Happy Fall, Ya'll!

We had a wonderful time at our Fall Celebration! Thank you so much to all parents and grandparents who helped organize the celebration, donated materials, and volunteered their time for our special day. The kids had a blast! We began our celebration by playing a game with Candy Corn and chopsticks! Trust me--picking up candy corn with chopsticks is a lot harder than it looks ;) Next, we enjoyed lunch in the classroom (this is a HUGE deal to the kiddos since they never get to eat in the room) and made the most adorable bat snack bag crafts. Thank you so much to Meg at PlumPrint.com for this awesome craft idea! Finally, we wrapped up our celebration by sipping hot apple cider around our crackling campfire--yes, an indoor campfire!..with a little help from YouTube and the Promethean board ;) Fun was had by all. Thanks again to my awesome parent/grandparent volunteers for organizing this! Happy fall, ya'll. 

Bringing the great outdoors to Room 203! 

Weekly News from Room 203!

7 Habits of Happy Kids

This year we have been reading The 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey! Along with the fun and lovable characters in the stories, our class has learned important life lessons and values. The 7 Habits are:
Habit 1. Be Proactive: I am in charge of my attitude, actions, and mood
Habit 2. Begin With the End in Mind: Have a plan
Habit 3. Put First Things First: Work, then play
Habit 4. Think Win-Win: I win, you win, we all win
Habit 5. Seek First to Understand, then to be Understood: Listen before you speak
Habit 6. Synergize: Together is Better
Habit 7. Sharpen the Saw: Balance Feels Best 

I am so incredibly proud of my students for working so hard to practice these habits each day! The 7 Habits have become an important part of our classroom, and the best part is that the kids understand them AND love them. Since we are all about movement in Room 203, we use hand motions to help remember each habit. Check out our video below. Enjoy!

p.s.- I know the posters are hard to see in the video, but each week we focus on a different habit and those are the posters we hang next to our calendar to show which habit we're focusing on. :) Download your own copy here for free!

7 Habits of Happy Kids from Becca Wertheim on Vimeo.

Good Times with Google Earth

In Social Studies we have been learning about maps and globes. No map lesson is complete without Google Earth! I'm a HUGE fan of Google Earth (let's be honest...it's so much fun!) My kiddos will have the chance to explore Google Earth a whole lot this year. We began this unit by reading Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney. This interactive book puts maps into perspective for kids, by zooming in on a map of the girl's bedroom and zooming out all the way to a map of the planet, talking about a variety of maps in between. We were lucky enough to participate in an AWESOME Google Earth intro lesson led by Claxton's Instructional Technology Teacher, Mrs. Eggett and our Media Center Specialist, Mrs. Allbach. Not only were the kiddos excited to see Google Earth in action, but they were particularly excited to use iPads! Students worked together to find North America, then zoomed in on North Carolina, Asheville, and finally, Claxton. They really loved the "street view" which shows exactly what our school looks like from the road. Have you used Google Earth street view yet? If not, check it out. It's so neat! Here are some pics from our fun day:

Thank you so much for stopping by! Be sure to check back soon.

Trick Words Can't Trick Us!

Trick words are words that are difficult to spell because they don't follow the rules of our language. We can't sound them out or tap them out, but we can sing them! We use multi-sensory strategies to practice our words. Here's a sneak peek of how we practice our words. In this video we are performing again, please, and animal. We put the FUN in Fundations! Enjoy. For more Fundations Films, please visit our class Reading page. :) 

Trick Words Can't Trick Us! from Rebecca Wertheim on Vimeo.

Thanks for stopping by!