I'm Thankful For...

One of the amazing centers that students participated in was sitting inside of a huge tepee and learning about the giving ways of Native Americans. Each student was able to share what he/she was thankful for as they passed the special "talking stick" around to each other. It was so sweet to see and hear the children's reactions.

Untitled from dayle timmons on Vimeo.

Pow Wow Preparations

Along with learning about the Nootkas, students had several different homework assignments that supported their learning. They had to create a family totem pole using a coffee or oatmeal can. They decorated them with pictures and symbols of things that were important to them and their family. They also research the Nootka tribe and decorated a "person cut out" to represent a Native American Nootka and how they looked and dressed. Another activity was to come up with a Native American name for themselves. We used these names to decorate on their costumes, and the kids had a good time learning everyone's Native American name that they chose. In the slideshow you will see some of the artifacts that students made: beaded bracelets, woven baskets, hunting spears, cedar bark robes, bearskin cloths, decorated headbands, and animal skin medicine bags. Tonight we had a Make & Take night in which families were invited to come to our class at night and make a "plankhouse." Students brought in empty cartons and glued dyed craft sticks onto them to look like their own miniature version of a plankhouse. Thanks to all of our parents who were able to attend! I hope you also enjoyed visiting each of the other tribes through the hallways and listening to the fifth graders present their information on each tribe! This was something new this year to tie the learning that fifth graders were doing into this same night! Three more days until Pow Wow! We can't wait!

Native American Nootkas

We have been BUSY! In addition to the daily academics, we have been extending our learning of another culture and way of life...the Nootkas. Students spent some time making crafts and decorating their costumes for our upcoming Pow Wow. They are learning about the way the Nootkas dressed, lived, and hunted. They have learned about their homes and travel too.

Literary Character Parade

Dressing up is so much fun! I love that our school has students dress as their favorite book character. Every student had a costume and got to participate in the parade around the first floor of the school. Parents and other students clapped and cheered as we walked through. Later that evening our school hosted its annual Fall Carnival. I saw many faces trick or treating through the hallways at night! A HUGE thanks to Mariah's mom for organizing volunteers for our tattoo booth. Thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers that night. I appreciate the time you donated for helping with our class booth. Many thanks!

Our first field trip!

Our first field trip to Diamond D Ranch was great! In my ten years of teaching, I have never been to the Diamond D Ranch. I think I enjoyed it as much as the kids did! We were so fortunate to have wonderful parents help chaperone this trip! Students got to ride horses, learn about different animals, ride a little ferris wheel, jump in a bounce house, go on a hay ride, feed baby goats, feed catfish, have a picnic lunch, go on a nature trail, and even more! We have an excellent time! In trying to decide how to post the many, many pictures we received from parents as well as my camera, Mrs. Timmons, and Mrs. Cordoza, I am working on setting up a photo site in which any parent can log in with a username and password and then view and order any pictures they want. (Unfortunately putting a ton of pictures on a slideshow takes a long time and you aren't able to print the pictures out if you want). If you have any other suggestions for fielding this "great problem to have" :) please let me know! Take a look at their faces and you'll see how much they enjoyed this wonderful and educational field trip! Thanks again to our chaperones: Abby's mom, Mariah's mom, Charlotte's dad, Emma's dad, and Parker's mom!

Literary Pumpkin Project

I got a little behind in updating the blog because we have been having so much fun in our class! We had the awesome opportunity of choosing the book The Three Billy Goats Gruff and turning 3 pumpkins and a gourd into the characters. I love these types of projects because it allows kids to work together and really allows their creativity to shine through! Thankfully we also had amazing volunteers who helped the students create a plan for what materials they wanted to use to decorate and make the characters. Each group of students had completely different ideas. They all worked together and had to compromise a little here and there. It was a great project and the students were super proud of the end product! Pictures of the final pumpkins to come in just a little bit (I have them on my other camera!!)

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Our very sweet assistant, Mrs. Cordoza worked very hard to make adorable puppet pieces for the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We read the book last week as part of the campaign to have the most Kindergarten classes reading the same book on the same day. Students LOVED the reading and retelling of this book and were able to make their own flap books to take home.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar from dayle timmons on Vimeo.