We're Tracked Out!!! Whooo hoooo!!!

This last week we had our first field trip of the year! We went to Oak View Historical Park in Raleigh. We all wore our field trip shirts and looked super cute!

The kids learned about making butter, washing clothes, keeping food without refrigeration, and then they went to the field of cotton and were able to pick some. They went inside and learned about the five cotton B's: Boring, Back-breaking, Bloody, Burns from the sun, and Bugs. They saw a cotton gin and were able to use it, and then they were also able to see how much cotton a slave would have to pick each day.

After learning about cotton, they went to the barn and learned about the various artifacts used in the 1800s. They had to guess what each item was used for. The kids really enjoyed all the hands-on things this field trip offered. They also got to see the three resident goats at the farm, Boyd, Napoleon, and I can't think of the other one's name.

The kids ate lunch there and then we came back to the school for the remainder of the day.

The rest of the week went by really quickly. I was very fortunate to have so many helpers stay on Thursday and help me with the classroom. Thanks to them and some parents, we were able to get everything taken down, cleaned, and put in Ms. Allen's room in 40 minutes. That's a record-breaking time!!! Now I just hope I can get it all put up that fast (not likely).

I hope that over track out we can get together to see the new Madagascar movie that comes out November 7th. Maybe that weekend.

Anyway- have a great track out and I'll see you all on November 10th in room 600!

:)
Mrs. Walker

What A Week!

Okay-- the shirt design is completed (see above) and they look AWESOME!! I cannot believe how wonderful they look! We placed the order today and they should be ready within the month. Our first field trip isn't until October 14th so we'll for sure have them by then.

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We got a new student to our class this week. His name is Erick and he's from California! He was very nervous yesterday and is very shy, but he seems like a really sweet boy and the kids really did a nice job of welcoming him. He had several notes in the mailbox at the end of the day and the kids were excited to finally see him smile!

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On the other end of the spectrum, we lost a student this week. Chris will no longer be attending school at Oak Grove. We'll miss him a whole lot! He's going to possibly "meet us" at the field trip locations so we'll still get to see him.

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This week in reading we spent the whole week talking about the CROP-QV. On Friday we listened to a North Carolina Legend called "The Ship of Fire." The kids had to write down all the CROP-QV that they could think of. I was very impressed by how well most of them did!

We also learned about schema this week. Schema is defined as background knowledge that enables the reader to make predictions for more successful interactions. We all have different schema because we all have different experiences, emotions, feelings, and thoughts. We talked about schema being like a giant filing cabinet in the brain that holds all the things we see, feel, touch, taste, and smell. Included with these senses are the thoughts while experiencing these things. All of them together create our schema and really dictate how we connect to the world. The more we grow and expose ourselves to new things, the broader our schema becomes. The schema that we have today is not as enhanced as it will be in June.

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We finished our social studies for the quarter this week. We'll be having a study session on Monday and then we'll be taking the test on Tuesday. Hopefully everyone has been studying at home and really putting forth an effort!! The class really enjoyed learning about the Lost Colony. We talked about several theories and I read a book to the class on Friday. Earlier in the week the kids drew pictures of what they think happened to the Lost Colonists.

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Next week we'll be switching with Ms. Allen for science. Our class will be going to her room to learn Science and her class will be coming to our room for Social Studies. We're both very excited about this and have been working together to get things all ironed out. I'm going to be sending home her welcome letter on Monday. Be sure to read it and let her know if you have any specific questions. We will not be switching on Thursdays (we have guidance on Thursdays, and a lot of our field trips are on Thursdays).

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I sent home the August book orders this week. Please send back the order and money (cash or a check made to SCHOLASTIC) by Wednesday, September 3rd. You can also order books on the Scholastic website. Email me if you have questions.

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Next week is when I'm starting parent-teacher conferences. If you have not signed up for a day and time yet, please let me know when you'd like to meet! I look forward to talking about your child and all the great things that we've been doing!!

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Have a frog-tastic weekend!

:)
Mrs. Walker

So Much To Do!!

Have you ever felt like you had a million things to do and no time to do any of them?? That's how I felt today! I feel sorry for the parents in my class because they probably feel just as overwhelmed by all my emails as I do sending them! It seriously seems like there's so much to do and no time to do it all!

I'm excited about our upcoming field trips. Not only are they going to be amazing, but we're going to have class shirts. My husband has connections to an environmentally friendly company and they're going to give us a HUGE deal on the shirts. They're going to be really cute and I'm excited to see all my kids wearing them!

Our trips this year are going to surpass the trips last year. Even better, they're going to be cheaper than they were last year! This year we're going to be going to Old Salem in December. I'm really excited because we're going to be learning about Old Salem and the Moravian's this week in Social Studies! The kids are going to see it all in person! We're also going to the beach, but this trip is going to take us to the Crystal Coast (Beaufort, New Bern, and Kinston). We're going to the NC Aquarium at Pine Knolls, Fort Macon, Tryon Palace, the NC Maritime Museum (to see Blackbeard stuff), and then off to Kinston for dinner. Our trips to Raleigh (Capitol/Legislative Building and then NC Science Museum) will also take us to Pullen Park and Kids Together Park for lunch. We're also going to Oak View Park again and then a rock quarry!!

This week we'll be spending time talking about CROP-QV (Connections, Reactions, Opnions, Predictions, Questions and Visualizations) while reading and then in Writing we're starting to really concentrate on the area of Focus. Two really big areas in one week. The kids really seem to understand CROP-QV and seemed to have a pretty good understanding of what it means for writing to be focused.

I'm off to bed... it was rough waking up so early today!!
:)
Mrs. Walker