Glitter and Glue

On the Friday before our week off we did a couple of fun things. Two reading groups had just finished a unit test and so they were able to choose a Reader's Theatre story that they would perform for the class. The Green group chose the story of How Bear Lost His Tail.

They each had a part in the story and they worked really hard on reading with expression and fluency so that their audience would be able to listen and follow along easily.

The Red Group chose the story of The Lion and The Hare.

Their reading sounded so good! They had been practicing and practicing their parts and I loved hearing the difference from the first time they read their parts to when they read to the class.

In the afternoon we did an art project and since it will be Christmas before I know it, we went ahead and decorated some ornaments. I got out the glitter and glue and the students cheered as though I was Santa himself. First they carefully colored their ornaments and then they would glue and glitter and then glue and glitter and then glue and glitter some more.

They turned out beautiful and we will hang them in our hallway for a couple of weeks and then send them home for you to enjoy!

Stars, Fall and Veteran's Day

I feel like it should still be September! I am amazed as another week races by that we are going to be getting ready for Christmas before I know it. Where does the time go?

Every minute at school we are busy learning. I feel like I hardly have time to pick up the camera but I am working on it and I wanted to share a few pictures with you.

We have had two "Stars of the Week" since I lasted posted and both created very good posters and shared interesting information about themselves. Here is BC's:

And here is CT's:

We made time for art the other day and I had fun doing a new art project with the students. They turned out beautiful and we have received many compliments. Look at a few of our fall reflections:

Veteran's Day is always a day where we have good discussions and I always love to see how serious the children can be about important topics such as death and honor. We watched a short 10-minute video on Veteran's Day and then we read a few books. One of the books we read was called The Wall by Eve Bunting. A little boy and his Dad go to the Vietnam War Memorial and they look for the grandfather's name. The boy shares his thoughts throughout the book and they are honest and candid. A soldier is there and he is missing his legs, people are there crying, a boy his age is walking with his grandfather. The book is wonderful and I always have to fight back tears. When I finished reading the story, a neat thing happened. The children started clapping. They have never clapped at the end of a story before. This was the first serious book that we have read together and I think they felt the emotion of it and recognized how good of a book it was. Their clapping made me proud of them.

After that, we made Christmas and Holiday cards for soldiers in Iraq. Again, your children amazed me. Take a look:

This one says: Thank you for fighting for us. Be safe please.

What a special group of children!

Carnival!!!

Tuesday night was the Sherwood carnival and while my own two boys were home sick and couldn't come and enjoy the fun, I was able to take lots of pictures of my students who were able to!

At the carnival I saw a lot of faces painted like LR's.

GB won an amazing cake at the cake walk. He was so excited he raced out to find me so that I could come and see. Way to go GB!

I ran into JH and he showed me his cool face painting and then...

I saw SM with JH's twin bug on her cheek!

The potato bar looked very tasty and when I asked LR and RT how it was, they just shrugged and said shyly "good". Silly question Mrs. G.

I found KB digging in a treasure box.

JA showed me some of the prizes he had won.

I caught AL using his golf skills to win some prizes.

LT was choosing his prize when I came upon him and he was so busy playing other games that I never had a chance to catch up to him again. In the glimpses I had of him later in the night he had a huge smile on his face though so I am pretty sure he was enjoying himself.

I did go into the cake walk room and I must admit I stayed in there for a long time. It smelled heavenly in there. Like sugar and frosting - some of my favorite things. The cakes were amazing. The high school students made them and every single one was different and unique. Here are a few just to give you an idea:

There were 40 different cakes and I know that every single person who won one was very excited! I know that I would have been!

Officer Golter

Officer Golter stopped by our room today to visit with us. He is one of our pen pals and we write letters to him throughout the year. On his next visits he will bring in some of his SWAT gear and we will also have a chance to explore his police car. Cool stuff!

On this visit he shared with us the different things that he carries on him at all times. He explained how his bullet proof vest works as well as how officers are always safe and careful with their guns. He didn't show the students his gun but he did explain why officers carry one.
He also explained why he had two different pairs of handcuffs and why they were different sizes.


On the board Officer Golter showed us how a taser works when it is fired and also how it works with just the electrical current.

It makes a loud noise when it is just the electrical current! That got their attention!

When he was done showing and explaining everything on him he answered questions. The students had great questions and they showed that they had been paying very good attention while he was talking. The students also had a chance to feel the handcuffs - how heavy they were and how big. They were very surprised at what a handcuff key looked like.

Thank you Officer Golter for coming and visiting us!