100 Days of School

The children could not wait for our 100th day of school. I have never counted to 100 so many times in one day. We read, sang, danced, counted, and had treats. The children brought in their 100 collections to share. We had everything from stamps, seeds, pennies, to M&M's. You can't go wrong with M&M's. Best of all we got to eat them after we counted them. I told the kids that M&M's are brainfood. We also had a party with snacks at the end of our day. Every child in the room can count by 1's, 5's, and 10's. We even excercised out our 5's and 10's. They love to get their bodies moving with learning. I just love watching them learn.

President's Day

We are discussing presidents and patriots this week and next in class. The kids know that a president is a person who leads our country. They also know that a patriot is someone who believes and stands up for our country. We even have read some stories about presidents that were also patriots. We have been learning about George Washington. Did you know that Washington loved animals? He had 36 dogs in his lifetime. He actual found and returned the enemies dog in the Revolutionary War. It got around to everyone that he was so loyal and fair that people from both sides of the war sent him animals for pets. His fairness is what made the people want him for the first President of the new United States of America. Thank you to my special student who found these facts out for our class. We also read a Magic Tree House book this week. It was also about George Washington. Ask you children about the adventure Jack and Annie went on. Who did they get to meet? We also wrote a poem about presidents. It is displayed in our hall this week. Along with "If I were President I would_____." There are some very interesting ideas in this writing piece. I hope you all have a nice long holiday weekend. I will see you back next Wednesday.

Valentine's Day

This week we are doing Valentine activities. We are making Valentine holders and cards. We are reading lots of fun stories on Valentine's Day. We read two of our class's favorite books this week. They are Pinkalicious and Purplicious. The kids love these two stories. One of my students actually bought our classroom their own Pinkalicious. We decided that pink and purple were perfect colors for Valentines. We made lovely lions for Ll week. The children learned how to say "I love you" in sign language (they know all their word wall words in sign also). The children also loved playing addition games this week. Ask them about all the adding games they know how to do. They really had a fun time. We are very excited about our party on Friday. I will try not to get them to sugared up. Hope you all have a nice Valentines weekend.

Martin Luther King Jr.

This week has been a busy week. We discussed why we have Monday off. We read lots of books on black history. The classroom favorite was Henry's Freedom Box. We read a some of Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech. We discussed how different people have been treated in the past. I was amazed at how empathetic the children where. I was very proud of them. Sometimes I think the kids teach me as much as I teach them. The children made an acrostic poem on "Freedom". They did amazing. They remembered so many of our vocabulary words and used them correctly. We also displayed our "I have a dream" writing assignments in the hall. They had really beautiful illustrations to go along with them. Make sure you ask your children about Martin Luther King Jr. Our children sometimes have a way to touch our hearts on topics we need to remember everyday. Thanks for your great kids. Keep up the good work.

Mrs. Freeman