Monster Week!

Week three is here!  We made our first bundle of 10 sticks for days in school.  The kids are learning the routines and getting more comfortable.

In Daily Five news, we are working on Read to Self.  They have four books in their book boxes and they are reading for four to five minutes.  They are all trying so hard.  One of the hardest parts of practicing is that they are all pretty close together (even spread all across the room!).  Once we start Daily Five, there will only be five or so kids doing Read to Self at one time, so there is naturally more spaces for them.  On the other hand, it is much quieter now than it will be once we start reading groups and the rest of the Daily Five centers!

We also reviewed our class rules using The Five Little Monsters went to School and the felt puppets I made six years ago.  The kids love to act out the story  (we did it four times so they all got a turn).  We also read Ten Monsters in the Bed, which is a fun way to practice counting backwards.

Aren't these cute little monsters?  I don't own these yet but I am very tempted!!!

 We sang the Months of the Year song by Greg and Steve for the first time, too.  I have the kids stand up when it is their birthday month the first time through and then sit back down when they sing their month the second time.  It is always a little confusing in the beginning of the year.  Several kids had no idea which month their birthday was in.  One little girl didn't know the month but she did know that first it is her birthday, then it is Halloween.  hehehe.  We'll get it eventually.

Pete the Cat Roll and Dot

We started some new centers in the afternoon.  We did a fun math center with big cards.  The kids moved bears onto the cards to match the numbers 1-10.  They completed the Pete the Cat roll and dot game at the next center (click the link for a freebie).  They glued in the numbers from 6-10 in their math journals.  The last center was a September book.

Math Journals: writing numbers 6-10

Big Playing cards: place the correct number of bears on each card.

September book

We made some cute monster faces in art time today.  Only five kids finished them.  To begin, I gave them each a square of construction paper and showed them how to cut off the corners.  They made big mouths (many fun colors!) with pointy teeth, circles for the eyes, some interesting noses, and some frightening hair!  I'll try to take a picture tomorrow when a few more get finished.  The kids were very creative and did a great job (with no templates-my favorite kind of art!)

Monster Faces

We have a few more monster books to read this week, too.  Such a fun way to encourage good behavior.  We are having fun!  How do you teach your class rules?

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Have a great week!!