Boy, am I tired...and the week's not over yet! Just a few reminders for tomorrow as I'm sure you won't mind that today's missive is only a missi...too tired. Kiddos had their school pics snapped today and they were perfect while waiting to be photographed. Not kidding...for real...honest and truly. Patience as a virtue was modeled so nicely for all. Again, I'm tired but lucky to have this group of little learners.
TOMORROW: * Our church visit with Fr. Fred :-) This will tie in nicely with our Religion chapter! * Ice cream sales are back! Starting each Friday kiddos may purchase an ice cream for the low price of $1. Yum ;-) Darwin is tomorrow's Self-Backpacker :-) Sadly, several kiddos are still feeling under the weather. We are missing them all! Home Education: Just some sentences to practice fluent oral reading. Papers may remain at home. Short and sweet today...thanks for reading along. Happy evening...Tired, old, but sweet...Mrs.D. :-) Pssst...ask your kiddos to tell you the story about the time I rescued and hid a dog in my classroom without my principal knowing! It is a true story about God's plan for each of us...and it has a really sweet ending. :-) For real... What a day! I'm so sorry for running a bit late on this posting...plain pooped despite the awesomeness of my fine friends who are JUST SO GOOD FOR/TO ME! They truly are! On a sad note: we had a bunch of our classmates out sick today...a bunch! (Just look at how sad Pooh is...) We hope all get better very soon as our class is just not the same without all of us here busily buzzzzzzzing away.
On a happy note: we set our two beautiful butterflies free today! We just had to do it today as the weather was perfect and they were getting anxious to get their wings pumping. Their solo flights were wonderful to watch! We said a little prayer that their journey be a safe one...and they were gone. (Now I'm sad...it's like sending them off to college...) During our Literacy Block today, my kiddos were introduced to ADJECTIVES...as in: Our teacher is the lovely, funny, kind, happy and wrinkled Mrs.D.! Hardy har har... as such, you will note some adjective work is included within tonight's home ed. Today was also our very first Library session and Italian (Ciao!) class with Senora Cupo...get those rrrrrrs trilling! Also, our Science unit on Simple Machines has begun! Warning: Have I got an idea for you...drool's starting... Tomorrow is picture day! Kiddos wear their school uniforms and their best (some, toothless) smiles! Home Education~ Reading~ Tee hee...I had some extra energy late last night and re-typed stories (sans illustrations) for oral reading practice. This is a must for fluency, so practice practice practice. :-) Packet may then remain at home... Work paper where kiddos must rewrite each full sentence with an additional adjective placed to describe the circled noun. That's it! Go to bed! Fondly, Lovely, Funny, Kind, Happy and Wrinkled Mrs.D. :-) Guess what????????? Give up? Really? Really give up? You sure? Well, our two beautiful, breath-taking, blossoming butterflies...blossomed! Wings and all! Gorgeous monarchs! The miracle of metamorphosis happened...and we were so focused on all sorts of other "stuff" we almost missed it! They were still in their chrysalis stage this a.m. and popped out in the p.m.! Wings are beginning to fan out in order to get that blood flow flowing. Can't wait to see them fluttering a bit more tomorrow! Many thanks to the Kirousis family for sharing such a find (in the caterpillar stage) with all of our grade two kiddos!
Reminders: Scholastic book orders (online...code is J6CV6...just in case you felt the need to order although I am not pressuring you in the least...) are due this Friday, please and thank you. :-) School pictures this Thursday!!!! FYI: Our church visit with Fr. Fred has been pushed out to this Friday. Home Education~ Reading~ /ee/ and /ea/ word practice...reread some of those saved stories, too! Time for another cup of...coffee! Take care...Mrs.D. :-) Shiver me timbers! Walk the plank, you swabeeeeesssss! Arrrghhhhh...no, this is NOT Mrs.D. having a seizure. This IS Mrs.D. still in her pirate persona as today was "Talk like a Pirate" day for the teachers. Now, some of our lovely faculty members took this in FULL measure and decided to PLUNDER our classrooms. (Psssst....THINK: Ms. Ellis and her very merry band of student marauders who BURST into our classrooms and PILLAGED our village!! (I almost DID have a seizure...) Let me tell you, however, WE (the pirates of grades 1, 2 and 3) got her back. All three of our classes snuck up to the top floor and, using three different points of entry, (Devious, right...we were pirates, after all...) returned the favor and PILLAGED and PLUNDERED her room. So there...now I just can't seem to aaarrrrrrrghhgh...sorry, can't seem to aaarrrghghgghghh...stop having my inner pirate surface. Oh, no...drool's starting. Perhaps I need to eliminate my pirate bandanna...Day is done and I aaaarrghghg...I am, too! Time to swab the deck...as if.
Take care...think: HEAD PHONES! But, hey...the sun's out now! Over the years I have always managed to get some great teaching done on a rainy day...as was the case today. We managed to do quite a bit of work with our full sentence writing. Our goal is to leave behind those boring three and four word sentences and delve headlong into FULL and ENTHRALLING sentences that manage to provide the whens, wheres and hows. For example: Mrs.D. has coffee. (BORRRRRRRRINGGGGGGG) Instead: Mrs.D. has several cups of hot coffee in the early morning before all her wonderful kiddos arrive at school to begin their super day as SUPERkids. (Not too shabby, right? Were you enthralled? Entertained? Longing for more? Reaching for the bottle of Excedrin?) Ah, yes...our work continues one day at a time. :-)
Home Education~ Math~ pp. 9, 10 counting on to add Whoo hoo...two more sets of headphones came in today! Think that's all for now as I'm heading off into the sunset (actually, pardner, the teacher's room) for one more cup of coffee. Fondly, The Sheriff Good afternoon! Thought I would take this "planning period" to dash off today's buzz-worthy news as I've a faculty meeting following dismissal. Once again these young cherubs of yours and mine were so beautifully behaved throughout our morning liturgy. They continue to set the standard for God's finest. What can I tell you? They simply make this old heart of mine proud. We managed to complete soooo much of our assignments today! Kiddos were really focused on the tasks at hand. We concentrated a great deal on story problems (The bane of learners' existences...ho hum). We are concentrating on getting rid of extra information within a problem...I call it "Fluff Information," that in no way, shape, form or size will help us solve the problem and is only there to throw us off. Imagine! As if!
During our Literacy Block we practiced oral reading AND partner reading for the new story, "A Question for Ettabetta." We continue to address fluency and word recognition and so this daily practice (including at home) provides positive support in dual areas. Pssst...this week's new Self-Backpacker is...(drum roll...) Miss Camille! ...and now for Monday's Home Education: Literacy: Oral reading practice for "A Question for Ettabetta." Story may remain at home to practice again and again and then some :-) Long and short-vowel words to practice for smooth word recognition :-) That's about it for today. Right now I am down on my old knees (ouch...the pain...the bruising...the creaks...) BEGGING ALL to PLEASE send in FILE BOXES (if you have not already done so) and HEADPHONES. Thank you very much. I am now attempting to pull myself up from my groveling position. Not a pretty sight. Ho Hum... The Aching Lady in the Grade 2 Classroom :-) Well, talk about life's teachable moments! This morning during our Literacy Block, my lesson focused upon types of sentences...declarative, interrogative and exclamatory...and the required ending punctuation for each type of sentence. Kiddos had a lesson at the Smartboard for some early practice time. They identified the "telling " sentence and ended that with a period, and did the same for our use of the question mark. Lo and behold, as time arrived to practice wonderful expression for the exclamatory example, guess what landed on my Smartboard??? A rotten mosquito! I whipped my shoe off and flattened it with my shoe while exclaiming, "I got it!" Luckily, my Smartboard retained little damage and I was quite happy with the immediate understanding (amid squeals of delight, although I think some of them thought they were next...ho hum) these kiddos acquired for the use of the exclamation point. Timing is everything :-)
Guess what? Our fine friends, Emily and William, presented us with two caterpillars the other day. Guess what again? They are both entering their chrysalis stage...not kidding! Very exciting and a bit nerve-racking as I'm quite sure they don't realize I'm the responsible party in charge. Lovely monarch butterflies should emerge within a couple of weeks. It will be just as though they're heading off to college when we prepare to release them. Not sure if I'm up to saying goodbye. I'm steeling myself for the day...reaching for some tissues now...looking for a dribble cloth... SO...we decided to enjoy a short video all about the life cycle of the butterfly! More news tomorrow. Pssst...your kiddos are making me proud daily! Home Education~ Reading~ Ending punctuation practice sheet. Please allow your child to complete independently as they were able to do in class today. ~ Alphabetical order cut and paste Day is done... Fondly, The Shoe Smashing Mosquito Destroyer in Grade 2 Pssst...Davis flattened one, too! Ho hum...day is done. Actually, this day whooooshed by! A huge thank you to all of our grade 6 kiddos who, once again, visited our room for a Chromebook lesson to have all practicing some Italian words. My class truly enjoys their time working together and I am so thankful for their collaboration with these young students.
Speaking of collaboration, folks, these misses and misters worked in teams of twos and threes to follow a series of either addition or subtraction steps involving tens and ones. I lost you right about here, didn't I? Let me explain: Each team was given a starting number...say 13. Add 10...23. Add 10...33. Subtract 1...32. Add 10...42. Subtract 1...41. Subtract 10...31. (Man, it's a good thing I reread my equation...) This practice is to strengthen recognition of digits in number placement...tens and ones. We're on a roll here. Speaking of rolling along...YOUR KIDDOS MADE ME FAINT TODAY!!!! (That's a happy thing so be sure to ask them all about it.) Home Education~ Reading~ New story, "At the Dog Park" for out loud reading practice. Today was the first day I branched out to spend time with separate groups of children. As I explained during our Back-to-School evening, this year's Superkids Reading program centers upon small group work with the teacher (That would be yours truly :-)) while the other students are working on independent assignments. Boy, this group makes me smile for they followed my instructions to a "T." Thank you to all who are sending in their kiddos head phones needed for our upcoming MAP testing. I'm still looking for several to bring in file boxes for all their vocabulary words. We spend each day reviewing them and cards are flying all over the place...especially when someone (ACHOO) sneezes. So there... Happy evening listening to "At the Dog Park" and then storing that story in a handy shoe box. Can you believe it? Two buzzzzzzzes for the price of one! I actually wanted to explain about tonight's Home Education:
Reading~ Kiddos need to practice reading this story orally to YOU, their lucky listening audience. Story may remain at home. I suggest you find an empty shoe box and store any/all reading practice stories, papers...within it. I'd go for the extra large shoebox size as TONS of practice reading materials will be heading home. :-) (Song to start singing right about now..."Oh, Happy Day...") Alphabetical Order paper~ Please let kiddos complete this on their own. I've suggested they cut out all words and put them in order and then paste them onto sheet. They've completed such work sans any assistance from this lady (as I'm off in the corner of the room sharpening my claws while wiping the drool from the corners of my mouth. Just saying...) Please return tomorrow along with the kiddos themselves. :-) Tomorrow Reminder: PTO Out of dress day!!! Yippee...yahoo...whoo hoo...OK, I'm done. Good Morning! Before this becomes a "Once upon a day" day, I wanted to tell you how beautifully behaved your children were throughout yesterday's liturgy. They were prayerful and thoughtful in their special time at church. I managed to take a back seat to being their "boss" and was able to bear witness to children who understood the meaning within celebrating the mass with Fr. Fred. You would be very proud of all.
Our very first Self-Backpacker of the 2018-2019 school year was chosen yesterday! Congratulations to Miss Grace who will be sharing her "treasures" this Friday! BIG NEWS: Today is the start of our HOME EDUCATION! Any work sent today should be returned tomorrow please. Work is sent as a follow-up tool to support concepts reintroduced or taught that day. Be on the lookout! I am in the process of setting up our Parent Portal for the Superkids reading program. This is a site where my fine friends can continue to practice their skills on the home front. Here comes my request section: I would request all parents to provide their fine children in this fine fine classroom of this fine fine fine school with some headphones please. We are about to do MAP testing in a couple of weeks and they will use these along with Chromebooks while testing. (Apparently, the store "Below 5" has some inexpensive ones that will be fine fine fine fine! Many thanks to all! Well, as I look at the clock here in my room (Yup...6:45...I'm here...yawn), it's time to set about my daily tasks prior to meeting and greeting all my kiddos. (Pssst...time for my first cup of coffee!) As I prepare to do my best for your learners I am quite aware of this date of 9/11. Please know your children are precious to me and I will hold them as such today and always. I'm done for now...coffee's beckoning. Have a great day! |
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