A Nutty Week!

Here we go... another exciting week!

Things got a little "nutty" this week!

Mrs. Jennings had something special planned for us...

STACKING CUPS!

This is a GREAT activity for hand eye coordination!

The kids LOVED using the big ones to make big towers too!

We started off in our classroom reading this wonderful book by our illustrator of the month, Lois Ehlert.

Then we got started on our nutty reading stations.

The kids had a blast using the squirrel to pick up the acorns.

On each acorn was a word they had to practice reading 

before putting in in the right log.

They were also working on some rhyming acorns.

Once they got a rhyme, they grabbed a 3-d shape and added it to the creation.

By the time they matched all the rhymes, they had a beautiful creation of shapes.

They also enjoyed playing a game called "BEAT THE CLOCK".

They had to match up as many squirrels with their  acorns as they could before the clock ran out!

In the afternoon, we were busy painting with 3-D shapes.

They got a little messy, 

but they discovered which shapes were good for painting with.

We also read this story about a very busy squirrel.  His wagon broke when he was trying to gather acorns.

SOOO... we got to work using different shapes to create something that could carry acorns.

They had to roll the dice 

to see how many shapes their partner could get.

The last step was seeing if their acorn (a sphere) would balance on their creation.

They did a great job of working together.

Tuesday brought more smiles and adventures...

We used these magnetic cubes to help us stretch out the sounds in words.

I told the kids a word, and they had to break the word apart to hear all of the sounds.

Then they tapped the cube as they said the sound.

The last step was sliding the sound together to make the word.  They LOVED this!

In the afternoon, we were busy balancing acorns.

They also tried to see if they could find something heavier than their partner's item.

They even tried to find something lighter!

They had to do some close examinations sometimes!

TA-DA... It was a great day!

Wednesday brought some fun times in music class.

The kids had a great time learning a song that taught them about LOOOONG and short sounds.

They even got to take a little rest at the end!

Next up... we headed to chapel.

Mrs. Kuhlmann led our chapel this week.  It was all about remembering to be thankful!

Thank you SO much for your generosity!  Remember next week we will be collecting canned goods for the seminarians.

The kids absolutely LOVE this story!  I do too!  It is a great reminder about that friendship is more important than winning. 

Next up the kids went on a little hunt of their own.

They had to check under the stepping stones to see where the squirrels hid the acorn words.

Then we had a little fun making letters with clay...

After rolling the dice and creating the letter, 

the next step was  finding the matching acorn.

They had to see how many acorns they could collect before it was time to rotate.

This group was busy reading and stacking cups.

Once they read the word on their cup, they marked it off on their paper.

The next step was carefully adding the cup to the wall.

Together they created a giant wall of words.

Mrs. Steinbacher was back with another fun memory verse activity!

They had to work together to read the words on the cups by matching it to the "blueprints".

Once they built their wall,

they marched around the wall 7 times.

Then the wall came tumbling down!

We sure do LOVE having Ms. Steinbacher come to visit!

The kids were also busy painting their memory verse.

They used textured soft blocks to stamp a wall around the outside of their paper.

I hope they get a chance to share their memory verse with you!

Thursday we took Jesus time on the road!

We marched our way to the city of Jericho!

We marched 6 times around that giant wall...

Finally the 7th time around, we shouted and cheered...

The wall came tumbling down!

Inside the wall...  SURPRISE! Some very fun 4th graders popped out!

We even knew some of them!!!  We are so grateful for their help to make this special activity possible.

We were also busy playing a mystery shape game.  The contestant had to reach inside my bag and describe what shape they felt.

When they pulled it out, we kept track of how many flat shapes and how many solid shapes we collected.

Then they had a chance to play the same game with a partner at their tables.

One friend closed their eyes while the other friend put a shape in their hands.

They had to guess what the shape was by how it felt.

Mrs. Donner also showed up to help us with an EXCITING reading station!

The kids got to use SPHEROS  to practice reading.

They had to drive the sphero  to the cone with a word attached.

Whatever word they hit, they had to mark it off on their papers.

They LOVED this activity!!!

A lot of them asked if they could buy a sphero for their house!

In the afternoon the kids were back to work building with shapes.

They are SO creative!

Thursday shaped up to be quite the exciting day!

Friday Mrs. Jennings had more stacking cup adventures for the kids.

Check out this tall tower!

In the classroom we were busy working together too.

They had five minutes to quickly create something using all of the shapes on their table.

After reading this HILARIOUS book about a turkey race,

the kids had a little turkey race outside.

They grabbed a feather with a picture on it and matched it to the right turkey.

They also did a rhyming turkey relay race.

Once they found the rhyming turkey,

they had to give it to the inspector.

If it passed inspection, the next person went and picked up a shape to build with.

The last person added it to the creation.

When they were done, they had a tower of shapes.

The kids were also hard at work with this race through their "heart words".

They had to roll the dice to see which heart word they landed on.  

Be careful not to land on the thanksgiving turkey or you will have to start over!

Because the weather was SO beautiful, 

We just had to sneak in an extra recess!

We are SO thankful for the beautiful weather!

It was time to end our busy week with another fabulous Friday reader!

She read a hilarious story about animals!

We sure do love ending the week with our Friday readers!

Thanks for stopping by... see you next week!