Red Class at the Apple Orchard

Today we took our field trip to the Apple Jacks apple orchard in Buffalo.  We had a great time! Here are some picture of our adventure.

Lined up and ready to go!

Our first stop was in the play and animal area.  We got to run around and have some fun!

Next we got to learn about apple trees throughout the year and best of all...we got to taste test a few!

Then we learned about the importance of bees and how the trees go from blossoms to apples.

And last we got a tractor ride and learned about their apple orchard.

Best of all we had great weather and wonderful listeners! What a great morning!

Books

We have been having fun listening to and reading some stories this month.  As we listen and read we are learning ways to become a good reader.  Here are things we have learned so far.  You can try some of these activities at home as you are reading too!

Daily Five

Part of our daily routine is learning robe independent workers and thinkers during Daily 5 time.  So far the kids have learned 2 of the 5 routines, read to self and work on writing.  Here are some pictures of them hard at work.

We learned 2 ways to read a book, by reading the words and "reading" the pictures.  Tomorrow and Thursday we are going to learn word work.  The kids will be using magnetic letters to spell friend's names and simple words.  Next week we will add listen to reading and later in the year we will learn about reading to someone.  This is just the start to the kids working independently so we can start reading groups!

S.M.A.R.T Room note

Here is a letter explaining more in depth what the SMART room is for. 

Meet the Red Class!

Back: Sabrina, Allie, Victor, Adrian, Aidan, Sophia J., Maggie

3rd Row: Connor, Troy, Lillian, Tiana, Addie J., Thomas

2nd Row: Sophia T., Caleb, Belle, Izzy, Moya

Front: Dylan, Bailey, Khloe, Hadley

S.M.A.R.T Room

Each day we will spend about 20 to 30 minutes doing SMART activities. SMART activities are movements that get our bodies ready to learn, think and listen.  Here are a few of the activities that we are doing so far.

Each day we start with 4, 15 second spins. Spinning helps with their vestibular system. The smart curriculum suggests students spin 5 minutes a day. Of course not all at the same time!

Next we start our rotations.  There are 8 rotations each day. Four will change throughout the year, four will stay the same.  The four that stay the same are, alligator crawl, pencil roll, creep track and balance beam.  Here are some pictures of what they look like!

Alligator Crawl

Pencil Roll

Creep Track

Balance Beam

Here are a couple of activities that we end our smart room time with.  You can try these at home. The goal is to hold the position for 20 seconds. 

Here is Cole holding his popcorn hold tight. They bring their knees in, wrap their arms around their knees and tuck in their head.

Here is Superman! The goal is to keep arms and legs straight lifted off the ground.  Look at Emma's great superman!

Welcome to our class blog!

I am creating a class blog for my red/blue classes this year.  I am going to try to include information about our class and what we are working on.  Please let me know if you have any questions!