Monday, October 8, 2012

Peek inside our new place!



I am so sorry I haven't blogged in 1, nope 2.5 months! Vacation, then packing, then moving and unpacking plus company...been a lot to handle these days!
I finally have our "Learning room" functional and we are getting in the swing of schooling at home again!  I'm gonna be spoiled in this house!  Extra bedroom completely devoted to learning and having fun!

Here's a few before and afters:
unpacking = felt like my first weeks as a public school teacher...but better!

Here's our Calendar and Morning Message board that we do every morning.  Great purchase from Ikea (to the right) stores all of our materials.  
Computer Center (on the corner desk); Pocket chart for  Phonemic Awareness/Poetry activities; Magnetic board 
Math corner - using file cabinet as magnetic board; Number line and pocket chart for addition and visuals.  

We have started easing our way back into learning by simple calendar time, countdowns and morning message...here are a few pics of that.

What a great way to start the day!  I pre-write the message the night before so it's ready to go.  The "letter monster" usually comes and eats some of our letters in the message...which leads to Jackson having to practice letter sounds and handwriting skills.  Nixon always is in the room, sometimes "helping" or just doing his own thing.

Here's one of our recent countdowns...Take off a sticky note a day at a time to reveal "the special code" 

I am currently working on how I want to organize my lesson plan book.  I was using a file box, but didn't like the way that was working.  So I will share that soon:)

A few easy lessons that I have carried over from our other house have been earning "fuzzy balls" for awesome behavior.  Yes they work for behavior but better as a teaching tool!  Here are some pics:
We usually use fuzzy balls/pompoms when we count  on these number strips...but I couldn't find a picture.  But I'm sure you get the idea.  One car for each box...great for 1-to-1 correspondence.  

Counting fuzzy balls on his 100 chart

Colored in #74 to help us remember and hung it about the behavior chart.
Once he gets to 100, he has earned a special trip.




Here is something that I recently added to our daily learning!  
Jackson and Nixon LOVE playing on the Ipad/Tablet Time.  They get 25 minutes a day to play.  They can use it all at once, but Jackson has figured out to break it up throughout the day!  Smart boy!

  To introduce counting by 5's to Jackson, I made this easy system.  Does he understand "counting by 5's" now?  NOPE!  But he is getting some basic addition skills that will lead to that. 
Today he said "Mom, 5 plus 5 is 10...so I get 10 minutes?"  
Seems to be working!


Feels great to blog again!  I hope that you've missed us! But we hope that while we were unpacking boxes you were learning each day with your Little Learners!

FYI: We are learning about Apples the next 2 weeks!  Promise to post some ideas soon so that you can enjoy the apple picking season too!

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