More Books...

Michael Finklea returned today to sell and autograph more books.  Many of our students took advantage of this :)

Colby, Tanner, Sarah, Callen, Joseph & Jacob

Author Visit

Today we had author, Michael Finklea, come to our school to talk about the importance of not giving up.  He talked about how he had to write one of his books 5 different times before his publisher would turn it into a book.  He talked about how he wanted to give up, but how he kept working and adding descriptive words to make it better.  Now, his book is a favorite among kids.  He read his book to the students and they all loved it.  Here are a couple of pictures from our author visit.

Author, Michael Finklea, stopping for a picture after autographing books purchased by Larson, Joseph, Conlee, & Marlee

Author, Michael Finklea, reading one of his books to the students

Addition/Subtraction Chant

I hope that you enjoy this chant that the students learned.  We have been talking about solving problems using the "inverse operation" or opposite fact.  I made up and taught them this chant to help them to remember.  It was so fun watching them that I had to share :)

By the way...the words are:
   Addition and Subtraction are inverse operations
   When you're looking for the number use inverse operations

SO MUCH FUN LEARNING ABOUT VERBS

This week we are learning about verbs...and what better way to teach verbs than to play a game!! :)  Today, we played "verb charades".  The picture below is a picture of Jackson acting out the verb sway.  This was a hard one and took the students a while to get, but they finally guessed correctly.  I love when the kids are having so much fun that they don't even realize that they are learning!




Jackson

 

Letters for Evan, Mrs. Richardson's son

This is a picture from Tuesday afternoon.  This past week our class discussed 9/11.  I was really impressed with the students' willingness to learn and how eager they were to learn more.  We focused mainly on the many people who stepped up as heroes on and after 9/11 (fire fighters, police officers, soldiers, civilians, etc...).  We began talking about how the soldiers are still being heroes to this day to help us have the freedoms that we enjoy.  Our class decided to draw pictures and write words of encouragement to Mrs. Richardson's son, Evan.  Mrs. Richardson is one of our 5th Grade teachers.  Her son, Evan, just graduated from high school last year and is finishing up his training to be a US Marine.  So, we wanted to encourage him and thank him for the sacrifice that he has made for our country.  After the students drew their pictures and wrote their words of encouragement, we decided to invite Mrs. Richardson to our classroom to give her the pictures to send to Evan.  The class was so proud of themselves.  It was so neat to see their faces and the sense of achievement as they each gave her their pictures.  Mrs. Richardson was truly touched and she said that she knows that Evan will LOVE the work.

Mrs. Richardson & our class pictures and encouragement 

Websites for Kids

Check out the new websites I posted under "Helpful websites for KIDS"  :)

Helpful websites for PARENTS...coming soon!!!

Character Kids

  I have added our first picture to the blog :)  There is now a section called "Character Kids" and I will feature a picture of the character students from the month before.  Our next Spirit Day is October 7.  Be looking for our next character kids who have shown "RESPECT"!! 
  I still have other pictures that I want to add, but I won't be able to add them until I get a few more permission slips because they are class photos. 
  Have a wonderful evening!!!

New way to communicate :)

I am so excited about using this blog as another way to communicate to you, the parent.  I can't tell you how important I feel it is to have you be involved in what is happening in the classroom.  I hope to use this blog to post pictures and brag on the students as we move throughout the year.