Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1

This week, we took a trip to the  Children's Museum of Memphis. We haven't been there in about a year. They had made several changes, including adding a carousel.  The carousel was restored from an amusement park that shut down years ago in Memphis, Liberty Land.  Many of the teachers and parents remember riding this very carousel as a child!  The students (and adults) loved it! Some of our students had never ridden one before! It was a marvelous day that gave our children the opportunity to explore and learn through play...just as 5 and 6 year olds should!

Hoot #2
February is not complete without a visit from a local pediatric dentist.  Thanks to Happy Smiles in Horn Lake, MS, our students had the opportunity to learn about dental health!  The students loved seeing her brush with the HUGE toothbrush.  They listened so well and even wrote about what they learned in their journals.  

 

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to Diane at Spreading Joy One Giggle at at Time. She has so many resources! We really enjoyed her article on Smart Beads! We are definitely going to try that in our classrooms. We also love her signs for walking quietly in the hallway. She has a plethora of information on her blog! 
Go check her out!

Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1

The month of February is all about spreading love and kindness around.  So what better way to show love and kindness other than making Valentine's Days cards for LeBonheur Children's Hospital!  We got together with our housemates and created cards for patients.  The students worked so well together, and they put a lot of thought and love into this project!  Definitely one of our favorite house meetings yet!  

 

One Rockstar was so excited to spread kindness around, that she brought her 5th grade buddy a Valentine's Happy!  Her partner was so surprised when she gave it to her.  It was so sweet and priceless! 

Hoot #2

We celebrated Valentine's Day in the classroom with lots of activities. One of the activities was to make a Love Bug hat. We also made out "BEE MINE" Valentine bags! The students had a blast and so did we!

 

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to all of the hard working, dedicated, underpaid teachers in the state of Mississippi!  We support teachers all across our state, and we are proud to be a part of this wonderful network of educators!  Thank you for all of your dedication to our students.  We are grateful your compassion for teaching and your desire to make a difference!  So from Walls to Biloxi to Vicksburg to Columbus and all places in between...we want to say 

THANK YOU MISSISSIPPI TEACHERS! 

Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1
Several blog posts ago, I discussed about Presley House working to create life size outlines of themselves. The big kids in the house worked so great with the littles, as always, but this ended up to be a very large project. First they drew an outline of each other using chalk on black butcher paper. Then they had to be cut out. Once cut out, the students used shapes to give it a more abstract look. Then we had to cut off the arms and legs so that they would fit through the laminator. Finally, we put them back together and hung them. They give our gym so much character. We love them!

Hoot #2

 Have you ever heard of a game called Tapple??  Well we heard about it last year, and we knew we HAD to have it!  We found it at our local Target.  We use it to help my students who are working on letter recognition.  The students have to push down and name letters and hit the red button before time runs out.  We try to get all the letters pushed down with out time running out.  It comes with a set of cards that students can use to help choose categories for them.  For example, if the category was food, then students playing would have to push a letter down and name a food that begins with that letter before time is up.  This helps with phonemic awareness of hearing beginning sounds of words.  It is so much fun!!  We even get in on the fun sometimes and play with them!!  

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to our Walls Elementary Family!!  We are so blessed to be a part of this wonderful group of people!!  This past week reminded us how much we love our school family.  What do teachers do on a cold Friday afternoon at dismissal?  Line up in the foyer (out of the cold of course) and cheer for each other as they come in from the buses!  Thanks Amanda A. for starting this!  This just might be a regular Friday afternoon celebration!  We definitely know how to have fun together, laugh together, lift each other up, and pray together!  
We are Walls Elementary!  

Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1 

Our school recently held a Science Fair.  The students worked very hard on their experiments and presentations.  The fifth grade students were so proud of their projects, they wanted to share them with their housemates in kindergarten.  So we had an impromptu house meeting for these wonderful kids to show off their hard work!   Our kinders were so engaged and fascinated by what they were saying! 

Hoot #2

 We recently celebrated our 100th day of school!!  We cannot believe how fast this year has flown by!  We had several activities planned for students to do to celebrate being 100 days smarter!  Check out some of the things we did in our classrooms!

We made a 100 day snack using Kit Kat Bars and powdered donuts.  YUMMY!  
We also made a 100 day trail mix by having students count out 10 items of 10 different snacks (Goldfish, M&Ms, marshmallows, pretzels, cheese balls, Cookie Crisp, Whoppers, Bugles, etc.).  Somehow, I failed to take pictures of the Rockstars making their trail mix!

We made  a 100 day necklace with Froot Loops.  I learned that if you tape the string to a paper plate, the cereal doesn't fall off of the end of the string.  It also allows for them to stand up and move around without worrying about ripping the taped string from the floor or table.  We also made 100 day hats to wear.  The hats have 10 strips of paper with 10 dots on each one.  They LOVED making and wearing their hats!  They didn't want to take them off!!

Theses Jitterbugs we super excited to show off their 100 cup tower! The cups are small drinking cups. I find that these are easier to store. We did several 100 Day centers. These do not take place in isolation. It all happens at the same time.Yes, it is a little chaotic, but it is organized chaos. The students used their check list to hop for one activity to another. This allows them to be responsible for the order of their experience.

Here we are counting 100 items for snack.

On the floor students are making their 100 day hat. We were so busy, I forgot to take pictures of them actually in their hats!!

As you can see, they are very busy and very engaged!

At the yellow table, students drew a picture of what they look like now that they are 100 days smarter!

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to our students!!! These Jitterbugs and Rockstars are 100 days smarter and it shows! They have become more responsible. They are more willing to take a chance and they are succeeding. We couldn't me more proud!!