The first few days of school we worked on garden stones and a birdhouse to put outside our fire door by our weather station. Now when we check the weather each morning we can also enjoy our colorful decorations and hopefully some beautiful birds! Later this year we will plant some flowers outside also.
our birdhouse (and our colorful windsock)
all of our garden stones
To start off our unit on community helpers, today each student got to choose an occupation that they might want to do when they grow up. We then talked about where someone with that job would work, what they would do, and what things they would need to do their job.
Malik dressed as a police officer. Police officers work at the police station and drive police cars. They help keep us safe and make sure people in the community follow the rules and obey the laws. They have handcuffs, walkie-talkies, a badge and weapons.
Aaron is dressed as a firefighter. They put out fires. Firefighters drive firetrucks and work at the fire station. They wear heavy uniforms, oxygen tanks, boots, a mask and a hat. They also use an ax and a firehose.
Colt is dressed as a dentist. Dentists work at the dentist’s office and they help us take care of our teeth. Dentists use toothbrushes and floss to clean our teeth. They also use a mirror to look in our mouth and a tool called an explorer to examine our teeth.
Preslee is dressed as a teacher. Teachers work in schools and help students learn new things. They use lots of things like pencils, scissors, books, computers, whiteboards, flashcards and markers to teach children how to read, count, and do many other things.
Last but not least – Lili is dressed as a veterinarian. Vets work at animal hospitals and help animals when they are sick or hurt. A veterinarian uses a stethoscope to listen to animal’s heartbeats. They give animals medicine and shots to help them get better. They also tell us how to keep our pets healthy.
This year we have a new art teacher, Ms. Kretzer. Today was our first day in art class and we got to play with shaving cream! We got to practice drawing lines and shapes and writing letters.
my former students go to specials with us, too!
In the afternoons, Shyler and Ashton (peer buddies from last year) come over from the middle school to help my students work on social skills. Today we all played Hungry, Hungry Hippos 🙂
A new school year! My class was split into two classes this year so four of my former students are now across the hall in a new class. I also had two graduate to middle school which leaves me with five students starting off the year. Luckily we will be going to lunch and specials with the other class so I still get to see my “old babies” at least twice a day.
Here are my current students on the first day of the 2017-18 school year!
The last two years I have been very VERY bad about updating the class blog. As a matter of fact I’m not sure I posted at all last year. I had a very large class, a new baby, and not enough time.
This year my daughter is two so I’ve adjusted to the “working mom” thing, my class has only five students and I have two paraprofessionals, so my goal is to get back to regular posts on the blog … so stay tuned!
Sightwords:
Vocabulary Words:
https://www.signingsavvy.com/wordlist/68725/viewall
We always cook a feast for Thanksgiving in Dr Mays’s class. This year Dr Mays was out sick on the last day before break so we had to postpone our feast until after Thanksgiving but it was still delicious!!
This month’s graphing data was about where we would like to use maps! We have read stories about characters who used a map at the zoo, at a fair and at a farm. So we asked “Where would you like to use a map?”, made a pictograph, sorted the answers, then put them on a graph and then colored the graph! We even analyzed the data to answer questions about the graph. (Most of our class would rather use a map at the fair, if you were wondering).
This is how we literally use the illustrations and information in a book to answer questions about the story! Dr. Mays puts picture symbols of the key details on the pages of the book with velcro. Then when she asks us a comprehension question about the story, she helps us find the page where we can find the answer. Then we take the picture from the book and match it to one of the three answer choices. Then we find the answer on a worksheet and mark it! Here are some of our classmates answering questions about the story “To the Zoo”.
We read a book called “To The Zoo” about two girls (Sue and Zuri) who go to the zoo and use a map to find the different animals. We found the animals on the map too!
