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During our buddy time today, we made cards with our buddies for Pastor Bertram's wife who is sick with "a very big tummy ache." (In pre-school talk). We are praying for Mrs. Bertram. I KNOW she will love the cards.
Today, we started digging a little deeper into our 1, 2, and 4 multiplication facts with a game called "Factor Power". On a set of flashcards, partners wrote the product of a multiplication table we know. One partner picked a flashcard and tried to draw a factor array on a piece of grid paper. This was challenging for some of them (especially the 4's!) From here on out, multiplication practice will be part of daily homework in some form or another. Whether practicing from flashcards, apps, or the "math facts" link on this blog, we will need daily practice with these facts to achieve fluency. It's always such a joy to see the kids work so well together to help each other learn these facts!
Ever wonder what teachers do on the weekends? We catch up on things that slip through the cracks while we're managing 20 busy kiddos! This morning, while I sip coffee in my quiet house, I was thinking back on what a great day we had yesterday. We started the day with a Veteran's Day assembly. During writing this week, we've been thinking and discussing what FREEDOM means to us. This culminated in our writing a class acrostic poem on FREEDOM, and then the kids each made their own acrostic poems about the word. What amazing, patriotic children you have! They definitely understand the price of freedom. Yesterday, we were able to put this lesson into concrete form as we clapped and cheered for our veterans as the songs from each branch of the armed forces was played.
After a quick spelling pre-test and memory verse test, we worked on meeting our daily reading goal. Some children are setting a "minutes read" goal, others are setting a "pages read" goal to meet every day. Whichever they are setting for themselves, we are all trying to stretch ourselves a little and read a little more each day in order to become better readers!
After morning recess, we started watching Prince Caspian. The kids earned this party through "minutes saved" by following directions the first time, staying on task, exemplar behavior, etc. I award them minutes as I see fit and when we reach 60, we've saved enough for a party! The kids voted last week to watch Prince Caspian during our party. Between PE, Spanish, and practicing for our Christmas program, this took up the rest of our day. (Minus a little break after lunch when Mr. Haan came in and served us huge bowls of ice cream to thank us for reaching our class fundraising goal during Fall Fest!)
You have amazing children. I am blessed everyday to come to work and see their growth and their excitement for learning.
