Okay, so we really haven’t been doing the limbo in my class room in September, but it sure feels like it to me!  I was able to teach my kids for the first 2 1/2 weeks of school, and ever since then, my student teacher has been teaching full time, so I feel like I’m in limbo!!  She’s all done teaching next week and then I’ll ease my way back in, although, one could get used to just observing…you hear the most interesting things that way!

I thought I’d better get my blog updated and after some urging from a few friends of mine (Hi Ellen and Vicky!!), I knew that I REALLY needed to!!  So here’s what we’ve been up to so far during September (what I can remember anyway! 🙂  )

Last week was all about Apples.  My student teacher read the Big Book called Apples (it’s from Scholastic and has a book about pumpkins on the back side of it, so it’s really 2 books in one!).  The children learned a song all about the life cycle of the apple tree (she got the song from the September Scholastic News) and then they cut out some pictures to help sequence it on paper. She also used another Big Book called “The Apple Pie Tree” and the children learned about what the apple tree looks like in various seasons.  The children brought in apples and participated in several activities with them.  On Wednesday, they each were given an apple and asked to observe it.  They then put them back into a large group and tried to pick out their apple from that group.  Friday, they had a tasting party, and had to decide which apple food was their favorite:  apple juice, apple, cider, applesauce, apples.  They then graphed their results.

This week, they are doing something with The 5 senses.

It’s so different updating for you when I am not the one teaching it! 🙂  I am aware of what is going on, being taught, and all that, but it’s different describing someone else’s teaching to you…especially since it’s not mine! 🙂  It’s very interesting watching a different style than I am used to…not as much Inquiry as I am accustomed to, and math in a different order, and no writer’s workshop yet.  I need to teach something to someone before I go crazy!! I finally am teaching some in small groups during our Decodable book time and during math, but I’m also getting caught up on some things, and ahead on others.  I’m going to try to post my October lesson plans for you soon…my to-do list is dwindling down to nothing, so that will give me something to do.

If anyone has any questions, requests, etc. now is the time to get them in…before I get busy again!

Not much of an update for you…but I promise to get going again here soon!

P.S. We’re on Magic Tree House Book #3 for those of you keeping track at home! 🙂  Oh, and we also started Name Work Station and Word Work Station today as well.

Kristen 🙂