Our Harlem Shake Video

Paper Airplanes

Our reading lesson Monday was on functional reading.  I gave each student a set of instructions for making a paper airplane.  They were to carefully study the directions, synergize with their neighbor to be sure they understood the directions, and check with me with any further questions they had.  Following a 10 - 15 minute study of the directions they were asked to make their paper airplane.  We flew the airplanes to see whose plane went the farthest.  This was a fun way to practice our reading skills and Habit #6 - Synergize!

SNOW!!!

After several school delays with no precipitation, we finally received a little snow.  We tried to play in it, but as you can see, it was more water than anything.  We had fun anyway!

Merry Christmas

We had a blast at our Christmas party this year.  We feasted on pancakes & toppings, donuts, sausage balls, and bacon.  The kids had a great time and enjoyed all of the food!

Thanksgiving Rotations

This past Monday the 4th grade teachers decided to create a rotation schedule for the students.  Each classroom held a special Thanksgiving activity for the students to have fun with.

They began in my classroom and created an Indian Glyph.  We were super busy cutting, coloring, and gluing so I didn't come away with a picture :(

Mrs. Parker had a butter making station.  The students used a zip-loc baggy and heavy whipping cream to create their own butter.

 They painted thankful trees in Mrs. Corson's class!

In Mrs. White's class they made Johnny Cakes and watched The Little House On The Prairie.  

The overall favorite rotation of the day was Mr. Holmes' activity.  The took the students outside to play Native American games.  They had a blast!

Moving Day

We try to change seats in our classroom on the first school day of every month.  The kids came in yesterday so eager to move to their new seat! 

Moving in our classroom isn't easy because our desks are attached.  The students have to complete clean their desks out and then relocate using their chair as their moving vehicle.

Here are a few pictures of our chaos!

Following our move we came up with new names for our tables.  We used candy bars as our name theme.

Here is what they came up with...

Pencils

Yesterday during the launch of Work On Writing one of the students brought up fine motor skills.  They suggested that we will be working on writing to make our writing neater.  I decided to take that moment to show a neat trick I learned, thanks to Pinterest, that will help them hold their pencils correctly.

We began by folding a piece of tissue in to small rectangle.

We placed that small rectangle on our hand and clinched it with our last three fingers.

We were left with our index finger and thumb to hold our pencil.  Voila!  As long as we hold on to the tissue then we can only use our index finger and thumb to hold our pencil.

Whew, What a Monday!

We had a busy MATH day today!  We did lots and lots and lots of math. 

As always we took a multiplication test, and today Mary Bradford got to sign the jeans!  Way to go!

Mary Bradford also celebrated her birthday this past weekend.  She brought a cookie cake to share with us today.  Happy Birthday Mary Bradford!

Our Watch D.O.G. for the day was Scott Bailey, Jake Bailey's dad.  Mr. Bailey was here to help students in our school with reading and math.  He also spent a lot of time in our classroom helping in various ways.  At the end of the day he taught us a new dance called the Interlude by Attack Attack.  The kids LOVED it.

Chick-Fil-A Ice Dream

Our class won an Ice Dream party from Chick-Fil-A because we had to highest participation in Spirit Night last Tuesday night.  The kids always LOVE having this treat :)

In years past a PTA mom has always gone to Chick-Fil-A, picked up our ice dream, and delivered it to our classroom.  This year, Chick Fil A's Marketing Director, Miss Amanda Butts, delivered our ice dream to us personally.  Not only did she bring us ice dream, but she brought each student a Chick-Fil-A cow, balloons to decorate our room, AND toppings for their ice dream.  She even spent about 15 minutes answering the kids' questions and talking with them.  What a great representative for our Decatur CFA!

'

 The yummy toppings:  sprinkles, cherries, and oreos

 Our class with Miss Amanda and their cows.

War Eagle

Mrs. Farris made these precious cupcakes for our Faculty Tailgate Pig-Out on Friday.

Lunch In the Classroom

One of each students favorite things to do is to eat lunch in our classroom.  For some reason they absolutely LOVE eating at their desk rather than in the lunchroom.  Days when we eat in the classroom are few and far between.  Today, because of grandparents day, we were asked to eat in the classroom.  They were THRILLED!