Rainbow Fish

The book Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister is a wonderful story about making friends and sharing. I recently read it to the class and we did a guided writing activity followed by the students completing a sentence about what they will remember to share in the future. They also colored and cut out a fish and we glittered one shiny scale of the fish, just like the story. They are beautifully displayed in our room right now!

Noah: In the future, I will remember to share my
clothes with my brother.

Nolan: In the future, I will remember to share my
DS with my brother.

Destiny: In the future, I will remember to share
chips with my brother and my cousin.

Anna Maria: In the future, I will remember to share
juice with my brother.

Julian: In the future, I will remember to share my money
with my brother and my sister.

Lilianna: In the future, I will remember to share
my books with Anna.

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Reward from the Fundraiser

As a school-wide reward for our efforts from fundraising earlier this year, we received a special assembly. The assembly had two men doing all sorts of basketball tricks with trampolines and props. It was funny and very entertaining. Also, Jaden from our class was chosen to help out in the assembly! Thanks to all that supported our school with the fundraising efforts so we can enjoy special activities at school, such as this and more!

Jaden is in that group!!!

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Chinese New Year

This year we had a school-wide celebration for the Chinese New Year as a part of our International Scholars implementation. Our focus is to help our students understand cultures and experiences from all over the word. We had so many wonderful things going on all over the campus, from the Kindergarten classes parading around the school, an assembly with Chinese Acrobats, chinese food served in the cafeteria, 5th and 6th grades decorating our lunch pavilion, watching Mulan and all sorts of arts and crafts. Here are some pictures of things that our class did!

Some pictures I took from the assembly!

We made some very colorful dragon puppets.

I ate lunch with the class while we enjoyed
some Chinese food and fortune cookies.

I read this story to class, it is similar to the Little Red
Riding Hood, but takes place in China.

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Wrap-Ups

Our Math program has a great, hands-on way for the students to practice their addition and subtraction facts. We use these fun, bright green tools called Wrap-Ups! The students use a string to match up the problem with the answer by wrapping it around the key. When they have completed the wrap-up, they lock in the string at the bottom and flip the key over. On the back of the key, the students can check their work to see if they solved the problems correctly. Here are some pictures!

Hard to see, but there are lines on the back that the
string should match up, if done correctly

Sean and Tyler working on their Wrap-ups

Valeria checking her answers.

Jaden working on his math facts.

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Life in the snow...

Here was another directed drawing we did, in our conversation about weather and snow, we drew someone dressed for the snow!

Lexi's work of art

Derick did a great job!

Rudy's fantastic drawing!

Nolan's wonderful drawing!

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Happy Groundhog's Day

We spent a small portion of our day on Groundhog's Day making a groundhog puppet with a poem about his important job. The kids could move the puppet out of the grass to see if he could see his shadow. It was very fun and we took a quick trip outdoors to make shadows with our puppets!

Apparently, spring is just around the corner!
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February Calendar

WOW! With this months calendar change over, I decided to do it with the class as a lesson, rather than after-school. I wanted to make sure the students were understanding when the next month begins and February is unique with only 28 days so I could utilize this opportunity for another teachable moment. I had the students create their own February calendar along with me. We shaded in yellow the boxes that represented January and March. Reviewing this month's calendar we realized it was going to be a busy month with a Groundhog's Day, Chinese New Years School-wide Celebration, Valentine's Day, President's Day (with days off from school) and our 100th Day of School. Here are just a few of the student calendars that they made in class. Such a great month ahead of us!!!

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Spice Cake

One of our decodable books that we have been reading in class was titled "Spice Cake". The targeted skill is practice with long vowels with a silent e, mainly the long i sound. The story is about making a spice cake but many of the children were not familiar with spice cake so what's a teacher to do... bring some in for them to try, of course!!!! They were a HUGE hit and was fun to connect our text to our real world in order to build comprehension and motivation to read. Here we are enjoying the yummy Spice Cake!!!!

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What are centers???

We do our Center Time almost everyday so if you are looking for something to talk about with your child each day, you can ask about centers! Each center rotation is for 15 minutes and there are 5 centers to visit each day. The Reading center is always with me and we work on reading in small groups. "Desk Work" is a daily center but the task to complete at their desk varies from day-to-day. Computer center is when the students each log-in under their own user name and password to work on our school-wide Successmaker program. This program has various components, but our class works with Reading and Math. We alternate between the two throughout the week. This program allows each student to work at their own pace, with targeted skills for each individual. It will remediate and challenge, whichever is necessary, to meet the needs of the students. The last two centers each day change. Here are some pictures of the students working hard at their centers. I am so proud of how hard they work, how they are learning to work independently at times and cooperatively at other times, and how far their ability to read is coming along! Center time is daily from 9:20 to 11:20 and at times I have parent volunteers to help "run" a center. If you are interested in helping with centers just for one day, or on a regular basis, and you are available during these times, please send me an email and let me know! It's always great to have parents as teachers, as well! Feel free to email me at: cguerrettaz@fuesd.k12.ca.us . Here are a few pictures of some centers from our class Center Time!!!


Listening Center... listening to a story on tape or CD



Word Wheels... read the words, practice word families, illustrate the words

File Folder Games.. mix of skills involving Math and Reading

Reading Center with Mrs. Guerrettaz

Check back for more Center Time activities!
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Tearing Paper Art Class

This round of art class involved making a creation by tearing paper. It is so funny to watch how difficult it is for some students to actually tear the paper. Some kids get really into it and tear WAY more paper than they need, and others struggle with the concept of NOT any straight edges. As the teacher, I enjoy seeing how each unique personality responds to these art projects. Here are just a few pictures from the class tearing away and making their creations!

You will be seeing the results of this particular project coming home to you, very soon!
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