December

December Kindess

We continue to talk about gratitude, being thankful, and showing kindness to others. 

Wednesday, December 7th, 2016.

 We are thankful we are able to have time each month to build relationships with HSE FFA students. They brought over soil and plants to help kindergarten students plant in terricota planters.  Students decorated the pots with paint.  The students then worked on thier iPads using coding apps.  Last, cards were made to deliver to local businesses for the holidays.

Later in the day, we were thankful the weather wasn't too cold.  We bundled up and started walking south down Olio Road.  Our wagon was full of our planters to give to others.  (We love reading Laura Numeroff's, If You Give... series.) We also had our homemade popsicle bell sticks in our hands for singing.

"It was really cool because it was kind of snowing. 

 Our first stop was at Fall Creek Junior High, next door.  It happened to be during passing period so the 7th/8th grade kids enjoyed listening to Jingle Bells!

Next up was the MJ Layne.  Lexi was so excited to go to the store where her mom works!

"I liked going to the school and seeing kids give us high fives."-Josh

 We had to be careful with all the breakable items in this store but loved looking at all the decorations.

I liked MJ Layne because it was fancy inside." -Charlotte.

"We sang Jingle Bells. I felt happy giving plants to others." -Tysen

One of our favorite moments was when this truck came down Olio Road two times.  The driver stopped to give us a friendly wave.  YES... who could this driver be?

"We saw the Santa Claus.  I didn't wave to him because I already know Santa!"-Will

Next up was Fall Creek Visionary.  Wow, how about a pair of glasses?

We also stopped at the dentist and chiropractor.

We ended our day with some hot chocolate.  

"The hot chocolate was really really hot but yummy."-Ruthie

December News

We have been anxiously awaiting our indoor/outdoor water wall.  This was earned through the summer HSE inquiry grant.  Some boys from HSE tech classes designed and built the wall.  

Our students have tried various size balls, marbles, Hot Wheel cars, etc. to go down the ramps.

Some boys then had the idea of creating their own walls. 

 They asked for cardboard boxes, rolls, and tape.

 Oh how we LOVE OSMO!  We just received two Osmo through Donor's Choose.  These are fabulous and I can not stop talking about the great resources they are for our students.  Each OSMO comes with a numbers, words, and tangram app and manipulatives.  Each student can have his own profile.

"I like adding numbers for the fish.  I am on level 11!"-Max

December Provocations

 "We get to use stamps!"-Gavin

"I like serving donuts and cupcakes. I write down how much they cost."-Finley

 What can you design?

 "I used the beads to make a pattern for my gingerbread's buttons." -Lexi

 "There is a fuzzy thing and a red decoration in our bucket!"-Dean

 "I made the words, saw and this." -Allison

 "I scenery is like a background."-Reese

 "I made a card for my mom. I like using the envelopes and string."-Michael

Students designed magnetic shapes with bells.

"We made a cube full of bells!"-Isaiah

"This is like doing my tree at home.  But these lights are all on one string. 

It is different to try and put on."-Max

How high can you make a tree design?

An afternoon reading with our parents...

 "I wanted to sit by the geckos because I get to take them home over Christmas break!"-William

"I like reading Fly Guy."-Gavin

 "I showed him my poem folder. I can read most of them."-Isaiah

 "I was excited to show mom and dad how good I read!"-Finley

 "I brought my Minnie Mouse blanket to be cozy."-Alexis

"I LOVED eating cookies and reading Barbie to my mommy!"-Ruth

Thanks to the parents for providing cookies.  The children had lots of options to enjoy and some milk to wash down the cookies!  The cookies were also our math lesson for the day.  Students were given a 100's chart and a bag of cookies.  They had to determine how many cookies were in each bag by the number of cookies in each serving.

Peppermint Fun

 Lilly introduced the word, dissolve to the class. "It means to disappear."-Lilly

Morgan said, "We had a cup of hot, cold, and room temperature water."

Gavin stated, "We put a candy cane in each cup.  The result was hot water the fastest."

William, "It is candy cane has sugar!"

Michael stated, "We had to write and draw our observations.  I also got to eat a candy cane!"

Salvation Army Kroger bell ringing

Students helped ring bells and raise money for those less fortunate.  We rang bells at the new Kroger on Olio Road.

Will said, "I loved singing Merry Christmas and Jingle Bells."

 "I was helping other people who don't have as much." -Allison

 "It was fun to put the money in the BIG red bucket!"-Ruth

 "I saw lots of people and I was friendly."-Tysen

"We sat and made pattern songs with our bells.  People liked hearing them and made them smile."-Nick