Our Holiday Party!

Our Holiday Party in Room 125 on PhotoPeach

In the season of giving...

I love this time of year.  People are very busy buying and receiving presents during Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa.  In our class we are creating a special present to give to our parents (shhh! It's a secret!). 

Thinking of this reminds me of my favorite gift.  When I was 14 years old my mom gave me her high school I.D. bracelet for Christmas.  I liked it, but really I wanted something new, like a swatch watch 

 or an album. 

I put the ID bracelet in my jewelry box and there it sat gathering dust for a few years.  When I was a senior in high school, I gave the bracelet to my best friend, as a way of saying that we would be friends forever.  After a while, my friend and I lost touch; we went to college, moved to different parts of the world, and got married.  She kept the bracelet with her.  It reminded her of me even though we never got to see each other.  Many years passed, and one day when I was feeling very sad my friend brought me my mom's ID bracelet.  I was shocked.   I had completely forgotten the bracelet existed. I was amazed at how beautiful my mom's name looked engraved in the shiny silver.  It was the perfect gift.

What is the best gift you have ever received? 

What was your favorite gift and why?

Dreidel Song

I had a little dreidel,

I made it out of bread,

I did not spin my dreidel,

I ate it up instead.

Daily News

"I had fun going to library today," roared Jake.

"Starting our surprise project was fun," babbled Amy.

"I liked coloring the worksheet about the boy and girl from Mexico," roared Ethan!

"I loved reading Go Dog Go," exclaimed Yuval.

"I liked doing the super holiday sentences," rejoiced Gia.

"When Mrs. McEvoy came to class, it was great," dictated Collin.

Hurray!

How exciting our blog was listed as one of the Top 100 Classroom Blogs  !  Also listed was our own upstairs blogging pals Mrs. Yollis Class Blog .

Daily News

"I had fun doing a sand castle with Charlotte and Gracie," rejoiced Gia.
 
"I had fun doing math," said Nick.

"I liked playing handball," roared Jeremy.

"I liked reading An Egg Is An Egg.  I also liked studying holidays around the world," said Matthew.

"Reading Stellaluna was fun," roared Yuval.

Happy Friday!

We had a very busy day.  We read stories, took our spelling test, sang songs with Mr. B, continued our holidays around the world unit (we found Israel on the map and ate some gelt.) Then we finished our stained glass snowflakes and even had enough time for PDR.  Whew...

Here's our daily news:

"I liked finishing the snowflakes," explained Matthew.

"I had fun doing play doh with Aliya," rejoiced Gia.

"I had fun doing Legos with A.J.,
 noted Nina.

"I liked doing our math pages," roared Jules.

Stuck on a word?

We have been practicing some reading strategies in Room 125 the past few weeks.  For each strategy we have a animal buddy that helps us remember what to do.

CHUNKY MONKEY! Chunky Monkey reminds us to "chunk the word," look at the word, and find chunks you might know (at, an, un, ing, er.)

LIPS THE FISH!  Get your lips ready, say the first few sounds of a new word, read to the end of the sentence and say it again.

STRETCHY SNAKE!  Stretch it out!  Stretch out the word slowly then put the sounds back together.

EAGLE EYE! Look at the pictures, the pictures might give you clues to the words on the page.

SKIPPY FROG!  Skip a word you are having a hard time with, read to the end of the sentence and hop back and try again.  Skip it, skip it and then read it, read it.

TRYIN' LION!  Try to reread the sentence, try a word that makes sense.  Try it again!

Helpful Kangaroo!  Ask for help after you have tried all of the other strategies.

Never let the word win.  Keep on reading!!


What is your favorite reading strategy?