Our classroom is starting to feel like home.  We've gotten to know each other and we are settling into our routines.  We are enjoying learning together.
Today we learned how to use the laptop cart.  The children learned their user names and passwords and practiced logging in.  It was a monumental event in our lives!  Your child needs to be able to type their first and last name, separated by a period (firstname.lastname) and memorize their 6 character password.  The kids absolutely loved using the laptops.  We will use them a lot as the year progresses.
Writer's workshop continues to be a favorite time of the day for many of the children. We have been learning about where authors get ideas.  We've read several books by Donald Crews and learned that most of his stories come from his own personal experiences, the places he's been and the things he remembers.  Today we read a book called Treasures of the Heart.  We talked about how writers can write about the things they hold near and dear to their hearts whether it be a memory, an artifact or even an idea.
We've been practicing doing read to someone and read to self this week and have worked at building our reading stamina.  We also learned how to use raz-kids.com to do listen to reading.  The kids each got a card with instructions and their password so that they can utilize the program at home as well.
Our math lessons this week have focused on various number patterns.  We have made many discoveries about the number grid and found many interesting patterns.  We can now skip count by 2's, 3's, 5's and 9's.  We've been using our new skip counting skills to work on multiplication.  Today we also learned about how to work in small groups in math class.  We practiced using our quiet voices, showing respect and being responsible.
Our day was filled with many wonderful experiences and we had a great time learning together!