Eighth Day in the Classroom

Today I went to Mrs. Almond's classroom at 1:30.  She had me grade some math tests and then we took the kids out to recess.  It was very cold and there was lots of snow on the ground.  Her four rules for playing outside on a snowy day are.  1) Never throw snowballs, it is a state law on school property and students can be expelled.  2) Do not play on the big piles of plowed snow, kids always fall off and get hurt.  3) No sliding on the ice, she has had kids knock their front teeth out doing that.  Last but not least 4) Students can not play in the snow unless they are wearing snow pants and snow boots.

At 2:30 I went to Mrs. Greenfield's class. The students were making paper poinsettias.  They have been learning about Christmas around the world, and learned that we got poinsettias as a Christmas tradition from Mexico.  The students then got all of their Christmas projects organized to take home and then sat in a big circle around the rug and went over rules and procedures for tomorrows Christmas party rules.  The students will be doing a gift exchange at the party where they can steal the gifts from each other or pick one from the center.  Her first rule is...No Crying!  After preparing them for the festivities, she read to them out of another Roald Dahl book.  The Giraffe, the Pelly, and Me.   School was out at 3:30 and the students ran out the door on their way home probably to play in the snow!

7th Day in the Classroom

Today I went to Iron Springs Elementary at 1:30 and helped Mrs. Almond.  I cut some papers for her and then took half of the students to another room and played a game with them while she tested the rest of the class.  We played a game called Cherry Pie.  I would tell the students one of their spelling words and then they would each take turns saying the next letter that comes in the word.  Then after the word has been spelled, the last person says the word and then the next person is out and we all say, "Cherry Pie".  The kids loved the game.  We also had a challenge round with the vocabulary words.

I went to Mrs. Greenfield's room at 2:30 and stayed until 3:30.  The students have been working hard making lots and lots of Christmas chains, and the whole classroom was decked out in colorful chains.  They were still working on Christmas traditions around the world, and today they were learning about Germany.  In Germany they call Santa Claus, Father Christmas.  After that they worked on a Christmas tree art project.  Then Mrs. Greenfield's husband brought their new 11 week old puppy to the classroom and all the kids got to sit in a circle while the puppy walked around visiting with them.  They loved it.  To end the day, Mrs. Greenfield finished the book "The Witches" by Rhonald Dahl. 

Sixth Day in the Classroom

Today I went to Mrs. Greenfield's 2nd grade classroom from 1:30 to 3:30.  When I got there the students were just heading back to class from the library.  When they got there, Mrs. Asay's class came into Mrs. Greenfield's class for a math competition between the two classes.  It was cute seeing the two classes compete, Mrs. Greenfield's class won again. 

After the competition, the students went outside for recess.  I went out and played a game with them where I would throw the ball way up in the air, and whoever got the ball first got the next turn to throw the ball.

When they came back in from recess, they had their timed math and then took a test.  After their test, Mrs. Greenfield did a little activity where the students "traveled to Italy".  They learned about Italian Christmas traditions.  After their travels, they got ready to go and Mrs. Greenfield read to the students while they sat on the rug.