Merry Christmas Rusty.....!!!!!

">Rusty's Christmas Gift from Carol....

Gingerbread and more

   By now you have seen the end result of all our labors...from buying graham crackers to cutting milk cartons to creating masterpieces.  It was a great day for all and the celebration continues tomorrow with our Big Friends.  I just wanted to thank all the parents for the great support and help you were in creating this memory!  We are in your debt!  Thanks again...and have a blessed and hopefully restful holiday....we'll be thinking of you!  Love, Rusty...and Carol

On the third day of Christmas...

We are checking our lists and making sure we've got things all completed before our winter break in just a few days. For the last few days we have been reading two great books together. Hansel and Gretel by Michael Morpurgo is a winner. Yesterday while I was reading a part when the witch lures them to the Gingerbread House they all sat so still and quiet. I try and change voices for the characters and was really getting into the witch's voice a bit too much I guess. Several commented on my scary voice! and yet want to hear more! We've also read the classic O. Henry short story The Gift of the Magi. Written in 1906 it tells the story of a husband and wife who give very unselfishly one Christmas. The vocabulary in the book was quiet advanced...even I had to reread portions from time to time. After reading students still were able to tell what the story was about. It led into a wonderful discussion about giving selflessly to others.
A tradition at Summit is to create snowman ornaments made out of model magic. Even though it was a fun project we did a lot of talking about halves, and spheres, and triangles. You'll be seeing them before the week is out so leave a place on your tree for one more ornament.

Smile Words and more Gingerbread

Today one of our reading activites included a new word game called smile words. We start with a three letter word like men. Students can change one letter to make a word. By the end of the activity our word list read like this: men, met, bet, set, sat, bat, cat, and cut. The previous word can be only changed by one letter and letter positions must remain the same. We also finished our math game where we rolled a gingerbread man. Each number on the die represented something else to decorate our gingerbread man/woman with. Andrew was adamant, "You need to do this again next year!" Thanks Andrew...we will!

Madame Morgan arrived for french class teaching a song with actions and movement. On a day when rain kept us inside it was a great chance to laugh and sing in French. The name of the song is Passe, Passera and you can find a video of it on the YouTube site. We'll learn how to import those soon.

We also received three more postcards from classrooms all across America. Today we heard from the states of Montana, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The school in Montana has 11 students in K-6 and 40 in the whole town. Children still ride horses to school which everyone thought was so cool! "They are so lucky!"

It's the most wonderful time of the year...right!?

Where has the time gone? I skip a day of blogging and then a week goes by without even realizing it! It is such a busy time of year that it's hard to take a breath and enjoy each and every moment...at least for me. Ander's mom stopped by at lunch time to let me know he wouldn't be here for the rest of the week. Her cousin, a 47-year-old orthodontist, passed away suddenly of a heart attack on Sunday. Each day we have is a gift. I need to remember that.

Today we made some more memories. Each morning for the past several weeks, Ms. House, comes and takes a small group of students to work with them in the Design Center on a small project. This visit is a favorite...making paper airplanes! Now for teachers it can be a bit trying at times (Please put the airplane away...for the last time!) but the kids love it. They carry them to the playground and fly them until they won't fly anymore! Yesterday Peyton arrived extra early to make sure he would be able to attend.

We have been reading stories about gingerbread as well. Today we read Jan Brett's new book called Gingerbread Friends and for the past several days we have been enjoying classic fairy tale Hansel and Gretel the by Michael Morpurgo. Later in math we began playing a game with dice called Roll a Gingerbread Man. I'll let you know more about that tomorrow.

If you think of it remember Ander's and his family during this time. I'm sure they would appreciate your thoughts and prayers. We also are missing Emma and her family. They surprised her with a trip to Disney World. We can't wait to hear all about it.

Movies of the Mind...Chapter 2 in 7 Keys to Comprehension

     I remember attending a conference in Chicago where Debbie Miller (a reading specialist) talked about teaching her first graders many of the comprehension strategies discussed in this book.  I was fascinated and intrigued by her ideas and filed it away in my brain in a file labeled "Further Processing Needed."  Several days later I was reading a book and suddenly it hit me.

       "I just made a mental image!"  It wasn't a page later that I caught myself doing it again.     "I'm doing it again!"  Here I had been reading all these years and doing things that all readers do, and yet never knew and had never been taught the importance of doing it.  I was hooked from that point on and am hopefully creating some readers along the way.

     This chapter points us in the direction of making "movies" or pictures in our minds as we read.  If, as readers, we fail to do so it's like going into a theater with our popcorn, Goobers, and Coke, sitting down in our comfortably cushioned seat waiting for a movie to start that never plays.  For those who don't do this, reading becomes a chore to be avoided.  

      Two things that I found most helpful.  First on page 25 the authors give examples to look for to see if a child is making images.  If you're reading and stop and ask the child to give some details and they do, or if they laugh, cry or use expression when they read, it's quite likely that the movie is playing upstairs.  Some signs of this not happening are also given.  For example if there is a lack of interest in the story or the child has difficulty describing characters, setting, or relate what is happening in the story chances are the theater upstairs is closed.

     The authors don't leave us hanging.  The chapter has many ideas for parents and teachers to assist children in creating mental images.  On page 29 and following we are given tips on how to use picture books for younger readers and the types of questions to ask as we're reading with children.

      Another valuable point mentioned was that for the mind to be making movies a child's prior knowledge/experiences or schema was invaluable.  Giving our kids lots of life experiences and memories are vital in this regard so we mustn't downplay them as we consider children as readers and writers.

     There were many helpful ideas given in this chapter so don't hesitate to share some of yours.  The authors give many practical suggestions when reading and books that might be useful.  Remember I've got a copy if you need to borrow one.  Thanks again for reading.  Our next chapter is on making connections...and until next month...try making some movies of your own!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today was filled with memories...and the pictures will reveal some of them to you. Toby is so cute watching kids work and Carol caught this picture of him on the couch...how could we pass it by without showing you. Garrett's mom emailed me early this morning about bringing donuts for snack...how could we pass that offer up. You should find a turkey we made for math to practice our number facts in their bag. When asked if this was a project we should do again all were in favor minus one.

We also stopped by for our weekly library visit and checked out holiday reading materials. Later we get a visit from our French teacher before heading out to our cars. I hope you each have a safe and wonderful holiday whether it be near or far. Enjoy the respite from regular life (if you can) to stop and remember that we indeed have much to be thankful for. We'll see you in December!

Winter Wonderland...well sort of...

Everyone arrived with big smiles and stories of our first "big" snow. The early morning was spent spinning tales of what recess would be like, but by 10am their dreams began melting.
"Mr. Dahler, it's melting. We'll never make it in time." As we finished reading and were finishing snack I remembered what the first snow was like for me so I made an executive decision. At 10:05 we would "sneak" out to the football field where we could still see traces of the white stuff lingering still. As we gathered our coats and made our way outside you could feel the eagerness and excitement all around. The next ten minutes were filled with memories for the future. Some made snow angels, while others rolled down the hill chasing one another with laughter. We looked on with wonder remembering the joy snow can bring to six and seven year olds. Before long children noticed cold hands and falling temperatures so we headed back inside for math. But for those 10 minutes I was a child again...and all was at peace in the world once more.

Toby Turns Three...

What a day! I would have never believed that turning three could be so exhausting. The day started off pretty normal with hay, water, feed, and a bit of raw sweet potato. When the children arrived they petted my head alot...especially Bobby...I think he likes me! Then they made me all these cards and signs that said things like, "You're the best rabbit ever!" and "What a sweet boy!" Oh my gosh...I was so embarrassed! The fun part was when they let me spend the morning on the floor and while everyone worked, I got to play. I liked staying under the couch cause it's dark and quiet but sometimes I would come out and run around. I like to see all the smiles and hear all the humans laugh! The best part is when Mr. Dahler tries to catch me. He's sooo slow and I'm sooo fast! It takes him awhile, but then I let him catch me and put me on the counter. All the class is gone now...and it was a fun day...but I am pooped! It's time for yet another nap...

Our Gym Opens!

After many months our new Athletic Center opened its doors for the first time yesterday. It was amazing to see what has transpired after all the hard work and dedication that went into making this dream a reality. The students also got to meet our new Eagle Mascot. At the present he has no name and the school is having a contest to name him. If you have ideas you can submit them at the box located near the main office.

We created word searches using words from our word wall and then began working on our pattern books in writing. During French children are learning numbers and playing games that I no longer understand, but they appear to be understanding very well.

We also celebrated Jordan's birthday and her dad came in and told us a great story about slamming her finger in the car door when she was five. What an entertainer! He had all of us in great laughter before he finished! Thanks for stopping by. Our poem this week is about Video Games. We talked about the differences between a wild and tame game and then wrote about our favorites.

A parent mentioned that she had gotten a copy of the book we are reading this year together and is looking forward to getting started. We are reading Chapter Two this month and will be blogging about it next week so look for the post. Enjoy the cold...I just turned my heat on this week...I thought it was time! :)

Big Friends!

Today we got a chance to get together with our Big Friends in 6th grade. We walking over to the middle school and found them eagerly awaiting our arrival. For about 30 minutes students worked together on thinking of what to be thankful for. No matter what they do just spending time with an older friend is soooo coool!
During our morning work we took the time to watch a hawk which was in the playagound outside our windows. The hawk had eyed a nest in nearby trees and three crows were defending the nest by circling the area and diving at the hawk. It was a great, unplanned "teachable moment." After this excitement we introduced several new words to the word wall and then created our own Word Searches using at least six of the words we have up on our wall. We now have over 30 words and the class seems to enjoying the challenge. Word Rings are reviewed each morning with an activity each day to focus on. During math workshop we reviewed our homework from last week before learning a new math game called High Roller. You can find directions for the game on our website.
Ashley...where are you? We hope you feel better very soon. Your Big Friend wrote you a note so check your mailbox as soon as you can...

$177.82 for Children...

After Halloween and many days of illness, we finally got to count our monies for UNICEF today. We gathered together to estimate how much money we had collected by dumping all the boxes into a single container. Then we divided up the coins and sent each child to sort and count the coins. By the days end we celebrated knowing how children in other places would be helped by our efforts. "It's the joy inside that we celebrate knowing that we are helping others," someone said.

We've also been talking and reading a great many books with patterns as we look ahead to writing some of our own. Today a pair of children was given a picture book and asked to read it with and decide upon whether it contained a pattern in it. After a time partners came up to explain their findings to classmates. Tomorrow we'll begin writing some of our own.

At lunch time we "mixed-it-up." We let children sit anywhere they wanted and they did such a great job of selecting new friends to sit with. It was nice seeing the dining room from a different perspective and hope we can do so again very soon.

Happy Veteran's Day...and Felix

We began the day singing America the Beautiful from a picture book in honor of our Veterans this year. Then we wrote letters to friends, fathers, and others who have served our country so faithfully. It was a great day to remember and learn about those who have sacrificed for our country.

Felix is also such an important member of our classroom community. I found him several years ago when he was readily available in the US, but he is now very hard to locate. Each day when some takes him home I include a picture book of his from my collection. One parent came in this morning and mentioned she had looked for the book online to purchase. The only copies of the book available were uses...selling for between $100 and $200 dollars! So handle with care!! :) Students write about what they've done and draw or take pictures to include with their entry. We are completing his first round of visits today with Hannah...so look for him to come for a visit again soon.

Sitting outside waiting for parents to arrive a former parent stopped me with words of wisdom.

"Life," she said "is like a roll of toilet paper. The more you get into it the faster it goes." Such wisdom!

Congratulations First Graders!

It was a good day for yet another celebration. Today we were all treated to a special lunch for selling the most wrapping paper at our level. Thanks to all the parents who asked friends, co-workers, relatives, and emptied personal bank accounts on our behalf. We thank you once again for filling our stomachs with good things yet once again...and a special thanks to Jennifer for making the #1 Cookie Cake!

Our writing today began with a new focus on pattern books. We read several titles including When I Was Five by Arthur Howard and Water by Susan Canizares. In the upcoming weeks we will be working on two stories to bring to publication. One "easy" pattern story and one a bit more challenging. As you read at home notice stories that have simple patterns and point them out to your child.

Mrs. Perry stopped by this month for her lesson on humility. They spent time talking about how to esteem others and then went to the playground with Harriet to practice. The two main areas to work on were saying compliments and letting others go first. Mrs. Perry mentioned afterwards how well everyone participated. Check out her link on our website for more information.

Finally special greetings to Jarve' and Hannah...we missed you today...and hope tomorrow finds you here with all of us...

More Celebrations!

Today we gathered ourselves together for our second writer's celebration. For the past month we have been working on a unit called Small Moments and today we had the chance to share a story we've been working on. We invited our school head, Michael, to attend and afterwards he commented on how wonderful it was to hear each writer share a story in his or her own voice. The celebration continued with zucchini bread baked by Ms. Carol. We ended by reading a book by Mem Fox titled Whoever You Are.

We also celebrated to thank all our parents for contributing to our Annual Fund Drive. In your honor we ate ice cream cones and danced in the courtyard! On behalf of all of us at Summit we thank you from the bottom of our stomachs! We finished the day in Mr. Stoeri's classroom where we sang songs with the third graders from our Song and Poetry Journals. Have a great weekend!

PS...We miss you Bri...come back to us soon...and Emma...get well....Hannah we welcome your return...and Jackie thanks for coming to our Celebration...it's not the same without just one of you...

Room with a View...

We work and learn in a room with such a wonderful view. Almost everyone who stops by comments on it the after a few steps inside. We all have those days when no matter how good or beautiful life is all around us, we just don't see it. I must confess that today was similar for me. I get busy with all the activity and rush around so fast that I fail to notice so much of the life all around me. At the lunch table Bobby had the entire group in stitches and I watched through tired eyes and vacant smiles. As adults we lose so much of the joy we once had and hearing the laughter made me want a piece of it back. So I'm packing up early and heading for the hills to spend sometime walking and noticing the beauty before darkness falls.

A Marathon Winner!

One of our parents stopped by this morning for a celebration. Over the weekend she ran the New York Marathon and lived to tell us all about it. Teachers and students asked endless questions and her answers kept us listenting with awe and inspiration. In honor of her, we spent the day running! On the playground children were jogging the perimeter in small "waves" and said they were building their stamina. Thanks for sharing JB!
We continue to work on our cursive writing and today introduced the "Loppy Letters" that include "l" and "e". We heard many comments like, "This is harder than it looks!" In math we continued to practice counting nickels and pennies and reminded them it's much like counting tally marks. Our study of North Carolina continues with a examination of the honey bee.
It was also confirmed that we were one of the top sellers of wrapping paper this year and because of great sales figures we will not be eating in the cafeteria on Monday (11/10). Instead we will be having a PIZZA PARTY in our classroom during that time! Way to go kids!

Vote!

To give the children a real sense of the voting process we had a school wide ballot for lunch choices. When I entered the building there were signs encouraging voters to consider corn, pizza, and ice cream. During the morning children were given a time and a precinct to vote in. We will not know official results until Wednesday but my guess is Macaroni and Cheese. When I spoke with many of the kids that seemed to be the number one choice.

Today was also our official kick-off for H20 for Life. We are raising money for a school in Kenya so that they can have more water resources. We had a assembly for all children in Grades 1-3 followed by an activity in the gym where pairs of children carried 5 gallon containers of water. Check out our website for more pictures.

Also remember that tomorrow there will be no school for students. So take some time to vote and we'll see you on Wednesday!

Happy Halloween!!!

While talking to Emma's mom this morning we both were saying how nice it is to have Halloween on a Friday! With all the excitement and sugar highs it will be nice to spend the weekend recuperating. After reading The Night Before Halloween we had a visit by our sixth-grade Big Friends. We made food snacks and decorated pumpkin faces to show different emotions. Everyone got a chance to show off their costumes. Our class was visited by such notables as Bat Girl, Harry Potter and two Spidermans!

Later in the day Garrett's mom (who is running in the New York Marathon on Sunday!) and Hannah's mom stopped by to host a Halloween Party with candle making, eating dirt and worms, and reading a great Tedd Arnold book called Inside a House That Is Haunted. It was a good day but honestly I'm quite content to go home and sit in my big chair and put my feet up and wait until all the trick-or-treaters start to appear. Have a great weekend and don't forget to change those clocks back on Sunday!

The Penny Grab Game

We found ourselves working with pennies once again. Today we played the penny grab game. Each student has twenty pennies in their toolkit. They pool their pennies together and then grab a handful. On a sheet they record what they grabbed as well as what their partner did. They finally record which person had more. This activity builds counting skills as well as comparing numbers to see which is more.
Just a reminder that tomorrow we'll be visiting the theater to see the Jr/Sr Kindergarten Sing, which brings back lots of memories for those in the class. On Friday we get to wear our Halloween costumes, meet with Big Friends, and have a Halloween celebration! Sounds like a great way to end the week...and the month!

Reading for Life

I remember at an Open House when a parent asked me to define reading in as few words as possible. After a few seconds of frantic thought I said, "Making meaning." Even as early as first grade it's important to remember that as important as decoding skills are if kids don't understand what they read, they are not really reading. In this first chapter of the book the writers introduce us to 7 keys to help students understand what they read. When I learned about these several years ago I didn't pay lots of attention to them. It wasn't until later while reading books on my own that I found myself doing some of the very things that were mentioned. The 7 keys are: 1) Creating mental images 2) Using background knowledge 3) Asking questions 4) Making inferences 5) Determining the most important ideas 6) Synthesize ideas and 7) Use "fix-up" strategies when reading. In the rest of the book each of these will be explored in more depth.

One valuable point that I took away from this chapter was how important it is to turn off the TV and spend time reading with your kids at home. A few years ago I unplugged my set and haven't watched it much since then. It's not that TV is bad or anything, but I do find myself using that time more for reading, exercising, or doing other things that are not so passive. If we want to grow readers we have to immerse them in books and language.

This is just the first chapter and there will be lots to discuss as we proceed. Don't be afraid to leave a comment and share your thoughts both about what you agree and disagree with. This is a forum for ideas so use it as you see fit. Next month the focus will be on creating mental images as you read...so stay tuned and happy reading!

The Great Pumpkins...are no more...

The two pumpkins in our class were used today in our math exploration to investigate circumference and estimation. We used yarn to estimate the circumference around each pumpkin and then we cut a hole in both of them and reached inside to claim as many seeds as we possibly could. Estimates ranged from 102 to in the thousands and thousands! Low and behold as we counted each and every seed, we discovered that one pumpkin had 350 seeds while the other of similar size produced 560 seeds. I'll take them them home tomorrow and bake them to share for a snack later in the week.  This afternoon Madame Morgan came by and sang some French songs and students created a French monster by following directions in this new language.  Remember that tonight is homework night.  If the paper gets misplaced  you can get another at our website.  If you need a 100's chart it's also there under Handy Handouts to print out whenever you need.

An inch is an inch...

How long is long anyway? It's all a matter of perspective to some degree, but at the moment first graders are examining objects to determine length in comparison to other objects. Today we completed our exploration activities. One group worked with Ms. Carol to group dominoes in patterns while another group worked with me and a bunch of collected objects. We looked at our six-inch rulers then put them away. Afterwards we sorted the objects in piles of longer than our ruler and shorter than our ruler. To complete the activity we placed all the items in line from shortest to longest. The remaining group worked with their rulers to create a many pointed star.

Today we also added new words to our word wall, read some stories of Halloween, played fun games in the gym, weighed pumpkins, wrote about our Theater experience, ate baked potatoes for lunch, began a new art project with Mr. Calhoun and worked with Mrs. Reynolds in Science Lab making candles....just another busy Monday... with lots of learning going on...and on...and on...

and the children will lead the way....

Her "sermon" to the class and to Rusty and me, came so naturally. Though perhaps I should have been scrambling for my camera to video the moment, we all sat in awe as we listened to the truth of her words. We can't recreate the moment, but listen to the "remake" video. Hopefully her words will inspire you as it did us.

Madeline and the Bad Hat

For the past several days we've been reading the story of Madeline and her relationship with Pepito in Bemelmans classic tales of this Parisian little girl. We explored some interesting vocabulary words in the text such as ambassador, menagerie, molest, and guillotine (they're all in the text...I promise!) So this morning we arrived in downtown Winston Salem at First Presbyterian to see the performance of the story. At first there was a lot of singing and I heard Max murmur, "This is nothing like the book." Then within a short time the story became familiar except for "all that singing and dancing." After we got back to school we wrote about our favorite parts of the play. Later this afternoon we head to Mr. Stori's third grade room to hold our weekly Friday sing. You'll find the Song and Poetry Journal in the bags this afternoon so have a great weekend of singing!

Big Friends

It's been a great day for being a friend. Each student at Summit is paired with an older student throughout the course of their journey here. We get together at least once a month and share...time, books, stories, and even performances. Today our sixth grade Big Friends held a performance for their musical, Annie. It was so good we spent the rest of the day singing "Tomorrow." If you check out our website you can glimpse a picture of each student along with their special friend. We'll be getting together next week to share Halloween costumes...SPOOKY!

After the play we gathered together for a math game and then shared our favorite parts of the play. Everyone seemed to enjoy when the girls kept stomping on the feet of mean old Mrs. Hannigan. (She deserved it!) If we can get a DVD of the movie we'll show it in class and compare the two performances as we did last year for Oliver.

We also colored our map of the United States and will begin posting our postcards as we receive them. We colored each state a different color and will create the map in class tomorrow.

Ordinary Miracles

Ander's mom stayed for a few minutes during our early morning arrivals and left an observation that teachers just love to hear. "I could stay here for a long time...it's so exciting to see all the different kinds of work the kids are doing." (Now as the author, I am taking some liberties with the quotation...but it's the jest of what was communicated!) Some are working on Wake-Up work, usually a worksheet reviewing math or language concepts. Others work at the calender finding ways to make the number 21 with coins. Some record their book for take-home reading while others Bookshop for books to place in their book boxes. It all happens sometimes without realizing it. Thanks Shelley for reminding me...
As I type, Madame Morgan spins a French tale to the children as I sit unnoticed at the computer. She interjects french vocabulary from time to time for the children to learn. We have just returned from our trip to the playground where children enjoyed the beautiful weather and I snapped pictures with a digital camera. Andrew found a feather and moments later lost it to an unexpected breeze. Max and Bobby were chasing each other while Hannah built a "castle of leaves." Just an ordinary miracle of a day...once again...and yes...they do pay people to do this....

Postcard Project

Last week we did some inactive writing and wrote the following message together:

Greetings from our 1st grade class in Winston-Salem, NC!

Our city is in the Piedmont of NC. We live about an hour from Pilot Mountain. It stands about 2,490 feet tall. Our State bird is the cardinal. The dogwood is our State flower.Raleigh, our capital, is where our governor lives. The biggest city in NC is Charlotte.

Carol typed the message onto label paper and we'll have them in the mail this week. We'll be sending them to classrooms in almost every state of the United States and hope to get a response or two in return.  It was a great way to introduce our study of North Carolina by looking at the country as a whole. We have already received cards from Iowa and Connecticut! Stay tuned for further updates.

We also learned our first Word Wall Game called...what else...Word Wall Bingo. Each player places a word in each of the nine boxes and someone calls out the words. The first to fill up their board is the winner. Our cursive writing practice continues with our "Rocket Letters." Today we worked on the letter "p" and from the murmurs I heard this one wasn't so easy! They are getting better each time! Keep up the good work everyone!

Book Fair

On Saturday, November 1st Summit will hold its annual book Fair at Barnes and Noble in Winston Salem. Every year it's a great time not only to support the school but fill our classroom with new and exciting books for children to read. I've been asked to provide some "suggestions" of books we'd like to find on the shelves in our classroom or some you might want to add to your personal libraries at home. So here I bring you Mr. Dahler's first ever TOP TEN list!

10. If I Ran For President by Catherine Stier - With all the conversations about electing a new president how could I pass this one up?

9. Museum Trip by Barbara Lehman - We loved her last wordless book, The Red Book, and this one looks just as thought provoking.

8. Vunce Upon a Time by J. Otto Seibold - With Halloween just around the corner this book tells the tale of a vegetarian vampire who's afraid of humans.

7. Frankenstein Takes the Cake by Adam Rex - One of my favorite books in college was Mary Shelley's tale with the same lead character. This story big Frank gets married and Dracula shows up as best man.

6. Bats at the Library by Brian Lies - Some bats find there way into a library and read some great classics like Goodnight Moon and Pippi Longstocking.

5. The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry and illustrated by P.J. Lynch - One of the most profound stories of giving ever written. A classic tale all children should hear again and again.

4. Old Bear by Kevin Henkes - Any book by this author will not stay on your bookshelf very long. Kevin continues to entertain and teach readers again and again. I am confident his new book will continue the tradition.

3. Hansel and Gretel adapted by Michael Morpurgo, illustrated by Emma Clark - Another classic tale that can at times have dark undertones, this adaptation focuses on the love and relationships siblings have for one another.

2. Fairies and Magical Creatures by Matthew Reinhart and Robert Sabuda - a pop-up book that will invite children in the world of mythology.

1. ABC3D by Marion Bataille - How could I pass up an ABC book? This one is yet another book that springs to life right before your eyes. A engaging feast of the eyes and a continual quest for the answer to the question of, "How did they do that?"

This is merely a taste of the wonder that awaits you and your family as you explore the books and titles at Barnes and Noble. Just take an hour and wander the isles and before you realize it you'll have your own TOP TEN list in no time...and as always...enjoy the journey!

Word Walls and Paper Clocks

We began our official Word Wall today. Each week about five or six words are added to our wall that we want children to learn and know in the same way they understand and relate to computer games! We'll play games with them each week, review them orally, and refer to them often during our Writing Workshop time. Today six words appeared including a, all, at, an, can and that. By years end our wall will contain 100 words that children can say and spell easily. They are included on the word rings and are indicated with a blue dot. They are also listed on the website so practice them often.
It was also a great day to continue our learning about clocks by making some paper ones of our own. After we cut and pasted our together we used a song by Hap Palmer called Paper Clocks to sing with and move our clock hands to the hour. Mrs. Leinbach also has a linked a math game on our website that reviews time to the hour as well. We shared it with the group and they caught on very quickly.
Despite the rain we all enjoyed our 35th day of the year quite nicely...and now the weekend awaits. Have a wonderful weekend and we'll be in touch...

How Time Flies...

Time is such a telling thing. As each day passes all things change to some degree or another. Today in our classroom we marked the passing of time in several ways. Hannah celebrated her 7th birthday today! Each morning that someone has a special day we have a celebration where we sing songs and read a favorite book or poem that the child enjoys. We set out a candle to represent the sun and the birthday children circles the candle once for each year. As they walk parents and/or teachers share something special from each year. We also have a special birthday cake Mr. Dahler found this summer. He fills it with something special and hides it in the room for the birthday child to find.
So Happy 7th year Hannah...and here's to many more!

We also looked at time by introducing how we track it using an analog clock. We examined our Judy clock (a special clock for teaching time that teachers enjoy) and gave each child a small replica to add to their math toolkit. Often we will have children take out their clocks and use them to display times that we ask them to show.

We've also been examining our state a bit more this week and have written our postcard note that will be sent to schools all across the country. Our postcard has a picture of Pilot Mountain and Bri discovered that it stands 2,490 feet tall. We'll soon post a giant map of the United States That will keep track of all the states from which we receive cards.

Word Work and Word Rings

During our Reading Workshop time one of the things we do is work with words which we "lovingly" refer to as word work. It's the time of the day when children work with manipulatives, examine word parts, and get to better understand how words work. This weekend while I was out and about I picked up some Play-Doh and we spent a part of our morning getting our hands busy and creating words. At only about fifty cents a container you get to hear kids say some incredible things like, "This is so cool!" or "Can we do this again!"

We also passed out our Word Ring cards today so you'll find them in your child's bookbag tonight. Make sure you go over the words often and if you're out and about a tub of Play-Doh might work for you like it did for us.

More Calander Math!

Today our "student teacher" did another excellent job on the daily calendar. To give you a feel of what we experience each day during calender math, Carol took a video clip. It's not the best quality but we'll work with it. (Not bad for our first time, eh?!) We also finished reading A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams. We used her book as a story that illustrates the telling of a Small Moment. During writing share, Anders did a great job of teaching others about how to know when to start a second page. As writers responded to his work he got so many great ideas that he said, "I think I'm going to make this story into a book!"

Remember there is no school on Monday so enjoy yourselves and have a great, lonnnng weekend!

Calander Math

At the start of math time each day we review our Calander Wall. This morning Hannah was our leader and what a wonderful teacher she was! There are 17 different things that the student leader talks about including days of the week, money, graphs, shapes and telling time. Our favorite thing to do is glueing on the puzzle piece of the day. We are creating a 100 piece puzzle on our wall as we look ahead to our 100th day of school. We've made it to day 30 and it will be indeed here before we know it. Thanks to Jessica Meacham's great website and inspiration that helped create this wonderful learning area.

Today we also passed out our Song and Poetry Journals. The songs we sing and many of the poems we share will be coming home in a yellow notebook each week so that parents and children can sing and recite to their hearts content. Remember that children can bring them home on Fridays and we only ask that they be returned each Monday morning.

In math we practiced writing numbers eight and nine as well as playing a simple game with 10 pennies. Place the pennies in a pile and grab some one hand and the remainder in the other. Working in pairs children would say, "I have 4 pennies in my right hand and 6 pennies in my left hand." This continues on providing children with a great introduction of adding and number sentences.

"I AM a Good Mother!"

It was just before lunch when the phone rang. A very hesitant voice said, "Mr. Dahler?" (my formal teaching name)...I forgot my...conference...I'm so sorry! But I am a good mother...I AM!"

After many reassurances she got here for her conference and we had a great time of sharing and learning together. Afterwards Carol and I went to lunch with her and laughed and even teared up after hearing a beautiful story of friends and fairs. The remainder of the day was spent much in the same way. It was such a good time to learn, share, laugh, and be taught by each and every one of you. After goodbyes were said to Shelley, Rob and Ellie, Carol and I headed out into the dark, dripping sky for Chinesse food. Looking back on the year thus far we came to see how blessed we are to have such a supportive and encouraging parents. Thank you for making our first 29 days such inspiring ones and we look forward to our many days ahead!

Toby's Gallery

This summer while visiting one of my favorite websites (The Daily 5), I came across a video clip of how a classroom chose to display the art work of the children. So at the beginning of the year I asked parents to donate some inexpensive frames and got Doug, our maintenance guy, to put some holes in our wall. Later we put some black construction paper inside the glass and then used some blue putty to adhere the pictures to the outside of the glass...and viola! We christened our wall by naming it after Toby, our mini-lop rabbit who lives in our classroom. Thanks again to everyone for making Toby's Gallery possible, especially our beloved art teacher Mr. Calhoun and please stop by anytime for some closer peeks.

Bats and Birthdays...

Our day began with a song entitled Joyful, Joyful which reads:
Joyful, joyful, joyful greetings
We come to wish you everything
Of good the coming year may bring
Welcome, welcome to the birthday child.Garrett celebrated his 7th birthday recently and his parents came by for our traditional celebration. We sing and parents share an event from each year of the child's life as the child circles a candle holding the earth. Afterwards we sang more and then Garrett read us a favorite poem of his called Hurt No Living Thing by Christina Rossetti. I found a ceramic cupcake this summer that I filled with special treats and hide it in the room for the special child to find on his/her day.
Later in math we learned a new song to help us with the spelling of November and played a math game called the Fat Bat Game. The teacher rolls a die and students continue collecting points until a one comes up. When it does they lose all their points. Students have to decide when to drop out and it's a wonderful tool for number writing and counting skills. You can find the directions at Mathwire.com (...a great site that I use often for math ideas) and the gameboard under our link, Handy Handouts.
We also began our second cursive book learning our first "rocket letter" t. These are the letters that shoot up like a rocket. They enjoy practicing but we encourage them not to rush and take their time.
This week is our Art week and Mr. Calhoun is working on drawing fruit. At the moment they are with Ms. Reynolds in Science Lab studying gases, liquids and solids.
Get outside and enjoy this beautiful day...I'll join you soon.

7 Keys to Comprehension

As I was doing some reading this weekend I came across one of my recommended reading books for parents, 7 Keys to Comprehension by Susan Zimmermann and Chryse Huthchins. I have found this book extremely valuable as a classroom teacher and often encourage parents to read it. Based on research by P. David Pearson and a number of his colleagues, the authors have found 7 things that will encourage children to understand and care about what they read. Not only with the information be of value this year, but for years to come. I still find myself reading and start thinking, "Hey I just made a mental image!" or "I have schema for that."
So this year I'd like to start our first annual book club! Get a copy of the book at the library, bookstore, borrow mine, or just click on the link to Amazon (I just learned how to do this and I'm psyched!!) Each month we'll read a new chapter and talk about (and blog) about what we've learned. There are eight chapters which will permit us to do one chapter each month. This month's chapter is called Reading for Life and it took me less than 30 minutes to complete it and it's not heavy reading. I'll post a blog at the end of each month and share some highlight or insight about the reading and then parents can respond and leave their comments. I'll look forward to hearing from you soon.
Now all you have to do is get the book and we're on our way!

Our First Writer's Celebration

It was wonderful...today we had our first author's celebration and I was so proud of all the hard work our young writers have done. We spent the first twenty-seven days of school launching our workshop by having lessons on things like where our writing folders belong, what kind of tools do writers use, and how do writers get ideas. Each child was asked to select two of their favorite pieces from September and share one of them with the class. We spread a colorful table cloth on our carpet and placed a candle, some lemonade, and some of Mr. Dahler's award winning (to me at least) banana bread. After giving the chance for writers to share their work we celebrated with our award winning bread. Our first few celebrations are as a class...but look for a parent invite in the coming months. Tickets go on sale soon...so keep checking out our site for further details.
It's been a busy week and yet I feel energized by all the activity. We appreciate all the work and support you do that makes our classroom such a great place to be.
Be sure to look at our website's link Recent Happenings to see more photos of today's fun and Thursday's visit with Emma's mom!

Rolling for 50

Today during math we played "Rolling for 50." It's a game that helps children learn how to use a number grid. If you would like to give it a try at home you'll need a die and the game sheet which you can find it described on our website under "Math Games" and download the gameboard under our "Handy Handouts" link. Have fun!
This morning we read the book Cat Goes Fiddle-i-fee by Paul Galdone and then acted out the various parts. The book tells the story of a boy who feeds his cat as well as his other animal friends. The part of the hen was played by Max who had everyone laughing by the stories end. We also read yesterday's poem, The Sun's Glow, and created several word families using the endings -and and -ast.
During writing workshop Hannah T. shared with some cat books that her mom (Thank YOU!) had made and we worked on creating some cat stories of our own. We read one of my favorite stories, Charlie Anderson, which tells the story of a cat with two homes. Tomorrow we will have our first monthly writer's celebration and Mr. Dahler is spending some time in the kitchen for this special occasion. Check out tomorrow's post for further details!