A few FYI's -

Morning Tubs - We have started working on morning tubs.  In the morning the students bring their folders in and put them in their mailboxes, they record their lunch on the Smart Board, and then they get to their table spot to work on their morning tub.  The tubs include various manipulatives such as geoboards, pattern blocks, dominoes, wikki sticks, letter cubes, base ten blocks, etc.  They have ten minutes to explore with their table's tub for the day.  After the ten minute timer goes off they clean up.  A two minute timer is set.  After two minutes they need to be sitting at their carpet spot ready to quietly start they day.  This has been such a great way to start our days.  Here are a few pictures of us working on morning tubs.

Writing - This week in writer's workshop we worked on writing and illustrating stories about our favorite bugs.  :)  We are working on starting with a capital letter - and only using a capital letter when needed, using good spacing, and using punctuation at the end of a sentence.  In handwriting we focused on the letter Ii.

Math - We have split our math class into two groups.  One group is working on number partners and switch partners.  The other group is working on addition stories using pictures, break-aparts, and math mountains.

Religion - This week we have been practicing for our mass.  We also spent some time working out of our text book.  We have just started talking about the story of creation in Genesis.  We read a beautifully illustrated story out of the Children's Bible.  

Science - In our weather unit this week we had discussions about wind.  We created a weather calendar for the month of September and we have a wind graph for this week.  Our next topic is going to be thermometers.

Phonics - This week we started getting word of the day cards and trick word cards.  The trick words are sight words - words we can't tap out.  Word of the day cards are words that we can tap out or figure out with a phonics skill.  We learned about our student notebooks and how to record our words into our notebooks.  We used the magnetic strips for the first time this week to write sentences.  Every day we go over letters, keywords, and sounds.  We are working on c-v-c words.

Reading - We learned about word work this week - and we have now learned about all five daily five centers.  Word work is center that has games, puzzles, activities, etc. that has something to do with words.  Our first word work center of the year is the ABC center.  This week we started practicing how to rotate through the centers and how to record the centers.  We are practicing all our daily 5 behaviors.  We practice, practice, practice to build our stamina!  Here are a few pictures of daily 5 this week.

Our students sitting at their table spots at open house were a hit!  Some parents took selfies with their children.  What a great idea!  In the morning, the students were greeted with their self portrait sitting at their seats.  They loved it!  Here are a few pictures of us with our self portraits -