The Lamp To Light My Way

Thank you so much for this wonderful lamp. All of those tiny trinkets are so fun and every time I look at it I see something different. This was such a thoughtful gift and I know that it will light many nights of work with children in future classes. So many thanks to the children who, may or may not, have contributed their little trinkets.

Almost Time For Disney World!!!

We have one friend in our class who will be taking a vacation to Disney World and we are counting down the days. You can see from this picture that her excitement is obvious right down to her clothes. I love summer vacation and fun trips. It is the perfect opportunity to learn new things and practice reading skills. It is also a great time to get an inexpensive camera and let your child start their own summer memories journal. You can keep ticket stubs, brochures, postcards, etc... Graduation is next week and the possibilities for summer fun are endless.

Meet Harper

Here is another friend's dog, Harper. He came in to say "Hi," and we loved it! This friend's dog was so happy to see us and he even gave a few kisses. Pets can be so much fun and we use our pet visits to talk about what it means to be growing up and starting "big school." Now we can have special chores and can be responsible for feeding our pets, etc... Thanks Harper for coming by our room today.

Do We Look Hot?

Summer may be just around the corner - but it sure feels like it has already arrived. You can see from these shiny faces that it was one of those hot playground days. If you have been in my classroom you will recall that I "preach" about the benefits of outdoor play. I really do believe that running, getting dirty and playing outside helps children grow up so much healthier. I will reveal my age by saying that when I was a little girl, we knew it had been a great summer day if we wearing a dirt necklace when we came in for dinner. We also played outside until the sun was nearly setting and hated to hear our mom call out that it was time to eat. Nostalgic? I think it is getting worse. We are all so busy driving around from meetings, practices, etc... that this type of fun gets lost in the shuffle. There is much to be said about the art of making summer mud pies and catching fireflies.

Jonah - A Girl?

This week we are learning about Bible heroes. It is always my "most favorite" theme in our classroom because I learn so much from the children. It is really fun to talk about today's heroes and those from very familiar Bible stories. Well today I was informed by one of our girls that Jonah could have been a girl. I could not really dispute this and we had lots of fun talking about how the story would have been different if Jonah wasn't a boy. This might be silly, but it made this story a little more contemporary for some in our room. (Please note the hair bow on the whale and "Joanie.")

Meet Rocky

One of our friends had her mom bring in their dog for a visit today. (As an aside, I usually do a "pet show & tell" week, but with the late Spring Break - I just didn't have the time to plan this for our class.) This friend has been sharing stories about her dog, Rocky, throughout the year and it was her idea to have her mom bring him in at the end of our day. You can see our friend, Mrs. Laurie & Rocky stopping for a picture. He is such a sweet dog and was crazy about getting so much attention. The boys and girls in our class were very excited to have this four paw friend stop in and did a great job showing him their affection with lots of petting.

Puzzles Are Fun

Finally at the end of the year we love puzzles!!!! They aren't nearly as hard as everyone thought and you can see from our faces that we very proud of our hard work. I think that these boys and girls are "sort of" surprised at how much easier it is to do a puzzle when you sit down and pay attention to the task. Yes we have grown up so much this year. Kindergarten here we come!