Jokes for the Holidays!

Every morning, for the last few weeks, I told a holiday joke during our morning meeting. The kids were hoping to spread the laughter over break, so here are a few ones to share:

Q. How is the Christmas alphabet different than the ordinary alphabet?
A. The Christmas alphabet has NO EL.

Q. What goes red, white, red, white, red, white?
A. Santa rolling down a hill.

Q. Where does Santa go to work out?
A. A chimnasium.

Q. What goes Oh! Oh! Oh!
A. Santa walking backwards.

Q. What do you call an old snowman?
A. Water!

Q. What do you call Santa Claus when he doesn't move?
A. Santa Pause.

Q. Name a child's favorite Christmas king.
A. A stocking.

I hope you all have a wonderful break with your family! I will see you back on Jan. 5th, 2015!

We Are Thankful!

Today the students wrote about what they are thankful for and hopefully the papers made it home! The kids have so much to be thankful for during this holiday season. Here are some snippets of their writing:

I am thankful for...

- My grandpa because he helps me with my homework.
- My dollhouse because when I get bored, I can play with it.
- My mom because she hugs my all the time.
- My sister because she is funny and kind.
- Mrs. Taylor because she is awesome. (bonus points for that one!)
- The power to imagine.
- My mom because she hangs my clothes.
- My house because it keeps me warm.
- My grandma, she is a good worker.
- My parents because when I wanted Pokémon cards at Walmart, they bought them for me!
- My mom because she is kind.
- My dog and my brother.
- My dog because he sleeps on my pillow every night.
- A blanket because it keeps me warm at night.
- Sunnyside School because they give us recess and lunch everyday.
- My Grandma because she is 53 and she is slow and when I am behind her I have to be patient.
- My sister because she reads to me.
- My family because they love me.
- My friends because they are nice to me.
- My food, house, bed, school, and aunt. If I didn't have these things I wouldn't be here or come out right or be smart. I am thankful for having life!

I am so thankful for all of your children! What an amazing group of kids and what a fun glimpse into their lives and what they value. Happy Thanksgiving!

Classroom Elections

This week, in our social studies unit time, we discussed elections and voting procedures. We read three stories in class:

Duck for President
by Dorin Cronin

Grace for President
by Kelly DiPucchio

My Teacher for President
by Kay Winters

Then the kids voted for who they think would make the best president: Duck, Grace, or their teacher. We had a voting station set up in the back of the room where they turned in their voter registration card and cast their ballot.

 

 

Then we tallied the results as a class to see who the winner would be! The winner was..... THEIR TEACHER!

 

 

After we tallied the results, the kids graphed the results of the election.

 



Making Change by Counting Up

Today, in math, we learned how to make change by counting up. This can be a challenging skill for many students because it involves so many skills all at once (coin recognition, skip counting by 1s, 5s, 10s, and 25s, and an understanding of what is being asked in the problem). In class, we worked through several problems together and students were using their coins from home to practice counting out change. Their homework tonight involves counting out change 2 different ways for items paid with $1.00. Please remember that we want them to practice counting up from the amount the item costs, to the amount they paid.

I found a video on Learn Zillion that may be helpful when doing the homework tonight. Although it does not use coins to count up, they use a number line with the same concept.

If your kids would like a game to practice this concept, Fun Brain had a good game that your child could play.

Reading Notebook - Poetry

This week, we have been learning about poetry in reading. The kids have been learning many different poetry terms, reading poems, and even memorizing some! The students each have a reading notebook that they add pages to each week that apply to our reading skill. This week, the kids glued ipods in their reading notebook to remind them of how rhythm helps with meaning in a poem, story, or song. They also learned that three types of poems have rhythm: alliteration, rhyming poems, and repeated lines. Here is a page from one of the student's notebook:

Welcome!

Welcome to Room 118's classroom blog! I am excited to start a blog that will fill you in on all of the happenings in our classroom this year! It will be a place to keep you all up to date on the learning and fun that is happening in your child's class. Thanks for taking the time to be involved in what is happening at Sunnyside!