Post Office Field Trip

 

 

 

Throughout December we have been learning about different Christmas traditions. One that we discussed was mailing Christmas Cards, so on Tuesday we took a walking field trip to our local post office! Monday we prepared our cards. The students learned how to address their cards to their moms and dads and then wrote their own address. They learned how important it was that they had each piece of information so that the mailman would know where to deliver their cards.

Once we got to the post office, each student got to purchase a stamp and then learned where to place it on their envelope and then dropped their Christmas Card off into the mailbox!

We discussed how the letters are sorted and then put onto the trucks for delivery to their homes.  alsolearned that some people come to the post office to pick up their mail instead of having a box at their house.  We got to see several blue mailboxes on the way to our trip and the students also pointed out a mail truck out delivering mail! It was a great way for them to learn about this important job and review what we learned about this great community helper back in the fall.

 

The children were very excited for their parents to receive the cards that they had prepared and were very proud of themselves for addressing and mailing them on their own.

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

 

And a very special thanks to Coyt's Grandmother for providing our stamps!

Math Review Centers

This week we took a break from our regular math curriculum to do a little bit of fun review! To practice all of the concepts we have been studying in math, we had math centers each day. Each center focused on a topic we have covered up to now. The children had a fun time learning while playing!

 

 

At this center the children had to pull number cards out of a bag and then match the number to a number on their Christmas Tree page. Once they covered up all of the numbers, they were finished. This was a great way for them to practice recognizing and saying numbers from 1-20. 

 

 

At this center, children were asked to make joining stories (simple addition sentences). Each card had Christmas Trees with two different colored ornaments on them. The children had to count each color and then make a number sentence to show how many ornaments they had in all.

 

At their next center, the children were asked to count objects on a ten frame and then write the number and the next two numbers that follow. This helped to review one to one correspondence, counting, and number order.

 

This center may have been the favorite! At this center, students had to roll two dice and then stamp the number that was rolled. The students loved getting to roll the dice and then use fun holiday stamps to mark their answers. This helped to reinforce counting as well as number recognition as the students had to match the dots they counted with the actual number in order to stamp the correct space.

The challenge center was called "Reindeer on the Roof". At this center, the children were each given 5 Reindeer and a Gingerbread House. They were asked to come up with 5 different ways that they could make 5 and then complete the number sentences. This required students to try out different ways and move around their reindeer to make a new sentence. This was an opportunity for them to use critical thinking skills in addition to learning about the commutative property when they found that they had 4+1, but could also make 1+4. This was a great learning experience for them and will benefit as we move on in our studies!

Visit from the Author

 

This week, our class had the privelege of hearing author Jason Green read his book Sure-Laugh Giraffe.  The students listened to the wonderful story and were able to ask questions about the story and what it takes to be an author.  They even had an opportunity to practice their rhyming words and help come up with some new book titles, such as Sure Thing Duckling!

 

Not only did the class have a wonderful time, and learn a lot, but they really impressed Mrs. Tucker and Miss Beinke with their listening skills.  Check out how nicely we sat - in the front row and everything!  We did an excellent job respecting our school and setting a good example.

Shaving Cream!

 As a fun change of pace, we decided to use shaving cream in one of our writing lessons!  The kids had a great time practicing their upper and lowercase letters, and even sounding out short words.












 
We even practiced some of our sight words, and color words.  Everyone had a lot of fun, and got to get a little messy :)

Happy Hallo-Letterland!! :)

What a fun day we had today!!!

First, our kids showed up and showed off their Letterland costumes.  We all looked fantastic, and took a moment to take plenty of pictures.

 

After getting some morning work done, we went outside for our Letterland parade.  We all felt like rockstars as we walked down the street and had our pictures taken by parents and people in down town.  We even had a chance to stop and show off the action tricks that we have been practicing all year.

 

When we got back to the classroom, our wonderful room parents had planned a Letterland party full of exciting activities for us to do.  In one classroom, we made Sammy Snake Spiders! 

 

We also enjoyed a Letterland snack, while listening to a spooky story, and even got to play a ton of fun games, like a scavenger hunt and a bean bag toss.  Thank you parents for a fun filled day!

Community Helpers

For the past couple of weeks we have been learning about our community helpers!  We have talked about firefighters, garbage men, mail collectors, doctors, police officers, and more!  We even got to meet a couple of these important community helpers in person.

Our class took a field trip to the fire station in town and got to meet real firefighters!  Some parents were even able to join us.  Luckily, the station is in town and it turned out to be a nice day, so we were able to walk over.

 

When we got to the fire station we learned about all of the different gear that they have to wear to protect them from smoke.  We learned that even though they might look kind of scary, we shouldn't be afraid of firefighters.  Then, some of the class went up to shake hands with a real fireman!

 



We also each got a turn to sit in the fire truck, and Mrs. Tucker took our pictures.  After that, we explored the upstairs.  We saw the firemen's porch, where they get work done, the fire pole, and even jumped on their beds!  We had a great time at the fire station!

 

 

We also had a police officer come to ARS and teach us about his job.  He showed us all of his special equipment, like handcuffs, a flashlight, and a tazer.  He also taught us about gun safety and when to call 911.

 

After his speech, we got to ask lots of questions about what a police officer does, how to become a police officer, and how to keep ourselves as safe as possible, by doing things like wearing a helmet, and never talking to strangers.

 

Here's a picture of us with the officers!

Rhyme Time: Week Three

Ty and his frog

Sophia and her monkey

Check out all of the students who got to help  out with Rhyme Time this week! 

Coyt and his monkey



Bryce and his plane



Tyler and Bungazoo

Tori and her crown

First Writing

This week, the Tooty Ta's have started working on something very exciting!  The students began writing words on their own.  While, some students were very anxious, we discussed that making mistakes is expected.  Not suprisingly, everyone did a fantastic job with their first attempts.  We were studying the letter M, so each student was instructed to write a word that begins with M on the smartboard.  Take a look at their hard work!

Rhyme Time: Week Two

Shepherd and Pooh

Noah and his dog

Jaidyn and her pony

Jessalyn and her bunny

 This was week two of Rhyme Time!  Our four lucky students who got to bring in an item this week were Noah, Jaidyn, Shepherd, and Jessalyn.  They all did a fantastic job sharing their item with the class and helping us practice our rhyming words!

Rhyme Time - Week One!

Sire with her chipmunk

Nevaeh and her snake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the next few weeks our class is working on a fun activity called Rhyme Time.  This activity helps us to practice listening for rhyming words, and is a great way to include our parents in the fun.  Each student will have a turn to bring home the Rhyme Time bag.  Along with the bag is a short poem.  Students are to bring an object from home in the bag, and complete the poem by filling in the last word with a word that rhymes with the item they bring in.  Then, the rest of our class gets to guess!  The student who guesses correctly gets the next turn with the Rhyme Time bag and so on.  We have all enjoyed playing along.  These were our lucky girls who got to take the Rhyme Time bag home this week.

Laci and her cat

Charleigh and her bear

Gummy Bears & Ordinal Numbers

For the past couple of weeks, we have been learning about ordinal numbers (first, second, third, fourth, and fifth).  We practiced using blocks, coloring in pictures, circling images, and even standing up and getting into lines.  For an extra bit of fun, our class decided to practice ordinal numbers using gummy bears! 

For this activity, each student was given a bag with the same assortment of gummy bears.  They were instructed to place the gummy bears in a variety of orders.  Such as, "Place the yellow gummy bear first, the green gummy bear second..." and so on.

Did we like this activity?  I think so!

 

 

Who knew math could be so delicious?

Grandparent's Day!

Our class decided to celebrate Grandparent's Day this year by having the students' grandparents come in and read for the class.  Everyone loved hearing new stories and new readers!  The kids especially enjoyed getting to see their own grandparents and share them with the class.  Take a look at some of our special visitors!

Nevaeh's Mawmaw

 

 

 

Ty's Mawmaw

Noah's Ami

                                                                                                          

Coyt's Grammie

                                

Tori's Mawmaw

Coyt's Naynay