PSIA

Do any of you subscribe to National Geographic (hard copy)? If you do and you are willing to part with them, please see me. PSIA's Maps Graphs and Charts contest has a few questions that are taken from National Geographic magazine. Our students did okay last time around without it but I'd like to give them a better chance by letting them peruse through some magazines. Thank you very much.

Monday, Monday

There's a song that starts 'just another manic Monday'!! Well, that just about fit today. My first graders arrived with sleep in their eyes and more than one was just a tad on the cranky side. Their teacher had some sleep in her eyes and might have been a tad on the cranky side herself! I'm not sure why but I can only surmise that the excessively hot temperatures over the weekend did nothing to brighten our mood. That being said, the day smoothed out and we ended on a good note.

My first graders decided last week that we should pray for rain in addition to saying the Lord's Prayer before dismissal in the afternoons! What a great idea! They are taking turns asking God to send rain and then we all say the Lord's Prayer together. An older gentleman told me once that he lived through the drought of the 1950s and told the Lord when it rained that he would never complain about rain again. I have to say that I'm subscribing to his opinion! When it rains I will rejoice!

Congratulations to each fourth grade student for saying the first section of the American's Creed. They will be memorizing more of it this week and next week and then they will have it 'down'. What a good group of students they are.

Parents---a heads up with regard to PSIA. That stands for Private Schools Interscholastic Association. I'm the Maps, Graphs, and Charts coach for our school. The contest is open to 4th through 8th grade students and will be held along with other contest categories in February. We have the atlases on hand and I'm going to put together some 'extra credit' work that all students can utilize that will use the atlases. It's a great contest and I encourage you to encourage your child to consider it. Any student can do the extra credit in study hall regardless of whether he/she participates in the contest. I plan to have some material available to the teachers for study hall in the next week or so. It's in my first grade classroom, I've got some ideas but I've got to have some time to get it all together.

God bless you all!!

Friday #2

This was one of those days when things were a bit on the topsy turvy side! And I am so proud of my first graders! They handled the changes in their routine very, very well! I'm quite impressed with this group. They have settled down and are working hard..........and it's only the second week of school!!

My History classes are so much fun. My third graders had a test today over the continents and the four major oceans. They studied. Well done, third grade.

Fourth grade is memorizing the American's Creed. The first part was due today and all gave it a shot and most did very well; however, I missed their class due to circumstances beyond my control so any fourth grader who didn't make 100 is welcome to try it again on Monday and there won't be any penalty!

I'm loving my junior high students as well. I certainly don't want to neglect them in this post. I have 6th, 7th, and 8th graders together for U.S. History. The 7th and 8th graders had me last year and know how I operate. The 6th graders are learning and they are doing great! I'm taking things slow and easy and trying to transition them to a higher level. We have some tests and special projects coming up and I anticipate that all will do very well.

God bless you all and have a restful weekend.

Thursday

There's been high excitement in first grade as almost all of the students have earned the 10 tickets required to get a prize from my 'goody bucket'. That ole bucket has seen lots of little hands reach in for a reward for doing good work, being a kind friend, making good choices, etc. I think it has a few more years left in it!

I'm still trying to hit my stride! I try to be at least a week ahead with lesson plans but at the moment I'm just keeping up! For those of you who have students in my History classes, please pay attention to your weekly emails so that you will know what is due and when.

We're working on arranging some field trips for all ages. I'll be sending more information regarding those in the emails as well.

There was lots of excitement today over the rain that fell. As most of you know, we prayed specifically for rain in chapel yesterday and were so happy to see that our prayers were answered. We thanked God today in our prayers and asked Him to please remember that we would like some more!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and that you find some way to beat this awful heat!!

Another Day is Done and It was Fun!

If you are on my Facebook list of friends, you've probably read the following story; if not, read and enjoy!!

We are learing about addition in math class. I was demonstrating how the word equal means the same as.... I had two students on one side of me and another on the other side and I said 2+1 = 3. About that time one of the boys jumped up and got between them with both arms stretched straight and he said 'I'm the plus sign!' I think we have that concept!!

First grade got to play some new games today. Mrs. Z has them for Enrichment and they played a couple of games that involve shapes. One was really, really easy but the other requires some thought. The students loved it. We also played rhyming Bingo this afternoon. Some of us are definitely rusty on our rhyming skills but we are also a competitive group so I think this skill will get getting honed very quickly. What impressed me was how excited they got for each other when a match was made. They like to win but they like their friends to do the same.

God bless all of my students and their families!

The First Monday

We all hit the ground a-runnin' today! I'm still trying to work out my schedule of where I'm supposed to be and when and which class I'm teaching at any given time. That being said, things went very smoothly today. I'm tired, but not as tired as last week. And I didn't go back to school and work late either! That will probably happen tomorrow.

I love, love, love my first graders. As a group they are incredibly interested in learning! And they are sharp. I was asked this morning about a rock on my desk. I said that it is petrified wood. The student who asked the question replied 'that means it's fossilized.' Yes, it does. And that's a great big word for a first grader to know and use!

My History classes are going to be great this year. At the moment, third and fourth grade are studying about Christopher Columbus. We've discovered that he wasn't really the first European to 'find' North America. The Vikings did that about 500 years earlier. They just didn't hang around to colonize and they sure didn't share their find with anyone else. They were not known for 'playing nice in the sandbox' and most people took cover when they saw those Vikings coming!:) Columbus, on the other, hand told a lot of people and he evidently was well liked. And the rest is as they say.......HISTORY!!

Keep watching this site for photos and bits of information. Please check your email regularly as I will be sending you messages. Most will be for your particular child's grade.

The first Monday is done and we're off to the races! Have a great week!