December in a Nutshell

   We have had a busy month of December, and I apologize for not getting these pictures up sooner!  I just realized that I had not put these pictures up yet, so therefore, there are many stories to tell!  We are now into a brand new month and excited to get things rolling again after the Christmas break we had.  But first, a look back at December in a nutshell!

Kelly Riley from the Wayne Co. Water and Soil Conservation District came to talk with us about pollution and ways to conserve our natural resources.

We learned many new things from her and enjoyed her Enviroscape model she brought with her.

We enjoyed our time with her.

Thanks, Kelly for coming and sharing with us!

Santa Claus came for our room party!  Can you guess who is under that beard?

We were excited for our room party to begin!

Ah-ha!  I think it is Sierra in disguise!!!

Our room party began with eating yummy cupcakes!

And lots of laughs!

Many of us were excited for the fun to keep rolling!

Then, we started a craft project.

We were working hard!

Enjoying our time together!

Santa's back!

Sidney was hard at work preparing her basket.

Looks good, Thomas!

Nice job, Austin!

Beautiful work, Ashlei!

Hard at work!

And we made time to be goofy as well!

Fun was had by all!  Merry Christmas!!!

We decided to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas by donating goods to the Ronald McDonald House of Akron.  As you can see, my van was starting to load up with items from all fourth grade classes.

Here were some of my awesome elves who helped me load the goods into my van.

Some more elves!

Awesome job fourth graders!  You filled my van!!!

I took 615 items to The Ronald McDonald House, and they were amazed and humbled by our outpouring of love for others!  Awesome job, Shreve Fourth Graders!

Here are just some snapshots that I took while I was there of the house.  I wanted the kids to see exactly where their items were going.  Pictured above is the eating area where the families of ill or hurt children can gather together.

The kitchen facilities in the house.

Family area in the house.

"The House that Love Built."

Area where rooms are located off the main gathering area.

More rooms.

Main sitting area for families to gather round together.

Ronald, himself in the garden area.

Small play set for siblings or patients.

And lastly, a sample bedroom.

I could not be prouder of our Fourth Graders!  They showed amazing amounts of giving, and I truly thank all of them!  I feel that we did get a chance to really feel what Christmas is all about this season by donating to such a worthy cause.  I was thrilled that our students were able to participate in a cause that hits home to so many.  As a parent of a child with medical needs, our family has used the Ronald McDonald House on numerous occasions and have felt blessed to have been able to use their services.  Having a child in the hospital is never fun or easy, but the Ronald McDonald House makes the process a little bit easier.  Thank you Shreve Fourth Graders for helping so many families!  You have not only touched the hearts of many, many strangers...you have also touched mine!  

There Once was a Daisy

All of my Fourth Grade Science classes performed a wonderful reader's theater titled "There Once was a Daisy" for 14 classrooms and even Mr. Schindewolf and the office staff watched us!  The students did a wonderful job and should be very proud of their hard work and efforts!  We learned about food chains, food webs, and the cycle of life while working on our fluency with the reader's theater portion.  It was a great time and we appreciated all the support we received from our audiences!  Thanks, Shreve Elementary!

Performing for Kindergarten

More Kindergarten!

 

Performing for second graders

 

We had fun in Kindergarten classes!

 

Fifth graders enjoyed our show!

More Kindergarteners!

We made outstanding props!

We even went to perform for sixth graders!

 

More sixth graders!

 

We had an awesome time learning! 

A visit from Honest Abe

We were lucky enough for Abraham Lincoln to come by and visit us!  We were able to enjoy a speech from him about what his life was like as he was growing up.  We learned a lot from him and enjoyed our afternoon with him.  Thank you, Mr. Lincoln for taking time with us!

Listening to Mr. Lincoln speak to us.

Mr. Lincoln was a tall man!

Thank you for a great day of learning!

Mystery Readers Return

First of all, I need to apologize for the lack of posts lately!  As many of you know, my son, Reid, had surgery to repair his palate.  This was his 5th repair, and much of my time and dedication has been to him over the past month.  The classroom blog definitely took a backseat!  I also have to apologize to Mrs. Esselburn.  She came in to mystery read to our class when I was caring for Reid, and we did not get a picture!  I have put that on my things to do list and will add her to our blog when I get a picture of her!  So, thanks, Mrs. Esselburn for reading to our class, and we will get you pictured super soon!

Thanks to Ms. Schemrich for coming to be our Mystery Reader last week!  We enjoyed having you, and loved hearing a story from when you were young!  Thanks for coming in!  We loved it!

Fall Room Party 2011

We had a great time with our Fall Room Party on Friday, October 28.  A big thank you to Mrs. Gress, Mrs. Miller, and Mrs. Sigler for all your time and help!  We appreciate you!

Getting ready for the fun!

                    Hat day and our Fall Festivities fell on the same day!

                                 Enjoying our time together!

                                              More fun!

                          Gracie enjoying the cookie she decorated!

             Sierra looks pretty fancy in her hat she choose for the day! 

Spencer is not in my homeroom, but is a Science student of mine, and I had to showcase his wig for funny hat/wig day!  I thought Spencer made quite the statement!  Thank you all for the fun! 

A great website for getting into the fall spirit for kids!

http://spookathon.com/halloween/pumpkin-carver.php