Hoot #1
Yesterday officially ended our first 9 weeks of school! We cannot believe 9 weeks has passed by already! It has been a very busy kickoff to our year. While we are busy testing report cards, sight words, and reading levels, we can't help but to think back on that first week that we met our sweet class. It is absolutely AMAZING how much they have grown! There is not one student in our classes that hasn't grown academically and socially! This is the time of the year when we reflect back on what has happened so far in our classes, and we think about what has worked and what hasn't...ya'll know as well as we do, every class/student is different and we must change our teaching to meet their needs. Incorporating more hands-on, sensory type of activities has benefited our students in many ways! Our students LOVE school! We have had several texts, letters, and emails from parents about how much their child loves school. This makes our hearts smile to hear this! Students who love school are going to be more motivated to learn. The only thing we have done different this year is added more developmentally appropriate activities in our classrooms! In just 9 short weeks, it has had a HUGE impact on our students....so much in fact, their parents even see the impact school is having on their child!
That is what teaching is all about, guys! It is having that rewarding feeling that you are doing something positive for each student in your class, it's that feeling of success when you know you have motivated children to want to learn, it's standing up for what you know is right for your class (and doing it), it's giving children opportunities that they may have never had, and most importantly it's allowing students to blossom in his/her own time by meeting THEIR needs (notice it says THEIR, not my needs, not what the curriculum needs, not what the test needs you to teach, not what someone needs to dictate for you to teach, it is THEIR as in the students). Here is a recap of some of the things we have done so far this year...
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| Making shape pizzas and eating real pizza in our pajamas for the letter P! |
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| Learning all about Hawaii for the letter H! |
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| Hh is for handprints! |
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| Making leis to wear while we learn about Hawaii. |
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| Chewing gumballs to see if we can blow a bubble for the letter G! |
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| Lemonade and ladybug hats for the letter L. |
Hoot #2
While the end of our 9 weeks was drawing near, we had a great visit from our local EMT's and fire fighters! It is fire safety month, so our local fire fighters and EMT's reached out to all of our kindergarteners, first graders, and second graders to teach them about fire safety. Our kindergarteners loved seeing the fire truck and the fire fighter getting all geared up to go fight a fire! The most interesting fact that our students learned, was there are girl fire fighters! They thought that was the coolest thing ever! And of course, no fire fighter visit would be complete without each student getting a goody bag and their very own fireman helmet to take home!
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| Striking a pose in front of the fire truck! |
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| One of our kindergarten students and fire fighters showing others how to stop, drop, cover, and roll. |
This Week's Holler. . .
This week's holler goes out to Claire Lynn Designs! We snagged her business card at the blogger meet up in French Lick, IN. Click the picture below to go to the website. Our favorite is the state teacher shirt! That will definitely be on our Christmas list this year! There are definitely LOTS of cute, customized shirts to meet every teacher's style! These would make great teacher gifts for your child's teacher or principal gifts!
Go check it out, you will be glad you did!
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