October 19, 2009

Yikes! It's been a long time since I updated our class happenings!! As of lately, we had a very short week last week and we were on the move. The morning class had a very educational visit from a Waverly Firefighter. The afternoon class walked to the fire station for the visit. We learned about the uniforms and tools that firefighters use. We also were able to explore the fire truck and see inside the compartments. Important fire safety skills we learned were to "Stop, Drop, and Roll" and to get out fast in a fire. The PM class practiced a fire drill at school this afternoon. We're learning more about fire safety this week.
Last Wednesday, we had a cold yet educational trip to the Carlson Orchard. We learned several things about apple trees are grown at the orchard. We saw how apples are washed, sorted, and bagged in the warehouse. We saw many foods made from apples and tasted apple cider. We were able to pick our own Honey Crisp, Honey Gold, or Cortland apple.
Today we tried more things with the /an/ word family. Not only are we recognizing the sound of /a/ and /n/ in the start, middle, and end of words, but we are combining them to hear and make words that rhyme with can. Hearing the /a/ in the middle of the word is a tricky step for some students. It was the last step after learning to hear the sound at the beginning and end of words. When I'm working with small groups, I'm noticing that many students are recognizing several more letters. Good work everyone! We also had book clubs today and students were reading sight words that they found!
We used the primary colors of red and yellow to make orange today. We traced, cut, and sponge painted beautiful fall leaf shapes today.