Daisies for a Friend and Chickens To The Rescue

Ahhhh Fall Break, a wonderful time of year.  It's a great time to catch up on lots of things I've been putting off like cleaning off the top of my desk.  It was starting to look like a mountain.  This week was a wonderful week.  My kids have fallen into a nice easy routine and at the moment all seems well.  I have a class of terrific writers and this week we have been writing, writing writing.  I pulled out my old favorites to spark some writing, Chickens To The Rescue and Pigs To the Rescue by John Himmelman.  And boy, did the kids take off.  Here are a few pictures showing their work.  This class really had fun with it.  We worked for several days and some kids wrote 8-10 chicken or pig problems.  They could make their own little books.

 

I video taped my kids reading their Monday journal entry.  They are all super writers.  It's always nice to see each child confidently reading what they wrote.

 We started our kidblog (online blog for kids) and I encourage family members and friends to leave comments for my kids.  Kidblog is a great way to provide an audience for your students.  When I just checked it I noticed several of my students have been back on the blog leaving comments for their friends.  Oh I have a wonderful class!  Check out our first entries.

My colleague and friend is recovering from surgery and will start chemo for cancer soon.  I miss her terribly.  She is always the bright sunshine on our first grade team.  I'm not sure what we will do all year without her.  Her favorite flower is a daisy and so on Wednesday I had my class create little daisies with acrylic paints and they came out beautifully.  It was so easy that I plan on teaching the whole first grade. We will be putting all the little paintings together with a photograph of all the kids.  We are hoping that this will represent a bit of sunshine in my friends day over these next long months.

 

 

  I know I'm not an art teacher but I love having my kids create with different mediums. 

Next week we will have our pumpkin party on Friday.  We will play several games and eat a few treats. We are looking forward to visiting again with our skype buddies from Iowa.  Check out Morning Sun Elementary to meet our friends.  Here's Mrs. Hilton's fantastic blog.

Remember to be kind!

Claire

Spooky Pumpkin Patch

What a week!  There was testing in our school for the older kids which changed up all of our schedules.  I got to fit in a little (well maybe not so little) pumpkin project that was very exciting for the kids.  It was a fun project with some spectacular results. 

We used watered down glue, tissue paper, construction paper, and some shiny paper used to wrap fruit baskets with.

 

 The kids worked to cover their paper with watered down glue and ripped strips of various shades of orange.  I bought some of the bleeding tissue paper that helped melt the colors together. 

 A finished paper and stem waiting to be cut once it dries.

 Cutting a spiral from green paper for our curly vines.

 I love the shiny lines for our pumpkins.  Next the kids made their pumpkins by cutting them into big pumpkin shapes.

 I took pictures of each of the kids making their scariest faces.  Oh I hope you're not too scared by these two.

 Oh look how beautiful our pumpkin patch turned out.  The kids are all standing on their pumpkins.

 Look out!  Something is hidden under each pumpkin and it could be scary!  Mr. Lumsden our gym teacher is very scary.  Thanks Hannah for the help!

I love all the different sizes and shapes that everyone made.  The spiral vines help to make the display very 3D.

Here is our class video!

 

Our weather is changing and Vermont is a rainbow of fall colors.  We are looking forward to another beautiful autumn week.  Maybe we'll go out looking the most beautiful leaves we can find during our community time.

Remember to be kind!

Claire