Remembering 9/11

Like most people on 9/11 in 2001 I remember exactly where I was when the World Trade Center was hit.  I was in 11th grade and was switching to my second period class, psychology.  I walked into the portable and my friend Danny, who was already sitting down watching the TV, turned to me and said a plane hit the World Trade Center.  I of course couldn't believe it, but I along with some others thought this was some kind of freak accident.  Then moments later, the second plane hit the tower and we knew something was not right.  We were all glued to the TV, sitting in silence.  A lot of people in the class became worried about their family in NYC and immediately started calling home.  The school was unsure whether to let us continue watching the news coverage, but I am very thankful they allowed us to watch the, now historic, day unfold.  

Reflecting back today and watching the news coverage all morning, I am still deeply saddened for what our country, the people working in the WTC, their families, and all the people in the city that day had to go through.  They will continue to be in my thoughts and prayers as well as the men and women that are fighting today for our freedom.  

This past Thursday I told my students that we would be participating in Patriot Day, and all of the teachers and students would wear red, white, and blue on Friday.  They are only in kindergarten so I was unsure if anybody actually knew what event we were remembering.  When I asked, one of the boys said, "the fourth of july" and I knew I needed to explain a little more.  So without going into details because I knew this was something their parents would want to share when the time was right, we talked about the men and women that fight for our country.  We talked about how brave they are and what heroes are. I shared some examples with the class and then everyone made their own American flag to take home. 

 On the back of the flag we added a poem and we practiced singing it together.

  The children really enjoyed the project and they continued it throughout the day.  Some drawing pictures of heroes in their writing journals and others making flags using their sidewalk chalk during playground time.


9/11 is a day we will Never Forget.

Halloween

Before you know it Halloween will be here! October always seems to have some of the cutest activities.  There are spiders, scare crows, pumpkins and so much more!! One of my favorite bulletin boards in October is the student's pumpkin glyphs.  I don't give them any patterns so they have to cut everything out on their own, which makes it even that much cuter! I don't have a picture of the bulletin board, but here is the glyph we do:

Another fun activity that I am looking forward to is our Monster Symmetry.  It is very simple to do with the kids and they absolutely love to see how their monster turns out.  All you need to do is fold a white piece of paper in half and open it up.  Let the students squirt some paint onto one side of the paper.  Then help them fold it again and press down (squishing the paint to both sides).  Open it up and wa la, you have a monster!

Enjoy!

Our Words

These file folders were time consuming to make, but now that I have them finished I love them! I have 3 file folders for each theme/unit.  Most of the covers were copied out of a book by Scholastic- Portable File Folder Word Walls by Mary Beth Spann. That book also has suggestions for words to put inside; however, I knew our little ones would enjoy some colorful pictures above the words instead.  So for the inside I chose words that I knew we would be using and put a picture to go with each one.  Now the children use these folders during literacy centers and to help them write stories in their writing notebooks.  They are awesome!! I love to watch the children looking through them to see how to write a word or even get ideas for writing topics.

A student example:

I will be creating my own covers and adding them and the words to TPT soon.  If there are any other units you may need let me know so I can create some more! :)  I am attaching two examples of what the insides looks like right now.  But, since joining the blogging world, I have also found many new wonderful graphics online! All of my folders will be getting makeovers with the new and improved pictures!! :) Enjoy!!

Our Ocean Words

Our Transportation Words

The new file folders are finally here!! Click on over to check them out! You can download an updated freebie in the preview!

Apple Graph

When do you have the time to fit in all the extra FUN activities? With our literacy centers and reading groups and poetry, math books, and science textbooks to do while still trying to give the kids some free choice time, which they desperately need, I haven't been able to find the time to focus on much of anything else. 

To make the time for graphing I have decided to use the children's pictures.  I took the pictures during the first week of school and put velcro on the back and ta-da graphing seems to be going a lot quicker! The pictures also make it a lot easier to see what everyone 'voted' for as the children say :)