Friday!

Well, we finished up another week of school and I think I managed to teach the children a couple of new things today :)  This week we read several stories about pigs eating chocolate... who knew there was more than one book?  We really focused on discussing how some fiction stories can be realistic, whereas other ones are fantasy.  The kiddos really did a great job talking about the fantasy elements of our stories--- such as how pigs can't make pudding, pigs can't walk on their hind feet, or pigs can't talk.  Today we finally got to learn about some real pigs though!  We learned why pigs like to roll in the mud (to keep cool) and how much food they eat a day (about 8 lbs).

To go along with our mini-unit on pigs, we got to do a lot of chocolatey activities!  Our Hershey Kiss math was a big success as well as our writing activity with chocolate pudding.  The students wrote step by step directions on how to make pudding using vocabulary words like FIRST, NEXT, and LAST.  We also talked about our ingredients and the tools we needed to use (mixing bowl and a whisk).

Mmm Sugar Free Jell-O!  The folks at Harris Teeter are used to me running into their store at 6:15 am to pick out random items like pudding, hershey kisses, and marshmallows.  

In math, we started talking about using greater than and less than symbols when comparing numbers.  The students are learning that the "crocodile" (< or >)  loves to eat the bigger number.  We even added in some crocodile snapping motions with our arms to help us learn about these new symbols.

I have added some new pictures from our classroom.  Take a look-see!    

This is our "Compliment Chain."  If another faculty member gives our class a compliment then I add a chain link.  Right now we only have 4 links... we are working on getting more!

These are our Tattle Can Rules.  Students must tell an adult if their "tattle" could be dangerous and they must not use the Tattle Can if they have not tried to work it out using nice words. 

This is our Tattle Can.  Students can write down trivial tattles on a post it note and put them in the Tattle Can.  This is to prevent unnecessary disruptions during my instructional time.  I try to address the tattles at a later time, but mostly encourage the children to work it out on their own.    

This is our APS School Pledge.  Students recite this every morning and our class rules are largely based on this pledge.  It is also called R2S2.


Next week we will begin a unit on farm animals and folk tales!  I can't wait!  Have a fabulous weekend, friends!

Love,
Mrs. Cook