Currently May

TGIF Folks!! And just in time to catch the May Currently. Drop on by Oh' Boy Forth Grade to link up with Farley's Fab currently. Here is mine folks:

I still can't stop listening to the Bob Marley tribute put together during the Grammys. Just fun and makes you want to move!

I hope the rest of you have a short amount of working days left too! Come on summer (and assessments)!!

Holy Moly!!! I've probably jinxed the weather now that I have announced that it is suppose to get up to 68*F next week Wednesday. I might be able to kick off the wool socks.

I ordered myself a sewing machine and I suppose that will be my summer fun. I need to find some fun projects to make. If you have any good suggestions, please leave a note.

My summer list is as basic as it can get.....just forget about school and city life. Summer cottage here we come!!

Five for Friday

Well another 2 weeks have flown by! Next week we have off May 1st and then the following week we are off for Ascension Day.
I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for FIVE FOR FRIDAY.

Here's my week!

1. SPRING is in the air! Trees are finally budding. WOO HOO!

2. We have had these very old headphones at the listening center that cut out because the wires are broken inside (I'm sure you've experienced this). I finally broke down and bought myself two pairs of headphones (about $25). The kids were really happy! Well worth it. 

3. We have been making necklaces for Mother's Day. Students learned how to finger knit. I found a good blog with instructions. Check it out if your interested, The flower is made from felt pieces cut out and sewn together.

4. Art lesson was making balloons for May 1st. May 1st is like Labor day here in Finland. Cellophane balloons are all the rage to buy children for May 1st. First draw two balloons overlapping on paper and then trace the outlines with a crayon. Use one primary water color for each balloon and the overlapped part in the middle is suppose to make the secondary color. I say 'supposed' since it didn't work out this time. The students loved the idea anyways and were happy to take them home. 

5. Last but not least, here are some more super cute stuffed toys finished this week by my 3rd graders!

Five for Friday

This week was busy and I started many new things in my classroom (which I will pat my own back for).

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for FIVE FOR FRIDAY. I think it is still Friday somewhere (Saturday morning here 

already).

1. The best this week, it is raining this morning!!!!!!!! It still snowed THREE times earlier this week. Can you  believe it? Yes, I know I live way up here near the arctic circle, but we deserve some warm weather to start spring. 

2. I started writing journals with my first graders today. All the students were really excited about writing in them. I had one girl finish here whole journal by Thursday. It contained 5 pages (10 total front and back). I told her I would staple more pages to her journal for next week. Not sure she was too excited about that :)

3. My 3rd graders have been super about finish their animal sewing projects. They have been learning to use the sewing machines, and then designed their own stuffed toy. Here is a pic of a super cute kangaroo!

4. We did some descriptive writing with the first graders. After reading the story of The 3 Billy Goats Gruff from their readers, we made a chart together describing the troll. Then they had to write for "Watch out for the troll!" and describe the troll to warn others about him. They seemed to like this writing and they really enjoyed drawing the troll. 

5. I started a free time chart this week for my class. Somehow these last few months don't feel so hectic, and I have been able to focus on things I couldn't have imagined last autumn. I am really pushing my class to be independent and work in teams this spring. Almost every week they are working on projects together, and now they have this free time chart that they also play together. I wish I had a pic of it. I will go into work tomorrow, and will add a pic then. Anyways, you might have the same in your classroom. It's just a chart with different activities they can do in the classroom, and they place their name next to it. Some have a limit of how many students can play the activity. 

I have a sixth one, not sure if this is allowed :)

6. I started teaching my students how to log onto the computer and play games on our class homepage (it  has links to free online games). I have 2 student computers in my classroom and 2 more in the work room next to our class. I have only 2 students stay in everyday during their recess breaks to learn and play. I only had one student this week that choose to go outside during the second recess. The rest have been excited to stay and play!

That was just a small piece from this week in first grade! Hope everyone has lovely weekend. 

January Currently

I'm joining in on this month's currently, put together by Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade.

Here are a few pics from my class work this autumn.....and I mean FEW. I had projects to do this term, and an eTwinning science project with a school in England and a school in Iceland. That was a huge project because we had to follow certain guidelines we had set for our pacing, and it was a new challenge to get it all done. Basically our first grades and sixth grades did many themes in science together this autumn, meaning many hours per week were spent together. The kids loved it!

These first two pictures were art done for our science theme on forest animals and plant life:

These next two are about recycling and sustainable development. Here students are making musical instruments for their music lesson. They were rolled up newspaper covered in plastic film, that were music sticks for beating out rhythms.

In this pic students made robots from left over garbage they brought from home. Then they made commercials for sustainable development with the sixth graders.

The following are not from the science project. Here is a pic of my students starting their 1000 chart packet. I have had 4 students finish already, and I have given them a smelly pencil as their reward for finishing. I made the packet on word, and then copied it double sided and stapled it.

Last photos are of my third graders crocheting project: 

Expo Feedback

My youngest had a fever this morning, and I didn't realize until 8am, at which point I called into work to tell I wasn't coming in!!! Oh, how that made me feel like a loser. School started at 8.30!! Oh, well, things happen, right? And I'm sure my firsties managed.

While little one was watching Alvin and the Chipmunks, I had a chance to sit on the couch next to her and relax. I took this time to finish up the video presentations from the Back to School Expo, and did some knitting while listening.

From these presentations, I really enjoyed the technology videos by Cara from Teaching...My Calling, reading videos by Annie Moffatt at The Moffatt Girls and classroom decorating videos by Melanie at Schoolgirl Style. The last one was math journals, but I can honestly say I wasn't interested in watching the videos. I only have 3 math lessons a week, and I rather be doing something hands on than journals. I will probably go back and watch them later, just to see what was presented.

I had not previously heard of or seen the website Schoolgirl Style, and enjoyed the tips for the classroom decorating. I would highly recommend going to Melanie's website and seeing all the beautiful ideas out there. I'm not going to rip down my current decorations (not that crazy), but I know from now on in which direction I need to go. One big tip was to keep all your bulletin boards one color, to make it easier on the eyes. Totally makes sense. But oh well, that's for the future.

Melanie also mentioned a bulletin boarder product called Boardette. I'm sooo out of the loop, over here in Finland. They just don't get classroom decoration. I was able to find some (a very limited supply) of these products from Amazon UK. I will ponder the possibilities.

Speaking of bulletin boards, I use flat bed sheets for my bulletin boards, because, again, there are no long rolls of colored paper available. I think this is a very ECO way to decorate your boards. I wash them at the end of the year, and then put them back up in the autumn. Now I need to think of one single color for future decorating.

That's it for now!

Blind Folded

I had a two day training this week about visually impaired children, since I have a student this year that is visually impaired. This training was very informative and gave me many things to think about.

The first day we had to try on different safety glasses that had been modified to make our vision difficult. Later we had to go to a dark cafe, which was very intense in my opinion. There was simulated noise and you had to really concentrate on what you were doing when getting your coffee. By the time I got to the table, I was exhausted. Our final task of the day was when we were led to a room blindfolded. We had to first get to know the room by walking next to the walls and feeling our way around. When we were done we were led to a table and tried some activities with children's toys in the same room. At the end we had all assumed we were in a playroom (hence the toys), but when we took off our blindfolds, we were in a room that was used for meetings.

The second day we had to help lead our blind folded partner around the building. I turned out to be a poor guide, since my partner never went through door ways without bumping into the side. Oops! Later we had to go do a obstacle course blindfolded. The teacher led us one by one through the course, and the theme was 'We are going on a lion hunt'. The music had been playing earlier, and the teacher asked us if we remembered what came first, next and so on as we went through the course.

On most of these blindfolded activities, I always had an excellent visual in my mind, how everything looked. Always when I took off my blindfold, I was a bit disappointed it wasn't as great!

Here is a pic of the obstacle course.

After all of this I have thought about doing a blind obstacle course with my students. I think it would be really interesting for students to experience. Also, we could make some modified safety glasses for the classroom, so that students can get an idea how our visually impaired student experiences life.

I am grateful to have had these experiences!

Fun Friday link up

Today is technically Tuesday, but I am giving myself some slack, since school has been totally crazy!
I really wanted to share the 2 fun things we did last week. I'm linking up with Teaching Fourth for Fun Friday.

First off, we went on a nature walk to the near by protected forest. Here we are walking, all 34 students, 2 teachers and 2 assistants. We were identify leaves in the forest.

Then we made some apple art using crayon resist. The students had to draw and color two apples with crayon. They also were allowed to add some fairies or goblins into the pictures. Then we used water colors for the background. Oh boy, I forgot what a whole class art lesson is like! I was tired afterwards. 

Just on a side note, I have to do list in my binder. I printed it Sunday night, and it was full in 24hours......really??? I guess I will use the back side to finish up this week :(