Teacher Appreciation

Thank you to everyone for making Teacher Appreciation a wonderful week! Of course, it's one of my favorite weeks of the year. By this time of the year, I think every teacher needs a boost. Teaching is a hard job, yet so rewarding. It makes it easier knowing that others appreciate all we do.

I had some wonderful room moms come in to decorate my door and cover the class so I could enjoy a wonderful breakfast served by the PTA. It was awesome! Thank you so much!!!

Look at this amazing door decoration!

Throughout the week, the children brought in all sorts of gifts: fruit, flowers, supplies, treats, notes and more. I sure felt loved and appreciated. Thank you, thank you, everyone!!

Measuring

We really learned a lot and had fun during our Measurement Unit. The kids loved using rulers and measuring things around the classroom. When we learned about weight, each child got to choose an item in the classroom to measure in grams. We found some pretty heavy things, that fit into the container on this scale .

plants

We have been learning about plants. Today we planted a lima bean seed in our Little Sprout House. We can't wait to see what has happened when we return to school on Monday.

Smart Board

We are one lucky classroom! Another teacher in the school wrote a grant and, with the help of the PTA, our school was able to get four SmartBoards. We were one of the lucky classrooms to get one. (The others are in 6th, 5th, and 3rd grade.)

What is a SmartBoard? It's an interactive white board that when hooked up to a computer acts basically like a large touch screen computer. It also comes with really cool software that we can use to teach and learn pretty much any subject. We use it a lot for math. The kids love it when we pull it out, usually in the afternoon. I have been keeping track of who gets a turn, because the kids always want it to be their turn. This way, they know it's fair and everyone's happy :)

In order for it to work, I have to have a multimedia projector hooked up to my computer to project what's on the computer screen onto the SmartBoard. The bad news is that we don't have enough projectors in the school, and I don't have one! I have been able to check one out from the District Media center for a few weeks at a time, but it sure would be nice to have one to keep.

Here are some pictures of us playing a spelling game on the Smart Board.