Welcome to Mrs. Westbrook's Page

Happy April!!

School Wide Walk - March 30, 2012

Another fun day in the sun!  We walked around the neighborhood 3 times and then came back to school for some popsicles and dance music.  :)  A big thank you to all the parents who came, walked, helped out, and took pictures!

 Break-dancing!

Our Field Trip to Sewell Park - March 15, 2012

We took a walk though the neighborhood to Sewell Park in order to focus on some of our Science standards.  It was such a beautiful day for a walk!  At the park we participated in several activities: we took a nature walk, learned about rocks, learned about worms, and even had the chance to hold and examine worms up close and personal! 

OK...so sorry for all the pictures of backs.  But, your kiddos move fast!  And, they were busy investigating.  They did not have time for me and my camera! 

 

Worm pictures to come soon.  I left my camera at school...but they are worth the wait!

Dr. Seuss' Birthday - March 2, 2012

Pictures coming soon!

 

Dance Party Compliment Party - February 2012

Our class has earned a total of 60 compliments so far.  They are mainly earned in the hallway from other teachers for our excellent behavior and manners. Each time I have allowed the children to vote for how they want to celebrate.  We have had brownies, blow pops, popsicles...but now they are beginning to get creative!  This time we voted to have a dance party!!  It was pretty entertaining!  :)

 

 The "sprinkler."  Always a classic.  :)

And the creativity continued...for our very next compliment party the children voted to have a costume party.  I am sad to report that I forgot my camera that day.  As entertaining as these photos are, the costumes were even better! 

The 100th Day of School!! January 24, 2012

Pictures will be coming soon! 

 

:)

Working at Literacy Centers! February 2012

Here are a few pictures of our class having fun at work.  This is what the class is busy with while I am teaching small group reading.  :) 

At puzzles and games we review Math and Language skills. 

To strengthen our fine motor muscles we stamp our sight words.

At our Poetry Center we visualize and then illustrate a poem each week which corresponds with the season, holidays, or current units of study.  This poem was for Groundhog Day. 

The Writing Center allows the children to work independently on the skills we practice together during writing every day. 

Word Work Sorts - We begin the year sorting shapes, then letters, then sorting by initial letter sound (seen here), ending letter sounds, then we progress to sorting by rhyming and word families. 

On the back of the sorting activity the students are asked to generate their own words and pictures that match the sort. 

Listening Center- the children listen to a story each week on headphones.  Then they write down the title, author, and illustrate their favorite part of the story. 

The students can select to complete these 6 centers in any order they choose.  The only expectations are that they stay on task and finish all 6 by the end of the week.  This is also the time that Mrs. Danielson pulls small groups to complete all the adorable seasonal crafts that grace our bulletin boards and door. 

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

On our very last day of school before the Winter Holidays we had two big surprises:

A gingerbread house making party and a visit from the big guy himself!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Holidays!!

Holidays Around the World

Diwali

Today Mrs. Aiyer's class joined our class so we could all learn more about Diwali.  Diwali, or the festival of lights, is celbrated by Hindus in India.  Mrs. Aiyer and both of Ridhi's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Koner, joined us to teach us about this exciting holiday. We made paper lanterns and decorated Rangoli designs to hang in our homes for good luck in the new year.  Mrs. Aiyer also brought a special treat for the girls!  Little jeweled Bindis! 

 Hanukkah

We also learned about Hanukkah.  We made latkes (potato pancakes) and learned how to play dreidel!  Some of us liked the latkes and some of us  did not.

But, eveyone loved playing dreidel!! 

Directions for Dreidel:  

1. Each player gets about 7 gold coins.  We used plastic yellow chips...you really can use anything...pennies, wrapped candies...

2. At the beginning of each round each player places one coin into the middle. 

3. If the pot ever gets empty each player should also add one coin to the middle. 

4. If a player loses all their coins they are out.  The player with all the coins at the end wins!

Here is what each symbol on the dreidel means:

Nun - means nothing - so player does not take any coins from the middle.

Gimmel - means everything - so player takes all the coins in the middle.  (Remember when the pot is empty every player adds one coin back in.) Gimmel was our favorite...many of the students were chanting gimmel over and over as they spun the dreidel...it was hysterical!  

Hay - means half - so the player gets half of the pot.  We did this by saying "one for me, one for the pot..."

Shin - means put in - so the player puts one coin in the middle.  

 

I was so impressed with what good sports all the students were!  Even though they are so competitive at this age, they did an excellent job playing for fun.  And...we had no tears!  Each student was given a chocolate gelt, or chocolate gold coin, to take home as a prize. 

Reindeer Chow

Here we go...eating our Math again! 

Santa heard that we were learning about 3D shapes.  Specifically spheres, cubes, cylinders, and cones.  He said that his reindeer eat a snack called reindeer chow made out of those exact same shapes!  So, being the kind and generous man that he is, Santa sent us some reindeer chow so we could try it ourselves. 

First we sorted our chow, then we counted how many were in each group, and then we graphed how many of each treat we had.  Who knew that shapes could be soooo delicious!?