Friday, October 3, 2014

I'm back!!!!!

 I have missed you!! I am a horrible blogger and I haven't blogged in nearly four weeks! Getting the classroom set up and continually teaching procedures has taken over a lot of my free time these days and the free time that I have left, I spend getting some R&R. I am totally feeling like everything is falling into place now and the kiddos are getting it too so hopefully you will hear more from me next week!
 
Last Friday was a rather cloudy and drizzly day and we were the only class that went to the playground for recess. My kiddos were loving the face that we had the WHOLE playground to ourselves. I decided that I had to take part in the fun that the kids were having! Needless to say, they thought it was hilarious and begged me to go on every single piece of equipment. These sweet smiles were cheering and applauding my every move!
 
myheartmelted
 
The Mister and I have been renting an apartment ever since we got married. Our lease is ending in November so we decided that we would look into purchasing a home of our own. We started the whole process about 2 weeks ago and it has been a crazy ride! House buying is exciting, frustrating, exhausting, and so fun all at the same time. How all those emotions can be rolled up into the adventure called house buying is beyond me.
 
We have been learning about Apples this week and by golly, my kids loved it.
 
I made this little apple anchor chart last week and never got around to printing out labels so I smacked it on my easel and Mr. Expo marker and I became good friends. Keeping it real.
 We made applesauce and my room smelt like fall all day long.
#itwasheavenly
#applesauceintheclassroomalldayeveryday
 I found these cute sorting mats last year and I couldn't wait to use them again. I can't remember where I found them so if it is you, let me know! I would love to give credit!
 
The kids most absolutely loved Deedee Wills' Apple Poem this week! We put it in our journal, found all the letter a's in the poem and sang it probably a hundred times! This totally reinforced one less and once it got to zero apples being in the tree, we sang it together in our saddest, most dramatic voice ever. I'll be real, it was more giggling than singing but it was too much fun! The kids were eating it up!

 Y'all, I have a confession to make. So, every year, we sample each color of apples and we graph the flavor that was the most popular. Originally, the vote went: red-5 green-9 yellow-8. Neither I nor my student teacher had voted. We analyzed the data, talked about how had the most/least and how many more were needed for each color to have the most.
 
 Now let me tell you, the green apples that the kids sampled were by far the most sour and tart apples that I have ever tasted.{like I made the wildest face when I tasted them} I just couldn't stand the thought of those apples representing my class majority. So I just decided that I would use some teacher power and see if we couldn't have an upset in Room 106. So Mrs. Nihart and my student teacher took part of the class survey. Let me clarify, I did not sway my student teacher's vote in any way, shape, or form. {or did I?}
 
Needless to say, yellow won. YAY! ;)
 


Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. "Swat It" has quickly become all the rage in our classroom. I have used it for letters and numbers. When I use the game for letters, I say things like:
"Find the letter T."
"Find the letter that makes the /t/ sound."
~or~
"Find the letter that is the first sound in the word top."
 
With numbers I say things like:
"Find the number 6."
"Find the number that is one more than 5."
Eventually I will say, "Find the number that is the sum of 4+2."
 
My kinders ask to play this game all the time. I introduced it whole group but now I have moved it to a center so that they can play with their center group.
 
Happy Students=Happy Teacher
 
Yay for the weekend! I hope you have the best one!



4 comments:

  1. Aww!!! I love #2! My kids love playing swat it too! Green apples are awful...unless loaded with caramel of course! :)

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    1. You are so right! I adore caramel apples! Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. I loved playing swat it with my Kinder babies when I taught Kinder! Love your Pin...I saw one this week that said "The best fiction I've read lately is my to-do list." I love playing with the kids on the playground. It's so fun and they remember that kind of stuff! :) Good luck with house buying! It can be super stressful but it will be worth it in the end. Making a house your home is amazing. Sometimes I never want to leave it. Don't worry we have people over. Enjoy the weekend!
    Rambling About Reading

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    1. Thanks so much Jess! We are so excited to have a place to call our home! Have a great weekend as well!

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