Back to School!!!

It's here!!!  A new school year starts this Monday and Tuesday!  Since my last post, it has been a whirl wind getting the room and myself ready for another school year!  The room is finished and I will be there today adding the final touches and getting activities ready.  I love my room set up this year and can't wait to post pictures.  Many new things have been added and I COMPLETELY changed the room around!  2016-2017 will be a great school year!

This week we had our classroom open houses on Wednesday and Thursday and very proud to say 100% of my students and their parents came to school!  It was so great seeing the returning students and parents and meeting my new students and their parents.  I look forward to working with all of you this school year!

The blog still continues to be under construction.  It is getting closer and closer to completion.  This morning I worked on some of the pages, deleted broken links and added new links and websites.  The videos page is up dated and broken links are gone, but I need to switch the links to embedded videos.  So, this could take some time and thank you in advance for understanding.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend and see you next week!


Miss Rachel

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!!!!!

Yes, I know I have not blogged since last October!  For that, I apologize.  Sometimes, the classroom and life in general keep you so busy something has to give.  Unfortunately, it was my blog.  I will work harder to update it more often this year.  Currently, the blog is under MAJOR construction! Many parents informed me this past school year that many of the links no longer work.  I am fixing the problem by taking away the broken links and adding new links as I find them.  The songs tab and my personal profile have been updated. Currently working on the rest, it will take some time, so thank you in advance for waiting on me as I continue to work.  Not only is the blog being worked on, but so is the classroom!  The walls have a fresh coat of light blue paint!  No more white walls!  There is also new carpet to be installed after the floors are waxed.  I will post pictures soon!

We are one month out from the start of school.  Continue to enjoy your summer!

Miss Rachel

Sesame Street Videos

I have blogged before about how much I love the videos on Sesame Street's Youtube channel.  My students (this year and past years) especially love the Cookie Monster Videos.  I have several posted under the videos tab on the blog.  Since we have a new Smart Board for the classroom, we can see the videos much better and the kids love dancing to them and talking about videos.  Cookie Monster has some music videos, as well as parodies of popular movies.  "Star Wars", "The Karate Kid", "The Lord of the Rings", "The Wizard of Oz",  "James Bond" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" to name a few.  Each video contains lessons, such as whole body listening, turn taking, memory, self-control, listening to directions, and task persistence.  Here are some of the Cookie Monster Shorts.  (I promised the kids I would post some on the blog! )

 

"Blue Moo" and "Frog Trouble"

In an earlier post, I blogged about new music I bought for the kids to listen to during center times.  This week we started listening "Blue Moo" and it is super cute!  "Singing in the Shower" is my favorite!  Here is a video about the making of the album.

We also listened to "Frog Trouble" which features country music.  "I've Got a Dog" and "Alligator Stroll" by Dwight Yoakam and Josh Turner are two of my favorites.  "Trucks" by Fountains of Wayne is good too!  Here's another making of video.

This week....

No school today in observance of Labor Day.

No school tomorrow, Tuesday September 8.  Testing day

We are in session as normal Wednesday and Thursday, the 9th and 10th.

No school Friday, September 11th.  ELA training for entire staff.

Avengers Assemble!

Captain America must be prepping the team for a new mission! : D

Since I bought these action figures, The Avengers have been flying around the room and going on missions since the first week of school.  The kids love them and some of the girls are even playing with them!

Girls like super heroes too!


Here's a picture of Hulk and Iron Man teaming up to save the city!  The background is a shower curtain of a city with trucks, cars, and planes.

Here is what the center looks like.  It has large padded puzzle pieces from Five Below, a shelf full of cars, tractors, and trucks and its right beside the building and blocks center so the students also have access to the building materials and action figures to use with this center.

Over the Rainbow

Friday was a fun "Teachable Moment."  I looked out the window and I could see a rainbow outside the classroom window.  I told the kids to hurry up and come outside with me and got several odd looks.  By the time the whole class got outside, the rainbow was almost gone but most of the students were able to see it before it disappeared.  I used that moment to talk about rainbows, what colors are in a rainbow, why the rainbow could have disappeared, and why did it appear.  The students really enjoyed it.  It was a good thing we saw the rainbow when we did because it rained and poured ten minutes later! :)