50th Day of School

On Wednesday we celebrated the 50th day of school at Garvy. It was a fun way to mark our 1/2 way to 100 celebration. We dressed similar to the way people did in the 50's, had a Sock Hop and hula hooped in the gym, did the Hand Jive dance, patterning with pink and black, used a scale to weigh our collections of 50 objects, everyone tried to blow a bubble with gum, and the kids learned to differentiate between then and now. They didn't recognize pictures of Elvis Presley, but they did know Justin Bieber and Salena Gomez! Miss Gilbert even brought in record to show the class! Ideas for this event came from other teacher websites/blogs via my newest favorite source of inspiration Pinterest.

She's a natural.

The kids LOVED to Hand Jive!

Showing off his excellent hula hooping skills.

Miss Gilbert dressed up like a Pink Lady.

I'm Thankful For Raz-kids.com

This long weekend has given me a lot of time to reflect on what I'm thankful for as an educator at Garvy School. As a candidate for National Board Certification, I am being asked to make meaningful connections with families, the community, and most importantly provide evidence of student achievement. "How does it impact student learning?" is a constant question in the certification process. I've already written about the energy that the Kindergartner's bring with them and their passion for learning, but in addition I must provide EVIDENCE of achievement. It's easy to go on and on about how much I enjoy working with this age group, their innocence, and I could describe how I see them all growing throughout the year. At the same time, National Board is forcing me to provide concrete evidence. As a result I've been setting goals and collecting data to prove that the instruction I provide is working.

Just last week, Mrs. McGlade purchased an online subscription to Raz-kids for all K-2 classrooms at Garvy. This website is an amazing resource for all students to make progress in reading. I am so thankful to have it as a home-school connection. Already 15 of 25 students have logged in and have collectively spent 544 minutes listening to books, recorded themselves reading books, and taken comprehension quizzes. This website allows me to listen to their reading and respond with personal messages. Students can move from one level to the next as well as explore higher level books that can be shared with their families. My favorite part is that Raz-kids provides me with charts and graphs as evidence of student achievement. I'm so pumped to see continual reading growth throughout the remainder of this school year. Thank you Mrs. McGlade for funding this fun and engaging resource, we're all very thankful!

If you haven't tried it yet here is the login page;

http://www.raz-kids.com/main/Login

Search teacher: bchristinaa

Find your user name and click on the correct password icon (it was sent home on a note card and I will send another home this week).

Have fun reading!

I'd love some parent feedback! What do you like best about Raz-kids.com? Is it easy to use? Does your child work on it independently or do you work together?

Author's Celebration

Today was a great day in Kindergarten at Garvy! The kids started with a lesson about showing others we care with Mrs. Callan, had library class, RECESS, got to see a movie about dinosaurs in the Dome Theater, and then shared their writing with families and friends at the first Author's Celebration. Thank you to all the families who came and provided the students with compliments and positive feedback on their writing.

Science Fair

On Tuesday morning, Kinderfamilies were invited to come and participate in the Garvy Science Fair. During this time the kids showed their knowledge of building a boat that could hold 5 rocks. It was a really fun time for both the kids and families!

These two students put their efforts together to make an unsinkable boat. Well done!

Six Simple Things

This week was full of good times, I'm having a hard time keeping my list of moments that make me smile to just six.

1. Taking a break from academic "rigor" to give students time to engage in developmentally appropriate activities like playing with Play Doh and building with blocks.

2. Excellent Room Parents to plan, coordinate, and carry out an amazing Halloween party.

3. Hearing from parents that their child pretends to be a teacher at home with their siblings.

4. Notes from Mrs. Neshawait delivered by extremely polite kiddos.

5. The ease of motivating a 5/6 year old to do extra homework. Simply host a "Lunch Bunch" with participating kids at the end of the month.

6. When Calvin gave his dad one last hug before entering school and sweetly told him, "I love you."

Halloween Party

The kids in Room 108 had an amazing afternoon filled with games, a healthy snack, a craft and parade around Garvy. Excitement and energy filled the air as everyone TRANSFORMED from students to super heros, vampires, witches, princesses, animals, a doctor, police officer, army man, cheerleader, ninja, and even a professor. Thank you Room Parents for putting together a fun party!

What was the best costume you saw this year? Did you get to go Trick or Treating?