Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Sierra



This is Sierra.  She is the Student of the Week.  Sierra's favorite color is DARK BLUE.  She would love to visit her cousins in Myanmar (Burma).  Her favorite television show is called "Sofia the First".  When Sierra grows up, she would like to be either an inventor or an artist.  She has two pets:  a dog named Lucy and a cat named Special.  Sierra's favorite book to read is The Happy Holisters.  Her favorite sport is tennis.  Sierra loves to eat strawberries.  She thinks that her dark hair is really special, but the VERY BEST thing about Sierra is the fact that she has Jesus in her heart!

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Farewell to Miss Nykamp

It is said that "Time flies when you're having fun!" That saying rings very true as we say farewell to our  wonderful student teacher, Miss Nykamp!  The children bonded very strongly with her and will miss her greatly!  To celebrate her final day with us, we had a little party!  Enjoy the photos and captions below to hear all about it!

Here they are!  The kids were so very excited to celebrate the day!


With parents helping, the kids brought in items to get Miss Nykamp started in her teaching career such as whiteboard markers, picture books, post-it notes, pens, pencils, glue, and so much more!  The big red tub was FULL of items!  Miss Nykamp was very thankful and appreciative of your thoughtfulness! One of the best parts was the fact that she had NO IDEA how all of those items came in without her knowing it!  The kids did a great job being sneaky about our surprise!

The kids made a special book for Miss Nykamp. In the book, they gave her advice
about what she should do with her future students when she has her very own class.
Each child's page had a color picture of them so that she would always remember him or her.

As she opened her gifts, the kids kept creeping closer and closer to Miss Nykamp!


Miss Nykamp would hold up each and every item after she opened it!

This is a cute little kitty tape dispenser!

After she opened her gifts, it was time for lunch!  Mr. Ferrell brought in a six foot sub sandwich, chips, juice and cookies for lunch!  The kids were so very excited both to see Mr. Ferrell AND to have a special lunch in the classroom instead of the gym!

Santa's lunch helper joins us for a fun day!
Each group took a turn to pick up their lunch from the back table.

Sam waits patiently for his sandwich.

After lunch, Miss Nykamp opened some gifts from Mr. and Mrs. Ferrell.

In one basket were some more items to get her started
in her future classroom. The items were different than the
items the kids brought in for her!

In the other basket were picture books galore!  In addition, the Daily 5 and CAFE
books, which many of the kids mentioned she should do with her students
someday in our class book! 

The kids love the pigeon books!

Where would we be without the 'funny one'??
It's the only way I can get them to smile nicely first!
It was a wonderful day!   Miss Nykamp, we will certainly miss you!  Please keep in touch with us when you are able, and we will be sure to send you photos and messages so that you remember us too! Thanks for the great job you did with us.  We all learned a lot with you.  Someday your students will be lucky to have YOU as their full time teacher!


Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Levi



This is Levi.  He is the student of the week for us this week.  His favorite color is GREEN!  Levi would love to visit Arizona someday because it has deadly animals to find and learn about.  When he grows up, Levi would like to be a firefighter.  His favorite food is macaroni and cheese.  Levi loves to watch Teen Titans on television.  His favorite sport is soccer and likes to play soccer at school during recess.   Levi's favorite book is "The Big Book of Dinosaurs." He has FOUR cats for his pets!  Levi is special because he is nice, but the VERY BEST thing about Levi is the fact that he is smart!

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Kendrick



This is Kendrick!  He is our student of the week!  Kendrick's favorite color is RED!  Someday, he would love to visit Lego Land because he loves to build Lego sets and wants to see all of the big things that were made with Legos!  Kendrick's favorite thing to watch on the television or computer is Minecraft videos!  When he grows up, Kendrick wants to be 'everything'!  If he had to pick just one job, he would like to make movies!  Kendrick's favorite book to read is Toy Story 3.  Soccer is his favorite sport.  He likes to be the goalie!  Kendrick's favorite food to eat is macaroni and cheese!  Kendrick is special because 'I am Kendrick!'  But the VERY BEST thing about Kendrick is the fact that he is very nice!

Thursday, November 20, 2014

November activities

Well, this weather certainly makes it seem more like Christmas than Thanksgiving.  But since it is not quite December yet, here are some photos of fun activities we did this month!  Enjoy!

In Science, the kids learned about different ways to sort objects.  One way was to sort by whether or not objects were magnetic!  To introduce the kids to magnets, they explored using horseshoe magnets and 'fished' for objects!  The room was filled with excitement as the kids discovered how magnets worked!

Lilly holds up her magnetic object!

Hunter and Hannah share a magnet pole.

Jessica finds a piece to stick to her magnet.


Paige shows how the bandage sticks only because it is between the magnet and another piece of metal.

Jordan shows her catch.

Justin catches an object.

Teagen and Levi take turns fishing.


Lydia and Noel use teamwork to catch more than one object!

Hannah is excited to fish.

Claire and Levi show their objects.

Gavin sets up his objects to catch several at once.

Sierra catches a few metallic objects!

We took some time to decorate our classroom for November!  A favorite craft for the children was to make turkeys!  These turkeys were quite a long project.  First, they had to write what they were thankful for on the body.  Next, they had to cut out the body, feet and head and put it together.  Then they had to make the tail loops for their turkeys.  Last, they added curled paper feathers around their writing on the bodies.  The turkeys were displayed on three bulletin boards in our classroom and many adults who have visited our room have commented on how nice they look!

The Red star group works hard on their turkeys!

The Green star group members are concentrating on their projects.

The Purple star group is also working very hard.

A few kids chose to work at the round table instead of their group tables.

The Blue star group works hard!
Here are some finished projects!

Kendrick and Sierra

Sam

 
Noel
Aren't they beautiful?

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Mrs. Ferrell celebrated a birthday this month.  As a surprise, MR. FERRELL stopped by at lunch time with pizzas from Vitales in Zeeland!  Each child enjoyed a slice (or two or some even three) with their lunch that day.  While the children were outside for recess, Mr. Ferrell left a clue on the board.  Whenever he visits, Mr. Ferrell draws a bow tie on the board with a clue.  A bow tie is his special symbol/signature!  The children must use their eyes only to search the room for something that is different.  If they find it, they must whisper in Mrs. Ferrell's ear what they think is different.  If they find the correct object, they win a small prize (candy of some type).  It is fun for the kids and also for Mr. Ferrell!  Every time he visits, they immediately ask when he will return!

Paige was the first one to find the different object in the room! She is pointing to the bright pink circle located on the PINK color word poster!



Finally, last week Miss Nykamp did a fun activity with the children for Spelling!  She had the kids practice their sight words with their finger on the carpet first, but then they got to write in SHAVING CREAM!  The kids never wanted to practice their spelling more! 

Spreading out the shaving cream!

"This feels so cool!"

"Can we skip recess to keep doing this?"

"This a fun spelling!"
Well, that was a busy, fun month!  Look for another blog post in December with more awesome activities from the classroom!  Until then... stay warm!

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Ariyah



This is Ariyah.  She is our current Student of the Week.  Ariyah loves the color PINK.  She enjoys watching the TV show, My Little Pony.  Ariyah has a pet cat named Smores.  Her favorite book is Junie B. Jones.  Ariyah's favorite sport is ballet!  Her favorite food is a burrito.  Ariyah believes she is special because she is nice to others.   She believes the best thing about her is that she is so special.   Ariyah would love to visit Florida again because it is warm and sunny.  When Ariyah grows up, she wants to be a nurse and help either children or animals.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Justin



This is Justin!  He is our student of the week!  Justin's favorite color is BLUE.  He would love to someday visit Hawaii.  Justin's favorite television show is called Gold Rush.  When he grows up, he would like to be a construction worker.  Justin has two pets: a dog named Buddy and a cat named Baby.  His favorite book is Curious George, Rain or Shine.  Justin likes to play soccer and he loves to eat spaghetti!  Justin is special because he is a very hard worker, but the VERY BEST thing about Justin is that fact that he is a good friend to everyone!  

Monday, November 10, 2014

Jessica earns addition certificate!

Jessica has been working very hard and visiting Xtra Math at home daily!  She is the first student in our class to master all of her addition facts to 10 in three seconds or less!  Jessica earned a certificate and a "Math Whiz" pencil for her efforts.  She will now work on her subtraction facts from 10.

Congratulations to Jessica on a job well done!


Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Paige




Paige is our student of the week this week!   Her favorite color is PURPLE!  Paige would love to visit Texas very soon.  My Little Pony is her very favorite television show.  When Paige grows up, she would love to be a vet because she loves animals.  She has a dog at home named Bandit.  Paige has a favorite book called Monster Math.  Her favorite sport is football.  She loves to eat hot dogs!  Paige is special because her birthday is ON CHRISTMAS!  But the very best thing about Paige is the fact that she is COOL!