GT

I noticed tonight that the word GreaT begins and ends with the letters GT, so I made some little clip art designs.

Room Arrangement

Education Classes

This semester I began my education classes at SFA! I am thrilled and LOVING it!!! This is my first semester past the "basics" (english, history, math, etc). It makes all the difference that I am absolutely interested in all my classes in such a practical, everyday way!

I am taking survey of exceptionalities, technology in teaching, psycho-social development and early literacy! I am going to be working on some great projects and getting some super ideas! As hectic as this semester is going to be, I would like to try to post some of what I am learning here, so stay tuned.

Here is one of my first projects - a mock classroom newsletter that I did for Technology in Teaching. I posted it here as a jpg and you can click on it if you would like to see it larger. This project ended up taking a long time to start, because I did not use a template and I had to come up with what to put in it, etc. However, I think that it would be simple to use this format to plug into each week. I created a weekly newsletter for our after-school program and it was a great way to open communication with parents. I loved it!

Week of November 5-9

Monday

• We made our very own Dinosaur books today.
• We reviewed Dinosaur facts that we have learned so far.
• We learned about the Parasaurlophus, a plant eating dinosaur.
• We learned some new Dinosaur poems and songs today!
• We have begun talking about The First Thanksgiving. We are learning what children were like during colonial times.

Books We Read Today

" SkippyJon Jones and the Big Bones" Judy Shachner

"Danny and the Dinosaur" by Syd Hoff

Tuesday

• Today we learned about Saturn. Saturn is a beautiful gas planet with rings. It has 33 moons (possibly more)!
• We learned to do connect the dots puzzles from #'s 1-15. We made our very own rockets to fly to Saturn.
• We added Saturn to our planet books! Only three planets left!
• We practiced our Turkey poems and songs today. Make sure to check out the Turkey handprints in our hallway!

Wedesday

• Today we learned about egg laying animals today.
• Dinosaurs were reptiles, which means they layed eggs! Other animals that lay eggs include: insects, fish and amphibians.
• We added the Brontosaurus to our dinosaur books.
• We ate delicious fruity dinosaurs! Yum!
• We are continuing our study about what children were like in the 1600s at the time of the First Thanksgiving.

Books We Read Today

" Chickens Aren't the Only Ones" By Ruth Heller

Why This Blog?

The main purpose of this blog is to organize all of my lesson plans into one place. I spend so much time on them, that I like to keep them organized and ready to be used again in the future. This is a great place to do this for many reasons. Firstly, if I click on a topic in the side bar, I can easily print out everything I have blogged about that subject. Secondly, I can share what I am doing with all of you. (The very few people that check in from time to time and read this blog). Eventually I hope this blog will become a tool for sharing ideas. I am so grateful for any feedback or ideas that you may share! I also hope to encourage other educators to create their own blogs. Let's learn from eachother, inspire eachother, encourage eachother and just generally be a help to one another!
There are so many teachers that have deeply inspired me. My first grade teacher, Mrs. Jones, my pre-school teachers, Mrs. Sherry, Mrs. Joe and Mrs. Regina, my high school spanish teacher, Mrs. Milstead, my home-ec teacher, Mrs. Boone, my junior high P.E. teacher, Mrs. Biggs, Mrs. Rose Helen Reid, Mrs. Bass, Mrs. Warren, my high school counselor Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Cockrell, Mrs. Griffith, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Reyes, Erin Smith, Jenna Cooley, Cari Johnson, Mrs. Workman, Mrs. Greenlee, Mrs. Early..................This is a list off the top of my head. I'm sure that I could go on, and I'm sure that I am forgetting people. I know that most of these fantastic women will never read this blog, but I thank God for their place in my life. They each taught me something very special. All of these women are educators, although I could easily continue this list with women who are not teachers that have taught me so much!
As you read, I hope that you can somehow benefit from this blog. I also hope that you will take a moment to teach me something from your experience. I am eager to learn! That's what this blog is all about, right?

Spider Poems

We are learning to rhyme, so I am including some Spider poems into our spider lesson today. Here is a page of spider poems I found.

Spiders
Spiderlings hatch from eggs.
Each one has eight tiny legs.
A spider has more eyes than you.
Most have eight, and you have two.
A spider has two body parts.
Across its web it quickly darts.
From a spider's spinnerets
Sticky spider silk jets.
Spiders feel the frantic tugs,
Of their favorite food; it's bugs!
Janet Bruno

Spider Webs
The spider weaves a sticky web
To capture bugs to eat.
What keeps the spider's sticky web
From sticking to her feet?
Spider webs are very tricky
Because not all the strands are sticky.
Unlike the passing hapless fly,
The spider knows which strands are dry.
But if she accidentally stands
Upon one of the sticky strands,
She still would not get stuck, you see--
Her oily body slides off free.
Amy Goldman Koss

Spiders
Clever spider spins a thread
To make a trap we call a web.
Clever spider knows that she
Will have some insects with her tea.

The Spider Poem
Spiders are not insects
Spiders have eight legs.
Spiders have four pairs of eyes
Spiders hatch from eggs!

Spider webs are stick
Spiders weave them tight
Spiders spin that silky string
Spiders weave webs right!

Spider, Spider
Spider hurrying,
Spider scurrying,
See her silken thread.
Spider hurrying, Spider scurrying,
See her little web.

The Spider
Watch the busy spider,
He's helpful as can be,
Eating insects all day long
Now they won't bite me.

I have a little spider,
And I'm very fond of him;
He climbs on to my shoulder,
And then up to my chin;
He crawls down my arm,
And then down my let;
Now he's a tired little spider
So I put him into bed.

Pumpkin Poem

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/t.asp?b=m&t=http://www.dltk-holidays.com/fall/bpumpkinpoem.gif

Here's a neat Pumpkin Coloring Page and Poem that I found.