Although the State and National Tests Are Over . . .

Thankfully, we still have twenty-two days of school and many, many new lessons to teach and learn!  Some of the students have made comments (not students from my class) about school being “over” and  ”sliding” into summer vacation; attendance and full participation during this last month of school is crucial for your child’s success in the following school year!  I, along with all of the teachers at our school (I am fully confident of this!),  plan on continuing to give your children our best teaching efforts clear through until the last day of school.  Yes, we can have fun and we will have opportunities to be a bit more creative and stretch our imaginations.  Learning how to do new things is incredibly exciting and the sense of accomplishment the children feel through mastery is nothing short of amazing!  Learning should not be boring!  Please continue to read nightly.  Family Bingo night is tomorrow night, Wednesday, April 20th  and the Science Fair will be next Wednesday, April 27th!  We still have so very much to look forward to in the coming weeks of school!   Please look for your child’s fourth quarter progress report to be sent home this Friday, April 22nd.  Thank you for all you do on behalf of your child’s education.  Look for our student guest bloggers during the next four weeks.  We have some serious writing development taking place in Room 202!

Our SmartBoard Has Arrived!

On Friday, February 18th, our class was delighted and a little bit more than excited to find a SmartBoard attached to our center whiteboard!   The following is a selection of the many rave reviews and comments from our classmates:  Judy commented, ” I feel happy.  I like finding words in the SmartBoard.”  Seven said, ” I feel happy, too.  I have never used a SmartBoard before, but I would like to see a King Cobra.”  Haylee remarked, “I’ve never used a SmartBoard, but I feel happy about having one.”  Belinda is pretty jazzed about having a SmartBoard in the classroom, especially since she had one in her first grade classroom.  She likes to play games and draw.  Joey’s first grade classroom also had a SmartBoard and, being artistic, he loves to draw.  Gabriel told his classmates, “I’ve never used a SmartBoard, but I think SmartBoards are cool!”  Myka pretty much summed it up when she exclaimed, “Awesome!” Mrs. McIntyre emphasized to her class, “I wasn’t expecting to receive a SmartBoard this year, so I feel like our class is one blessed flock of lucky ducks to have received this wonderful gift!  I have never used a SmartBoard before, so I’m a little bit nervous about trying something new.  I know it might be hard at first, but I promise you I will not give up and I will practice and practice some more until all of our SmartBoard lessons are interesting, engaging and interactive.  We will all learn together!”

The First Month of the Year Comes To a Close

Monday will be our last day of school for the first month of the year.  February second will be Groundhog Day, followed by St. Valentine’s Day on February fourteenth, then Presidents’ Day will be celebrated on February twenty-first.  February is a short month with only twenty-eight days, however it is going to be a busy one!

Autumn Arrives and So Does Our Class Blog!

Our class has been reading and taking Accelerated Reader tests through the new Renaissance web site.  Logging on to take a test takes quite a few steps; however, our class has been up for the challenge.  We are definitely on a roll now!  We are now ready to start setting up our blog.  Our goal is to be ready to begin the week of October 8, right after our autumn break. 

Other technology news:  We are having our Proxima mounted over autumn break, so we will be able to access our SmartBoard activities.  Although we do not have a SmartBoard yet, I am bound and determined to keep asking, praying, asking and praying until our class has access to one.  I keep eyeing the Wii at home and keep hinting to Mr. McIntyre about his ability to adapt the remote to create a “SmartBoard”-like interactive system for the classroom; yet, as I always remind my students, “patience is a virtue” and patient we will try to be!