Week 3

Good-bye summer, hello fall! As we complete our third full week back in school, we find ourselves in the season of apple cider, pumpkin-picking and Halloween! As students and teachers bid the summer adieu, we reviewed our summer sight words to challenge ourselves and see how much we have learned. Both students and teachers alike were impressed by how many words we were able to recognize from this past summer- great job kids!

In speech group, students have been working on recognizing which voice volumes are appropriate for which surroundings. Working with a color spectrum ranging from blue (whisper) to red (shout), students have been working on identifying which voices should be used and when and where they should use them. In Mrs. P.'s small speech group, we have all been trying to use our yellow small group voices to share stories with our friends and teachers.

This week also witnessed the return of one of our favorite furry friends: Buddy! Buddy is a big, brown therapy dog who visits classrooms to interact and play with the kids here at the school. Students are offered the opportunity to take Buddy for a walk, play fetch with him, and reward him afterward with treats and hugs! It is hard to say whether Mrs. P.'s class or Buddy has more fun with these visits, but either way, it was great to have him back!

The school also welcomed some very special visitors this week for National Fire Prevention Week: firefighters from the Henrietta Fire Department! Students had a special lesson on fire prevention and safety strategies, and even got to hop on board for a tour of the inside of the fire truck! Students learned about the various calls firemen take, why their work is important as well as how to recognize them when they are wearing their "monster" gear, firesuits which seem scary at first glance, but are designed to keep everyone safe. And even though Mrs. P.'s class knows very well what to do should their clothing catch fire, students were treated to a very special demonstration from Mrs. P. herself on how to stop, drop, and roll!

Continuing our Olympic theme's lessons in SPOT group this week, students participated in their own torch run and ceremony! Spread down the hallway, students passed a "torch" to one another in an activity of teamwork and fun, learning about the historical "road to the Olympics" through reading and discussion. All of Mrs. P.'s class was rewarded at the end when we made our own edible torches: orange sherbet cones with red "flaming" sprinkles! Yum!

Keep up with the great work with our classroom's sight words! Students have been improving on word recognition week by week, and teachers hope to soon have flashcards for everyone to practice at home!