Callaham Orchard: Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch today! Here are the photos to chronicle our trip:

First, we had a picnic lunch at the park. 

Once we got to Callaham's it was hard to get everyone to sit still for a minute for a class picture! 

We learned how to milk a cow.

We fed goats. 

We raced ducks against Mrs. Wamser's class. 

The only thing we didn't get to do was pick our own pumpkin! They picked them for us and put them in the bus. 

Smiling faces :) 

Fall is in the air!

We have been learning about the season of fall and have been doing some great work! We have been thinking like scientists and working on asking good questions about how things change in the fall. Last week we made a fall circle map and used the vocabulary in our fall writing.

Congratulations to Liam, our Star Writer of the month! We loved his picture and sentence, "In the fall I like to carve pumpkins."

We also decorated our classroom to match the season. 

Writing Silly Stories

I just had to share what our class created yesterday during Writing. We have been working on characters, action, and setting in stories and have been working together to write our own. We selected a dog for the character, having a party for the action, and a castle for the setting. Here is what we made! The kids loved it! Ask  your child to tell you about this story and it's characters at home!

A New Member of the K5 Team

After just two weeks our classroom has already begun to feel like a "family." As you may know, our class sizes were larger than usual at 28! Because enrollment was so high, Mrs. Andrews has decided to hire another teacher. The new teacher's name is Jackie Fretz and she is going to be a perfect fit at Greenbrier! Although this is wonderful, it does mean that five of my sweet friends will have to be placed in her class and I will have to say goodbye! I have truly enjoyed getting to know EVERY child in my class this year so it is bittersweet to have them go to the new class. However, I know this is what is best for everyone; we will have 23 students and Mrs. Fretz's class will be awesome! 

Last week we also completed our first writing assignment to hang in the hallway. We wrote our names and made a self portrait. Congratulations to Cole for being our star writer of the month! His name starts with a capital letter and all the letter are formed correctly. Way to go, Cole! 

Kicking Off the Year

Here is a snapshot of a few of the activities we did in the first week of school! We have had a great time getting to know each other and getting in to the routine at school.

On the first day, we read The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. It helps us remember that our Moms and Dads still love us when we are at school.

Then we made a craft that we hung in the room for the first week. 

We also got to know each other by playing the Name Game where we counted, clapped, and cheered each other's names. We also graphed our birthdays. 

It's Back to School, Y'all!

Mrs. Mayernik and  I have been busy prepping the room during teacher work days and we are so happy with how it came together! We continued with the school-wide "Hollywood" theme.











Today was the first day of school and it was GREAT! I have a class full of sweet, smart, and caring little people! We were making new friends already and learning the rules. I look forward to spending the school year with these great kids!

Upstate Writing Project 2014

I was lucky enough to be selected to join in the Upstate Writing Project's Summer Institute through Clemson University this summer. The institute consisted of a group of teachers, K-12th, learning about different writing practices and exploring writing ourselves. It was a great opportunity to get to know a diverse group of teachers and hear different perspectives. It was also very challenging because we were expected to write daily and share our writing with our peers. I felt very accomplished because during this time I was able to do something I've always wanted to do... Write a children's book!

My book was inspired by a field trip we took to the author Carl Sandburg's home in Flat Rock, SC. It was a beautiful place and very inspiring to see the home of a great author. It is a great place to visit and very kid-friendly --they even had a goat barn, which sparked the idea for my book! Here are some pictures I took while we were there.

Here is a link to the Carl Sandburg website if you are interested in checking it out! 

Giving this a try...

I am new to blogging but I think it is a great way for teachers to share ideas with other teachers and to share with parents what is going on in our classroom! I am hoping to update at least once a month with activities, field trips or other exciting things that are going on in our K5 room!