Terrific Tuesday

My teaching-fairy-godmother gifted me again! If you remember, she teaches K across the hall from me and is fabulous! She gave me the tree that is the focal point of my classroom and she is a super teacher to my little guy Joshua (who read 10 sight words today!). We are supposed to have a "Crisis Bag" hanging in our classroom this year, complete with class roster and phone numbers to call parents, some busy work and band aids etc. It's what we grab as we head out the door in case of a fire or evacuation, so all of the contents are aimed towards that scenario. This is the first year we've been required to have one. Well, rather than having to hang up a boring old bag, I am now able to hang up a bag customized for me by Mrs. McKelvey! She spent her fall break making custom crisis bags for our team! I only have a picture of mine right now - I forgot to grab pics of the others, but I can't wait to show you how cute it is!

We had a really good day today, behavior wise and in terms of what we got accomplished. At the end of the day we had enough time to do some fun stuff! Some of us were finishing up our torn-paper candy corn projects, while others were illustrating their page from our Pigeon class books:

Others were practicing their spelling words in shaving cream:

 Still others got out our Perler beads and made some creations, great for fine motor control!

I love the Perler beads, not only are they great for fine motor dexterity, they are also great for patterning. It's also wonderful for building patience/focus. After school I iron any creation that is complete and then use my glue gun to attach a magnet. My kiddos love coming in and seeing their creations displayed on the easel the next morning and then I let them take their creation home at the end of the day! Since I have a few little guys who have such poor fine motor skills that the Perler beads are too difficult, I was thrilled to see these "Biggie" Perler beads the other day! I am ordering a set of them as an alternative for those who find the smaller ones too frustrating, I think they're the perfect size for kindergarten too!

All in all, it really was a terrific Tuesday, we even stopped at Atlanta Bread Company on the way home for dinner - it's Kids Night on Tuesdays so kids eat for 99 cents! Since I have 4 kids, that is a bargain I can't resist :) Alright, headed to spend time with my significant other now (no, not my husband, my laminator! I swear I spend more time with it than I do my poor spouse!)