Now that I am feeling well enough to sit in front of the computer again, I find that I have a ton of pictures to share with you! We have been doing some really fun things that your student might not have told you about.
Here is SM, LT, CT and
WG holding their pen pal letters. We worked really hard on writing our first official letters to our pen pals at McKay. We made sure to include the date, a greeting, information about ourselves, questions for our pen pals to answer and a closing. I can't wait until they get them!
Here
DS is holding our entire stack of letters right before we sent them off.
On Fridays that we don't quick checks, we focus on problem solving and reviewing skills through games. Here
JJ is reviewing the names of coins on the Smart Board.
WG and NH are counting and comparing different amounts.
DS, BA, RT and LR are all playing a game called "Race You to 50c". It is a great partner game that teaches counting of money and trading in for bigger coins.
I have had two Star of the Week's since I last posted. My first was BK and her poster was very special! She put not only her own hand print on there - she added her foot as well!
Here's BK at one of her favorite birthday parties.
GB was our other Star of the Week and he had some great pictures that showed some really fun things he has done recently - like going to the Seattle Mariners game! He told us all about it and it sounded like a special time for he and his family!
We had our first official day of "Store" when the children could use their money that they've earned through good behaviour to buy things. The prices ranged from .05 cents on up to .25 cents and the students had a great time buying their treasures.
We earned our first classroom party that rewards whole class behavior and it was a popcorn party. I brought in the old popcorn maker and the children loved it!
I really hope that thing never breaks because it is so much fun to watch them watch the popcorn being popped. While they were eating their popcorn I told them they could quietly have choice time but most of them simply chose to keep watching the popcorn being made.
Last but not least, we had a awesome group of young adults come to our school and perform "The 6 Pillar Traits of Character" for us. This is a group that comes each year and while it is a different group of performers each time, I am always impressed with what a good job they do.
Our attention is on them the whole time.
They are funny. They talk about real issues. They make having good character a cool thing.
They sing and dance and make sure the children understand what each character trait means.
They also talk about how school is a Tease-Free Zone.
They change their outfits a lot...
and they even included a couple of
kinders in their presentation.
We loved it!
I will try not to get the flu again so that I won't get so far behind! Stay tuned for more happenings in Room 12!
OK - now on to the pen pal letters. Mrs. Schimel's 2nd grade wrote us letters back already and when I told the students that they were here, I think the classroom 2 rooms down could hear our cheers.
Being the mean teacher that I am, I passed out the letters upside down and I told the students that they couldn't turn them over until everyone had their letter. Then I really tortured them by making them wait so I could take a picture.
Once the letters were turned over, it was absolutely quiet. The students were so into what their pen pals had written them, you could have heard a pin drop. I love how these pen pal letters get them excited about reading and writing.
This picture is a little blurry but I love how it shows WG carefully reading through the words and using his finger to make sure he doesn't miss a thing. (By the way, it was our 60's day so a lot of the students are wearing headbands to show they are too cool for drugs).
After a few minutes, I let the students share their letters with others. They loved doing this and they laughed and oohed and aahed over pictures drawn by their pen pals. I had to listen to each and every letter. Twice.
Thank you pen pals for the letters and we will be 
