Surfin' Through Second: cooking

Aloha friends!! I have been meaning to write this post for a few weeks, but going back to school has kept me incredibly busy!!

I don't have a major classroom reveal, it's pretty much the same as last year.
(see last year's post here)

I have added a math focus board this year.

(Excuse the mess!)

We started off our first week with practicing our routines and getting used to being back in school.

We did a fun science experiment to get my kiddos predicting and observing.

We drew a dot on a piece of paper towel with a black Crayola marker. I told them we were going to dip it into some water and they had to predict what would happen.

They had fun seeing the black dot move up the paper and discovered that black ink is made up of different colors!

We also had our first cooking project.

I always start the year with our fruit salad recipe. But this year it was cancelled our first week due to hurricane Iselle. I rescheduled for the following week and most kids forgot to bring a fruit, since the first week I had sent home a note, and the following week I didn't. We still had some kids bring in fruit, so they prepared what we had and we all shared.

They started their new cookbooks too.

I take about 10 pieces of 9x12 construction paper and bind it together. We glued on a cover and then they add their recipes inside.

While a few students at a time are cutting up the fruit and preparing, students at their seats worked on their cookbooks and then did a fruit word search.

The cover and recipe are a freebie in Google Docs. You can click on the pictures to download them. The word search is from my Hawaii pack.

The second week we started our Morning work which includes doing a word problem each morning.

I created this template on my math focus board out of washi tape, to match what was on their papers.

I walked them through each part step by step for the whole week. We filled in our chart on the board and then they did it on their own papers.

I really stressed that their explanation should tell how they knew what to do and to tell the answer. I have a handful of students that already have it down!! I am really happy with their progress.

This last week we started math rotations. It is similar to last years rotations, but slightly different. I will share out next week.

I hope your back to school has gone smoothly and your class is shaping up for a great year!! I am loving the mix of sweet kiddos this year!!

I made it through the first week and what a time we had! I have 22 students this year, but 5 of them were out on the first day! The second day I had 5 students out again, but I had a student come who had been sick the first day, and one was gone for a dental appointment. The third day I had 5 out again and on Thursday the one who had a dental appointment for two days came back and another student who just got back from vacation showed up!

So by Friday I had 19 students with 3 that are still on vacation! Our state went to the year round system two years ago and it has not been a good schedule. We have many families that travel in the summer and don't come back until September!! So needless to say as I was trying to train all the rest and had students trickling in not knowing what to do and having to repeat myself many, many times!

But overall it was a great week. This is a cute lively bunch who seem really happy to be back in school. They laugh at my goofy jokes and give me hugs all day long:)

Things that I loved this week.

My new clip chart! The kids loved this!! Over half the kids in my class are surfers and they thought this was the greatest thing ever!! It helped me focus on the positive and they all wanted to get to Cowabunga soo bad!!

My dolphin magic wand!!

I used this to get attention and we practiced alot!! It's such a soft, nice sound and they were quiet instantly when they heard it! Click on the wand to go to their site:)

My New Rug

What a time saver!! I love how they come sit down in their spot and there is no arguing about where to sit!

My new book bags

I feel so organized and they look so nice with matching numbers where they should hang.

My word wall

We added a few important words and I love that I can just write it on the board.

My new students:)

They really are cute and such pleasers this year:))

Things That Didn't Go So Well

Our new schedule

The whole school is implementing RTI and we have an intervention block the last

half hour of school. We have also been given a new daily schedule after 7 years of the same one.

I was off the whole week and running late for everything. Every night I went home exhausted and felt like I hadn't accomplished anything!!

My classroom printer

I am lucky to have a laser printer in my room and have depended on it for two years now. Well it is not connecting to my laptop and I have not been able to print anything from it, so all my parent letters will be a week late:(

And I still have not found my Bulletin board letters!!!???I just don't know where to look?? I ordered new sets in May with my classroom money, but guess what?? The order was never placed because the money was just released!!! So many of the items I was depending on I do not have:(

Okay I will stop whining now and end with our fun Friday activity.

I love to have cooking projects in my class. I call it cooking but we never use heat. I have done this since I began teaching in Kindergarten 20 years ago!!

Since our first science unit is life cycles of plants and animals I start off the year making fruit salad.

Homework on Thursday night was to bring in a piece of fruit.

I can't believe the spread we had this year!! I have Never gotten a pineapple before, lol!

I have a recipe that we read together, then I call 3 kids back at a time to cut up their fruit and place it in the bowl. We go over rules of washing hands, not licking the knives, no sneezing on the food and no licking our fingers. I cut up the apples and core them and they do the rest with a plastic knife.

The rest of the class decorates their recipe page, and then works together on a fruit word search. I usually do a graph of "What is Your Favorite Fruit", but I just didn't have it together this year!! I keep their recipe page and we place it into our cookbooks (that I will have a parent make later).

After everyone cuts up the fruit we mix it up, talk about good manners, serve everyone, and all eat together.

Even the teacher eats some:)

The kids love it and always look forward to the next project:)

Here is the recipe page and the cover I use for our cookbooks.
Just click on the picture to grab it in Google Docs.