We had a great time at Cooley's.  We went for a hayride, picked pumpkins, fed the cows, caught a pig, went through the corn maze, and played on the swings.

Fun Run

Remember to log onto funrun.com to enter pledges for our Boosterthon fundraiser.  We have had tons of fun learning about friendship during our Camp High Five meetings.  We are so excited about next week's FunRun.  Don't forget to return your permission slips before next Wednesday.  We will all need to wear our camp t-shirts on the big day!  We're looking forward to an exciting event as we raise money for our school by running laps with the Boosterthon team.  We can earn individual and class prizes based on our pledges!

Super-hero Walk to School Day

We had so much fun during our Super-hero walk to school week.  We dressed like a different super-hero everyday.  On Wednesday we dressed like our favorite super-hero and walked around the school.  Dr. Patterson and Mrs. Skinner surprised us when they dressed as super-heroes that rode to school on their bikes!  We also were visited by the Boiling Springs cheerleaders and bulldog and Wofford cheerleaders and the terrier.  We ended our day with a pep rally and teacher game show.   What an exciting day!

                             

Fire department visit

     We enjoyed our visit from the Boiling Springs Fire Department on October 1, 2013.  Thank you firefighters for sharing fire safety facts with us.  The firemen reminded us that we need to have working smoke detectors in our home.  We also need to change the batteries in those detectors when we change our clocks.   If anyone does not have smoke detectors in their home, they will be glad to provide one for your family.

     They also gave us homework! They wanted us to check our smoke detectors, practice fire drills at home (just like at school), and establish a family meeting place.  It was exciting to see the fire truck up close.  Students also got a chance to see a fireman in uniform and meet the fire department mascot.  At the end of the day students were excited to get their very own firefighter hat.  Boys and girls, remember to do your fire safety homework the fire fighters assigned us!

 

Caterpillar

Danikah was very excited when she found a caterpillar on the playground.  We had just learned about the differences between living and non-living things.  We researched it and found out that it will turn into a dagger moth very soon.

Community Helpers

     We have had a great time learning about our community helpers in class over the last couple of weeks.  We had several community helpers visit our kindergarten classes at OES.  The students eagerly asked many great questions about their jobs.  What an opportunity for real-life learning!  We would like to say a very special thank you to all of our wonderful visitors!
     We had an extra special visitor on Read Like a Pirate Day.  My mom came in to read to us dressed in her postal uniform.  (It always shocks students that teachers have parents and that we don't live at school)!  She taught us about the post office and how our mail delivery system operates.  She gave us an opportunity to write a letter home, prepare the envelope, and mail it straight into her mailbag.  Some students were so eager to get their mail that they were hesitant to let her take it with her.  We assured them that the post office would get it to their house and "yes, they know where you live."  I hope they all enjoyed receiving their mail.  It was great to see them writing for a real world learning experience.  My mom enjoyed spending time with them as well.  I'm sure the classroom was quite a change of pace from the post office!
     We have been writing about which community helper they think is most important and why they made their selections.  Today, we recorded a public service announcement about their chosen community helper.  They were excited to get to share what they had learned.  I am looking forward to our next unit of study on the fall season.

     Thank you all for coming out to our 100 Book Challenge Orientation and Open House tonight.  It is great to be able to spend time with our students and their families outside of regular school hours.  It gives us a chance to get to know our families better and answer any questions or address any concerns that you may have.  It also provides an opportunity for you to come in and tour our classroom and explore your child's work.  If you were able to come tonight, you were given a chance to see how busy your child has been in class these past few days.  If you were unable to join us but are curious about what we did tonight, we shared class reading reflection journals, writing journals, poetry journals, and "All About Me" posters created by the students.  We also viewed a slideshow that gave you a sneak peek inside our classroom. We will be glad to share these with you during conferences in October if you missed them tonight but would like a chance to see them.
     We have been working hard to build a classroom community where everyone feels welcome, loved, accepted, and successful for the past few weeks.  After the long weekend, we returned to school this morning to a review of class rules and expectations.  We had fun and acted silly as we explored just what our rules meant and the purpose behind them.  Who knew a chance to break the rules could be so much fun or cause such laughter?  We will continue this lesson over the next few days as we explore what it means to be a peace maker, not a rule breaker.  Students love to read the books about David, a child that always seems to find trouble and break the rules whether he's at school or at home.  We will return to the books about David as we continue our discussion about following the rules and why that is important.  It was nice to begin this morning with a fresh start for everyone, reviewing the rules and then practicing them throughout the day.  Everyone felt successful because they were able to show off just how much they had learned over the past two weeks.
     We are beginning to settle in and be in "school mode."  Leaving summer behind and starting back to school is a big transition for most students, especially those who have never been to school or daycare before.  In a student's eyes, the days are long, the work is demanding, and there are so many things to remember...and all they really want to know right that minute is "when can we eat" and "is it time to go out yet?"  Before we know it these days will be behind us and the students will be old-pros!  It always amazes me just how fast the year passes and just how much the students grow and gain independence.  We will continue working to build a sense of community and foster independence throughout the year.  
     In addition to learning about how to be a successful student, we will also be learning about families and how they fit into the local community over the next few weeks.  If you would like to know more about what we're doing in class, you can view our lesson plans by clicking on the lesson plans link on our TeacherWeb page.  We encourage you to check out books on the topics we are learning about in class to extend the learning opportunities for your child.    This week would be a great time to explore books on families, numbers, and the alphabet.  Your local librarian can help you find books that are a great fit for your child based on what we are learning in class.  Remember to make connections to your own life by asking questions such as, "what does this remind you of and how is this family like/different from our family?"  Thanks for all you do to make your child's year a success!