End of the 1st Quarter...

We have made it through the first quarter! That means only three more weeks until our next track out!

Friday was a busy day for us, because we had our third Frog-Tastic Mystery Reader! Will's grandma came to read "There's A Map on my Lap". She made a few different things to show the class that went with the book and then each child was given some graph paper to take home so they could make a blue-print of their bedroom. She ended her reading with the poem "There's A New Kid on the Block" by Jack Prelutsky.

This next week we'll be starting our Tuesday Homework Club from 4:00-4:30. I think it'll be a great way for the kids to get homework done and to have me there to help (if needed). It's also a great time to do Frog-Tastic Student tests and earn more points!

Have a frog-tastic weekend!

:)
Mrs. Walker

Frog-Tastic Friday!

Skylar's grandma came to read to the class on Friday. She was our second Frog-Tastic Mystery Reader and the kids absolutely loved hearing her read Make Way for Ducklings. I think Skylar was really surprised to see her as well!


This whole week the class has enjoyed having Mr. Peacock come and teach us some new strategies with our writing. The class listened to music and wrote, they
looked at pictures and wrote and then they were able to dig deeper and really work on character development.

As a treat, the class was invited to go outside on Friday and listen to Mr. Peacock holler. He was the National Hollerin' Champion in 2006. I was able to go to the 40th Annual Hollerin' Championship in Spivey's Corner, NC this past June and watch him compete. He came in 3rd place this year. Hopefully some of you will go to the 41st contest and watch him!

Friday was "National Talk Like A Pirate Day" and the kids were invited to dress up like a pirate for the day. Many of the parents were excited for this because they attended ECU (East Carolina University) and the ECU Pirates are taking on the NC State Wolfpack this weekend in NCAA football.

Next Friday is the end of the 1st Quarter. I can't believe how quickly the quarter has gone by! It seems like we just started the year and we're already about to start the 13th week!

We'll be spending the entire second quarter learning about non-fiction reading strategies. I think the kids will really enjoy this because some of their most favorite books are expository!!

Have a frog-tastic weekend!

:)
Mrs. Walker

It's Been A While...

I'm so sorry that it has been so long since the last post! We recently traveled to Michigan and Indiana to see family and as a result I wasn't able to post anything last week.

I wanted to post two pictures from the first Frog-Tastic Mystery Reader (Friday, September 6th). The kids absolutely LOVED it! Our guest reader did an amazing job and really got the class excited! He read two books, one was the Blue Day book for kids and the other book was the Star Wars Clone Wars book. I enjoyed the part about the hutlets (yes... apparently Jaba the Hut has babies!).

We're eagerly awaiting our t-shirts. I am really excited to see what they look like in person! Our first field trip is coming up shortly and it'll be awesome to have everyone wearing the same shirt!

This week the kids have had the enjoyment of working with Mr. Tony Peacock as our writer in residence. Mr. Peacock played music today and the class had to close their eyes and "go where the music takes them." Then they were to write about what they saw, felt, smelled, heard, and tasted in their "place." The very end of their session with him brought them to begin writing. Tomorrow should be even better! They're slated to listen to him holler on Friday. It should be a real treat for them!!

It's time for me to head to bed. I've got so much to do at work- a week worth of papers and things to go through. I did get a lot of writing graded while driving up to Michigan and I was able to get the 3-5 Narrative Literacy tests graded. I was very impressed with how well some of the kids did!!

Until the next post... take care!!

:)
Mrs. Walker