Fun, Fun, Fun

What a fun week we've had. Of course, my camera is at school, so I will come back and add pictures later, but for now, let's blog! remember that time when I used to blog just about every day. Whew! Now, I'm good to do once a week. Oh, the summer life. :)

We are talking about living and non-living things this week. Such fun! We love learning about this. We started out learning our "It is Living" song. They love it, and it helps remind them of the characteristics of living things. We watched a powerpoint, a video, and sorted objects. We also learned a poem about worms. It's pretty cute, and it talks about eating worms, so they love that! We are also writing about worms this week. They are doing a great job. It's amazing how so many of them think that a worm is not living because it can be easily killed. We started our writing by reading Diary of a Worm and then trying to decide if a worm was living or not. This was before we had talked about living things at all, so they really had to use their brains. I had several say they weren't living because they shrivel up and die in the sun or people can squish them, or they can get cut in half. Boy, they are experts now, though! :)  Today was the best day yet. I brought in real, live worms and gummy worms. I put them on a plate and let them explore! They loved comparing and contrasting them. It really helped them see the difference in living and non-living. They LOVED it. Even my scaredy cats who didn't want to touch them. :)  Worms are fun. :)

We also had 2 fire drills this week. They were long, BUT we found a little friend. A turtle kept coming to visit outside our classroom! Perfect timing, little turtle! We got to watch him and decide what made him living. I do have a picture of this because I took it with my phone. :)

Yesterday, we met after school at a park and had a class meet and greet. Such fun! I started doing that when Shy Guy started Kindergarten because I wanted to see who he hung out with every day. I've done it every year since for both of my boys and for my classes. I love it, the parents love it, and the kids really love it! We didn't have as good a turn out this year. We were supposed to have the party last week but it decided to do a torrential downpour 30 minutes before the party so I had to reschedule. Yesterday was great weather and the kids loved coming to play. They talked about it all day today. :)

We loved making our Living Tree. I make it every year and the kids love it. They get to create, while showing what they learned. They get to pick their own living thing, make it out of construction paper, however they want to, and then write about why it is a living thing. Then we display it on our living tree for a couple of weeks.

I can't wait until Friday. Our county does a big Reading in the Schools Day once a year. It's a big deal where we celebrate reading. I am one of the coordinators for this in my school. I LOVE this day. It's fun, it promotes reading, it gets the kids excited to read, and  the community gets involved. We ask parents, grandparents, community leaders, football players, firemen, etc. to come in and read to our classes. It's a whole day of reading! What could be better, ESPECIALLY in a school! We are going to start the day off with a school wide book parade. Our class is doing the book "Rainbow Fish".  They loved the story and loved making their "costumes". I can't wait!

Next week will be lots of fun, too! It's Apple Week!

Hopefully, this weekend I will get my other Math Common Assessment packet finished. I just haven't had any time at all to work on it. My goal is this weekend! Be on the look out!

Be fun and fabulous!

~Mrs. Sweeney