Be My Valentine!

Valentine's Day was an exciting day. Normally you would say there is love in the air, but in an elementary school there was a lot of excitement in the air!

The children LOVED passing out their Valentines.

They also enjoyed decorating cupcakes! Sprinkles were a must!

This is what my desk looked like at the end of the way. The children were so sweet and excited to give me Valentines as well. I want to thank everyone for the nice gifts.

100 Day and Crayon Art

Last Tuesday was the 100th Day of school. Can you believe that we have been in school for 100 days? Time sure flies when you are having fun learning new things.

They had fun making their glasses and headbands while celebrating the 100th day.

On Thursday we had fun using old crayons to make art.

First, the kids shaved crayons with their scissors. The shavings were put in between wax paper.

Second, Mrs. Jaynes ironed the wax paper under a towel. This made the crayon shavings melt.

Third, the kids used stencils to cut out hearts and other shapes. Then they colored their paper with markers.

Fourth, we taped the wax paper behind the decorated paper. This made a nice stained glass look.

They did such a great job! Their art now decorates the board out in the hallway.

Nutrition and Books

This past week we have been discussing what type of food is good for our bodies. To finish off this little unit, I decided to have a fun object lesson. I'm sure your children told you about it when they got home on Friday!

First, I showed them a lot of junk food and asked them if they liked that. Of course they liked all of the food I presented, but once they saw me put the junk food in the blender they were a little afraid! This "junk food smoothie" consisted of sprite, cheese puffs, m&ms, tortilla chips, pizza, and sour punch kids. I asked if anyone would like to drink some of it, and I imagined only one or two would offer. To my surprise, about half of the class wanted to try a sip! You all have some adventurous children! Don't worry, they didn't have more than a sip. Actually, some of them just smelled it and couldn't drink it after that. They tried to get me to drink some of it, but I couldn't do it.

Second, I made them a fruit smoothie. This smoothie was made of bananas, yogurt, strawberries, milk, and ice. Of course everyone wanted a drink of this smoothie! It sure was delicious! We then discussed how our bodies like this smoothie more as well. I think they got the point of this object lesson.

Above- The children really liked their fruit smoothies!

Below- You can get a little peek at both of the smoothies. I'm sorry if the one on the right is a little disgusting.

I also wanted to show you how excited the children were when they saw that our class library now had some new books. My dad was going through some old children books, so he donated many informational books to our class. Even though they can't read all of the words in these books, they love them, and they do read what they can. They have been so excited to show me the volcanoes, crystals, dinosaurs, dragonflies and more. Sometimes we think that little children only like stories, but they love to look at informational texts as well. It is fun to learn about the world around you.

Thanks Dad and Darlene! They really do love these books!

Christmas Party

For our Christmas party, we had three stations.

1. They cut out and decorated little stockings. Mrs. Porter and Mrs. Barton ran this station, and were great at punching out holes. I tried to punch out holes, but the children did not like how slow my progress was. One even suggested I let someone else try since I wasn't strong enough. Kids do say the darnedest things, but it was very true.

2. Mrs. Cook had the children play a fun game of bingo.
3. Mrs. Jaynes monitored the children as they decorated and ate Christmas cookies.
I want to thank you 4 moms for organizing and running the Christmas Party! I know the children really enjoyed it!

Read-A-Thon

The Read-A-Thon was a success. It was a joy to have so many parents or other relatives come and read with the children. I know they loved having you all there. It is so important to read with your children. Not only should they be reading to you, but you really should be reading to them. Children read better when their parents read with them. I know most of you already do this, so just keep it up!

Did you know that boys become better readers when their fathers read with them? It also helps boys to see their fathers reading for their own enjoyment.

Many public libraries also have some fun reading activities. They also let you check out tons of books!





It is even fun to have older siblings read to their little siblings.



We continued reading after you all left. Since I was wearing Grinch pajamas, I decided it would be fun to read "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!"

Reading really can be a blast! In fact, the students listen the best when I am reading them stories. Please read with your children often. It really makes a difference. They also love it!

Thanks again for coming and reading with your children! It was a great sight to see! :)

Signs of Fall

Our Fall Books!

Apples ripen in the fall.
We like to carve pumpkins.
Corn is harvested in the fall.
Turkeys say, "Gobble, gobble, gobble." We eat turkeys for Thanksgiving.
These were the cutest books ever!

Turkey Time

If you were wondering what happened with the feathers you decorated, well here they are!

Isn't he a cute turkey?

In preparing for Thanksgiving, I had the students draw and paint some turkeys.

First, they sketched a turkey with a pencil. Second, they traced it with black crayon. After that they colored it with crayons. Then they painted over their turkey with watercolor paint.

They created some cute turkeys and had fun in the process!


I hope you all enjoyed the fall books your students made.