Amazed

Yesterday while in small reading groups, I sat in amazement as I watched my kids pick up a book and read it completely on their own.  I then started to think back to where these kids started.  Many didn't know the letter names let alone their sounds.  To see the kids go from August until now is unbelievable.  It all seems like magic.

I want to thank all families for their continued support at home because we couldn't have gotten to this point without each other. 

I can't wait to see how the students continue to grow and where they will be by the end of the year!

Love,

Miss Gilbert
Extremely Proud Teacher :)

Valentine's Day

I'm finally getting around to tell you all about our Valentine's Day celebration!  All day we talked about Valentine's Day and each learning activity revolved around this theme.

We started out the morning by writing about things we loved.  It was so cute to see students ideas.  After that we wrote Valentine's to someone special.  Some friends wrote to their moms or dad, others to their brothers, and some to even Ms. Coles our assistant principal.

We then created our Valentine Man to hold all of our Valentines.  The kids loved it and I think they had a fun day.  Thanks to all the families who donated or volunteered their time to our party!  We couldn't have done it without you!!

Math Stations

Students have been working hard during math stations each day.  We take about 20 minutes before lunch and do rotations of different math activities.  Some of their favorites are working with the jewels and finding the missing number.  Here are some pictures of students during math stations:

6 Simple Things

I'm sorry I haven't been keeping the blog updated.  The days seem to get away from me.  Regardless...here are a few things making me smile this week:

1. havefunteaching.com The students LOVE watching the sight word videos on this sight.  So fun and interactive!
2. Spending time with my nephew Michael-who is getting so big, so fast.
3. A great Valentine's Day party
4. Parents commenting that they love our class blog (Thank you for reading!! :) )
5. 'The Tunnel' that we do to celebrate when a student moves up a reading level
6. When my little friends cheer each other for learning how to tie shoes.

What is making you smile this week?

100th Day of School

We made it!  I can't believe we have already been in school for 100 days.  I feel like it was just the first day of school!

Here are some activities the students completed today:
1. Reading a 100th day book
2. Counting to 100 many, many times
3. Making our 100th day hats
4. Drawing 100 gumballs
5. Creating our own 100th day book
6. Doing 100 jumping jacks
7. Licking a lollipop 100 times
8. Getting a $100 bill
9. Writing about what we would do with 100 dollars
10. Working together to think of 100 words we knew

Overall it was an awesome day! 

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Last week we were busy learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  We started the week off by looking at two eggs: a white egg and a brown egg.  The students shared their observations.  The students realized their only difference was their color.  We broke open the eggs and realized their insides were the same.  We then looked at each other and saw we were different colors.  This activity helped students to understand that even though we are different colors on the outside, we are the same on the inside.

We followed up this activity by reading The Crayon Box that Talked.  This book is a cute story about a box of crayons that doesn't get along because they are different colors.  We connected this idea to ourselves, and talked about even though we are different colors and people, we can work together to make a beautiful picture.  Students then created their own crayon and we put them together to make our "class crayon box."

One of the last activities for the week was watching Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's speech.  Afterwards,  the students thought about what their own dreams were. We wrote them down and put together an awesome bulletin board outside our room.  Be sure to check it out if you are in the building! :)

Love being back at school!

This week's 6 simple things were very easy to come up with! There were so many things making me smile!

1. Aidan reading an entire book on his own!
2. Seeing Asia and Aundrea playing 'school' and reteaching what we had learned that day (picture below!)
3. A book donation from Donor's Choose
4. The amount of candy I still have in my apartment that was left over from the holidays
5. Getting an apple from a student.  I guess that means I'm an real teacher now! ;)
6. Going to dinner with a friend from college, who I don't get to see nearly enough.

What made you smile this weekend?