the letter 'T/t' and the sound it makes. We decorated our T's with some Tiger Tracks (stripes). Friday What a busy Friday! Orange Shirt Day, Hot Lunch, our first assembly, and Fun Friday! Fewf! Kason was our special helper, and he brought in an awesome helicopter, which he shared with some other students during exploration time. Ben became the teacher during songs time, as I had gotten the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" beat all wrong. Ben was a great teacher, and slowed down the lyrics for all of us to follow along easily. We may have a future teacher on our hands! We met our buddy class for the first time! Mrs. Lock's Grade 2/3 class visited our room to give the kids some time to meet their new buddies, and for the big buddies to practice their interviewing skills. Unfortunately, our time together was short, and only one picture was captured! We will see them again soon! Some new additions were added to our class: the calm down bottle. Sometimes, all we need are some pretty sparkles to help us to slow down and take deep breaths. The kids use them when the begin to feel anxious, or when they recognize that they have left the green zone. My little helper, Rees! Always willing to help her teacher out. No task is too big, or too small! Friday Kayla was today's special helper, and she brought in a special stuffed lamb which helps her if she's ever in the blue zone. Some fun playing with new centers, and with new friends! We got to meet many more friends after accepting an invitation to visit Mrs. Lyle's K/1 class across the hall! Next time, we will invite them into our room! |
About Mrs. SheaThis is my second year teaching at Mamquam Elementary, and I absolutely love the school! I am a born and raised Squamish local. This is my 4th year teaching. My husband and I moved to Fort St. John for our first year of teaching, where I had my first Kindergarten class. I am married, and have a dog named Poppy! Archives
February 2018
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