We learned all about gingerbread men this week and today during lunch, I put a batch of gingerbread men into the oven. The class told me to promise not to peak, but I couldn't help myself! When I opened the oven door early, they gingerbread men jumped out of the oven and ran out the door! By the time I got back to the classroom, the student's were coming inside from recess. I told them what had happened and we found a gingerbread clue on my chair. From that point on, we were off on a gingerbread hunt! The clues took us all around the school and we ended up back in our room and to our surprise, the gingerbread men were right there on the table! After the running around and reading all the clues, we finally caught them and ate them up! Yummy! I took video of the hunt, I will post it on here later.

I went to run around and around. Do you know where I might be found?

I got really hungry and I left in a flash. Can you guess where I might have dashed?

I feld like singing and I left in a flash. Can you guess where I might have dashed?

My tummy hurts and I need to lay down. Can you guess where I might be found?

Feeling much better now. I want to read a book. Do you know where to look?

You almost caught me, but I'm too quick. I'll play a computer game if you'll pick.

Surprise! You had a lot of fun, but I am off to the place I call home. See you back in room 26!

We had a McCutcheon student visit our classroom this afternoon. Miss Courtney read our listening story Auntie Claus to the class. They were excited to find out that Santa Claus has a sister! At least according to this one story =).

Operation Gratitude! My husband and I have joined our classes together for a Christmas for the Troops project! He teaches 8th grade social studies here in Lafayette. We signed up for a program where cards were sent to us to color and write a thank you to the troops over seas. My class was in charge of coloring the snowman on the front and his class is going to write on the inside. Below are pictures of my students coloring the snowman and the pile of finished cards we are sending! Next, my husband's class will write on the inside and we will ship them off and hopefully will bring some Christmas cheer to many troops overseas!

The website where we ordered the cards is: http://gratitude.peartreegreetings.com/

Thanksgiving Feast!

This is a slideshow with pictures and video taken during our Thanksgiving feast. We went around the "table" and said what we are thankful for.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The pocket chart station this week goes along with one of the gingerbread books we read. The students put the characters in order of who chased the gingerbread man first to last. Between each character they read the chart where the gingerbread man says "Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me. I'm the gingerbread man! I ran away from...."

Making our gingerbread/pattern hats! There were two pieces of candy, so we made an A-B pattern.

Today's writing focus was a free write. I modeled with the students by having one of them give me a suggestion of what to write about. The suggestion was to write about Christmas. So I told the class how I put my Christmas tree up this weekend. The students then returned to their seats to write! Below are some examples.

Several students working on writing.

I like to play outside with my cats.

 

I like to play outside with my friends.

I like to play basketball.

I like to go to the park.

We like to read books.

My fish swims around. I like my fish.

I like putting up my Christmas tree.

I will go to my dirt bike show.

I have too many presents.

Young Illustrators! We illustrated our very own books, The Polar Express. Each child thought about the words written on the page and what a good illustrator would draw on the page. We compared our drawings with the real story. They did a great job and are very proud of their work!