THE TEDDE TIMES
Week of February 6 -10, 2012
Love, Love, Love!
This week we had lots of activities to accompany the Valentine
theme. We made cards for our parents and a personalized valentine bag. We
also made a Love is…… book. On Tuesday the children will deliver their
valentines and decorate a little cookie treat for after lunch. The room moms
are purchasing everything needed. We have some left over money from before,
so if we run out we’ll put out a holler. On Tuesday the children will make
cute “Valentine Visors” and have some other valentine fun. Please don’t
forget their valentines in a bag labeled with your child’s name.
The children also made a blue page for their color book and worked on Ww
and the number 14. We are really moving along with our phonics and I have been
very pleased with my testing results in this area. In fact, I’m feeling great
about all aspects of how our children are progressing. They are all working
very hard and so proud of what they are learning and what they can do. They
have come a very long way from September. Please remember that they are
growing and ready to do so much more on their own, so keep your expectations
growing, also. Thanks!
I am enjoying talking to you about your children. It is very obvious how
much you love them and how determined you are to have them choosing a good
path in school. The children really are doing a great job, and it is pretty
easy for me to get through my lessons without many interruptions. We are
remembering manners and the children are so much more focused. Time and
patience work so well together, don’t they?
On Thursday we learned about Abraham Lincoln. You will get a kick out of
seeing our Abraham Lincoln faces in the front window. The children really
like hearing about how things used to be in the “old days” in our country.
They were sad to hear that Honest Abe had to be president when our country had
a war, and were glad to hear that Mr. Lincoln’s “side/team” won. (They say
funny things, don’t they?) I don’t spend much time on the war part, but I do
tell them in very elementary terms what the fight was about. And, we do tell
about how his life ended, and use it as a good character lesson about how
there are some people in the world that make very selfish decisions that can
make many, many people so very sad. Deciding about what and how to say to the
children about these things has always been difficult for me. I do think that
children need to know that there really are people that make very poor
decisions and that everyone is not as kind as they could be. So much of their
world is full of playing and pretending. We all know what horrid things go on
in our world, and having a child realize that they need to listen to their
elders and why we have to have the rules that we have for them is important.
They don’t need to know details to understand that they need to make safe
choices. Enough of that!!
On Tuesday we began our little space unit. We discussed about the
planets orbiting around the sun and where our earth is in the solar system.
We also learned about gravity, and dropped a glue stick and book at the same
time to see which would land first, or would they land at the same time. We
did a cool jet-propulsion experiment with a straw on a string with a balloon
attached. Mrs. Murray’s “hot air” was the fuel. The kids were mesmerized!
Then, we made the awesome rocket reading sheet. The children had to make
their rocket step by step with me, and they loved their completed paper. It’s
a fun day for me, and next we will learn about stars. It’s also kind of funny
for me to realize that when I was the kids’ age, people had not even gone up
into space. I remember when John Glenn orbited the earth. It was such a
huge deal, and now we have people going up and landing again in the space
shuttle. It reminds me that I have been around a really long time. Don’t
forget that there are so many terrific non-fiction books in the main library
for you to check out. The kids LOVE looking at the real pictures and can take
in a lot of information at this point.
Guess it’s time to finish up. Even when I think I’m going to have a
short TEDDE Times, I end up filling up the pages with my thoughts and
suggestions. Yes, I certainly can talk a lot!! LOL
Have a lovely three days. The weather is UNBELIEVABLE!! XOXOX0 Mrs. M.
