Chickens to the Rescue

  

On Friday I read a very funny book by John Himmelman called Chickens To The Rescue.  My class loved it.  It is a story about a family who needs some help and in come "Chickens to the rescue".  The illustrations are terrific.  We have been working on problems and solutions during our writing workshop and I thought this might be a great lead into some writing.  I gave each child a blank book (2 pages folded in half and stapled on the edge).  We talked about problems that we might have ourselves.  Then I had my class write 3 problems with "chickens to the rescue" as a solution.  We only got to the story creation and haven't added any pictures yet.  My class had fun thinking about trouble they could get into and used their "mental image" to picture their stories.
   
John Himmelman has a sequel to his chicken book called Pigs to the Rescue.  My plan is to start Monday's writing workshop with this book.  So fun.  I love having my students look at books as writers and use them as inspirations for their own writings.

Have a great weekend and stay warm.

Mrs. Dietsche

Brrr....It's Cold Out There!

What a cold start to the week we have had.  On my way to work my van's thermometer registered -30!!  It was brutally cold but our school started right on time.  My classroom was nice and toasty.  So I guess the weather doesn't seem to bother the hearty kids in Highgate, Vermont!

Here are a few pictures of my kids out on the playground at recess having fun in the snow.

 I made this simple wall display of my kids throwing snowballs.  I took a picture of my students in their snow-gear pretending to throw a snowball.  I used the die cut machine to make loads of colorful balls.  I had my kids find 7-8 hard words from the vocabulary lists and write them onto snowballs.  I taped the balls to the wall in the shape of the kids throwing them and to look like a few snow forts.  The kids love to see themselves and want me to change some of the arches of the snowballs so it will look like them are throwing higher.  This was a very simple wall display.

 We love computers!  Our school has several mobile labs with laptops and netbooks.  I love how my students are so focused and engaged when they are on the Netbooks.  Our newest activity is blogging on our kidsblogs site.  I love how each child has their own account and that I can leave comments.  Technology is so fun.  We are learning something new everyday.

 Have a great week!

Mrs. Dietsche

Terrific Thursday

The snow is falling with pretty little crystals glistening and sparkling to the ground.  It is so beautiful.  We read the The Snowy Day by Ezra Jacks Keats and watched it snow for a few minutes.  I think we were all mesmerized by how gentle and calming it all was. 
    Oh enough of that!  It's a new day and onto new things.  Today we are starting our new blog on www.kidsblog.org  I am so excited to have my kids login to their own accounts.  We will be writing about what we did in gym class this morning.  Our class is getting to be very independent at the computer.  We are using our mobile lab of Netbooks.  It does take some getting used to though with the different kind of mouse.  Most kids are using two hands for faster navigating.  Great job everyone.
    So check out our kidsblog later today to see how everyone's gym class went.  Enjoy the beautiful snow!
Mrs. Dietsche

http://kidblog.org/MrsDietschesClass/

I have a dream

We read Elmer the patchwork elephant.  We created our own Elmers to show support for all people who are different.

We honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday on Saturday. We have been thinking about our dreams for the world.  Please tell me your dream for the world.
Love, Mrs. Dietsche
Have a great weekend boys and girls and I'll see you all on Tuesday:)

Love the vocabulary stackers

This week has been quite a week.  We had the Germbusters from NW Medical Center come to teach us how to effectively wash our hands.  We all enjoyed their presentation.

 

Vermont Author Illustrator Bonnie Christensen came for a visit to share her latest book with us Django.  It's a story about a Jazz Guitarist.  We were treated to a wonderful slide show about gypsy life and to some terrific jazz music.  Here she is showing us her original painting for a page in her book.  We all enjoyed her presentation.

After watching a video on Teachertipster.com I just had to create a set of my own vocabulary cups for my class.  They were a hit with my students.  

They had such fun reading their cups, then stacking them into pyramids.

My class had smiles and there was laughter as they were getting "smarter" at their vocabulary words.

Ms. McDermott came in on Friday to teach us about alliteration.  She read a book called The Great Fuzz Frenzy by Janet Stevens.  We all loved the book about prairedogs who find a green tennis ball in their hole.  It is so fun and is loaded with repeated words and alliteration.  The books ends with a picture of the dog with a red ball in his mouth over the prairedog hole.  Our task was to write about what we thought might happen next using some alliteration.  The kids had a ball with this lesson.  Monday we will share our stories.

    During math this week we enjoyed playing addition and subtration games.  We also got a chance to use some double dice. (a dice within a dice)  My students loved them and didn't want to stop playing.  They were getting smarter every minute. 

     Three students earned enough happy faces and received a marble smiley face.  Four more students will receive theirs on Monday.  They are all doing a great job following directions, being respectful, being responsible, and staying safe.  I am proud of my whole class.

Have a great week:)

Mrs. Dietsche

It's Friday!

Boys and Girls we have had a busy week.  I'm happy the snow came back after melting all away.  What 2 things do you like to do in the snow?  Don't forget to vote in my poll.  Be good.  Did you earn any coins this morning?
Love, Mrs. Dietsche

Word Work Activity and Little Penguins

Here is a new activity I created for our Word Work for my class and I thought I'd share.  Teachers have been so generous to share what they have created that I thought I needed to share as well.
    I created a several pages of the alphabet using several different fonts.  I copied them onto different colored papers and cut out all of the letters.  Students use the paper tiles to create lists of words they are working on.

Here is the PDF with all of the fonts and the worksheet.  Enjoy!



I created the little penguins out of rocks similar to First Grader...at Last---Sarah Cooley did earlier this week.  I just loved them and needed a set myself.  I couldn't find any black little marbles so I got black rocks instead.  They are all different shapes and sizes and I like how they all have their own personality.  My plan is to use them as an incentive for good behavior.  I also made some smiley faces, too, from the glass marbles.  More incentives.  So fun.

One more day left of my vacation.  Oh how I've enjoyed hanging out at home.  Happy New Year everyone.