The 2012-2013 Crew

September 23, 2011

Week Two

Another week has passed, and what hard work we've seen here in Mrs. P.'s class! Students have been participating and thriving in their lessons like the hard working Olympians they're learning about!

In physical education, students have been learning about the world's most popular game: soccer! We have been learning how to kick, pass and trap soccer balls using only our feet, working together to learn the rules and skills of the game. The latter part of our physical education period is dedicated to health class during which our Olympians are learning about the importance of hygiene. This past week we watched a few informational videos on how germs are spread and how to prevent them from making us sick here at school. The lesson we all took away from these important sessions is to wash our hands as often as we can!

Some students have begun a combined art/ music class which is new to the school here. Students listened to various types of music while using water color paints to express how that music made them feel. This week's group produced some incredibly creative and beautiful work, masterpieces to be sent home to share with family and friends.








In SPOT (the school's combined speech/ occupational therapy class), students participated in their first Olympic games! Students competed for gold, silver and bronze medals through various games and challenges using our sight words and physical skills to perform to our highest potentials. Everyone received a medal, and everyone did a wonderful job.



Some of Mrs. P.'s students have started projects in woodworking class! This week, students spent time drilling holes and nailing pieces of wood together to form the bases for wooden baskets. These baskets take a lot of hard work and concentration, but our students are always up for the challenge!







DEAR time has also been time notably well spent. Teachers have been hugely impressed by students' desire and diligence to drop everything and read. Keep up the great work and feel free to bring in books to share!



September 15, 2011

Off to a good start

Welcome back! Students and teachers in Mrs. P's class are excited to begin another school year! We have kicked off the 2011-2012 year by revealing our classroom theme: the 2012 Summer Olympics! Throughout the first week, students have been busy identifying who partipates in the Olympics, when and where this summer's games will take place, as well as the purpose these games serve in bringing the world together for some fun! We have also been hard at work learning new words associated with the Olympics, which will begin to build our list of sight words for the 2011-2012 school year. Look for your child's words next week!

Olympic Theme Words:
 * athlete
 * Olympics
 * summer
 * sports
 * London

Blue List:
 * grow
 * never
 * today
 * laugh
 * about

Green List:
 * the
 * to
 * and
 * for
 * you

Yellow List
 * there
 * what
 * who
 * went
 * must

In addition to all of this hard work, we have also been embarking on a new daily project called DEAR: Drop Everything And Read! For fifteen minutes at the end of each day, students and teachers read a book of their choice before departing home for the day. Students are encouraged to bring in a favorite book for the week to enjoy, though there are a number of great ones for them to choose from here as well!

Students show-off their choice DEAR time reads.


Students making Olympic lanyards in SPOT group, photo cards showcasing some of their favorite things and special skills!
Our classroom Olympians hard at work.




Mrs. P introducing students' new Olympic sight words.