We Went Walking...

Last week we read I Went Walking  and toured our school! Here are a few pictures of who we saw when we went walking...

Our School Nurse, Mrs. Shelia

Our Principals, Dr. Patterson and Mrs. Skinner

Our School Receptionist, Mrs. Nancy McDowell

Our School Book Keeper, Guidance Counselor, and Head Custodian, Mrs. Hall, Mrs. Robertson, and Mrs. Debbie Thomas

 

College Colors Day!

Room 202 is a class divided!

Gamecocks and Clemson... with Tarheel and Duke in the middle!

No matter the team color we wear we are ALL on the path to college!

 

 

.... Go Gamecocks! ~Mrs. Daniel and Mrs. Roper



Reading with our Buddies

Our stuffed animals love school as much as we do! Here's a few pictures of us reading with our favorite stuffed animals from home.

She's not going to like this... but I had to do it!

Here's Mrs. Roper and our resident Buddy Bear!

Our First Mentor Author, Mo Willems!

Meet Mo Willems!!!

Here's a link to an interview with Mo: http://safeshare.tv/w/AZPidtfnpM

 

 

We have been laughing to silly favorites like Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and The Pigeon wants a Puppy!

 

Mo encourages children to "doodle" to express themselves. As an adult, he still does this! One way Mo doodles is by using extra long paper on his dining room table at home. His family gathers around the table and doodles characters from his books or whatever is on their mind.

Room 202 Kiddos "Doodled" after our first Writer's Workshop Lesson.

Check it out!

Today we read The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! He really wanted a puppy so badly and promised to water it once a month! Our kiddos thought he was crazy, a puppy needs water more than once a month!

When a puppy finally arrived, he was frightened! He decided a walrus would be better.

After reading, our students wrote their own Pigeon story.

 

Can you believe this work is from a kindergartener? This is amazing!

 

 

We love Mo Willems because he promotes a love for writing and illustrating. "If you draw  pictures, you are an illustrator. If you write words, you are an author. You do not have to be "published" to be an author or illustrator."

 

I encourage you to look for books by Mo Willems next time you are at your local library. Your children will love reading his silly stories with you!



 

 

Reading Workshop

Our Reading Workshop is off to a great start. This is one of the most enjoyable times of the day for Room 202 kiddos!
Peek into our workshop...

 

Day 2!

Another great day in Room 202!
Did you know we had authors in our class? Yes, that's right! We have 22 young authors! They are writing their first book to put in our classroom library.

 

Lily shares her scrapbook page with her friends. 

Rilee Grace shares her scrapbook page.

 

Room 202 Kids LOVE school so much already!

 

See you tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by!

Our First Day!

We had a great first day in Room 202! Our kindergarteners came in ready to learn and had a blast! We are off to a fantastic start. I am excited to be part of your child's life this year! Thank you for sharing your child with us.

Morning Activity

Decorating our Names



Jitter Juice

No more jitters! Happy kiddos!

Brain Breaks

Lunch time!!!

Writer'sWorkshop

We had a lot of fun today! Come back tomorrow to see more fun from Room 202!

Meet Mrs. Daniel

I am so glad you are here! This is the very first step to an incredible journey of partnering with me in your child's education. I like to think of myself as a contractor (weird I know), but I build the foundation for your child's education.  That's a lot of pressure! I want every child to LOVE school, reading, writing, math, science, social studies- pretty much, just LOVE all things related to LEARNING.

 I am happily married to Tyler and we have been blessed with two beautiful girls, Emary Kate (turning 4 in September) and Ellie (turning 1 in August). I have such a strong passion in teaching. During the summer I feel incomplete because teaching children is such a huge part of my life. However, I do love spending the undivided time with my girls and husband. It gives me a chance to be a "stay at home mom" while also having the opportunity to reflect and plan for the upcoming school year during nap time! We go to the beach several times during the summer. I love to read on the beach, but this year I have been chasing Ellie instead! We also spend a lot of time with our family at Lake Greenwood. We enjoy watersports and relaxing on the pontoon. I spend a lot of time reading to and with my girls. Emary Kate is a magnificent 'reader'. She is retelling familiar stories and reading the pictures to me now. She has so much pride in herself. I encourage you to have these moments with your child as well! We are still working on how to hold books and not rip the pages out with Ellie! She is definitely the more "adventurous" one. Another favorite "hobby" of mine is shopping. I love to shop. Anywhere. My husband makes fun saying that I can find something to buy no matter where I am. Recently, I have found a love for running. It's a work in progress, but it's a great way for me to reflect on the day and get refreshed for the next. But, the most important thing we do together as a family is attend our church, New Life Baptist Fellowship in Boiling Springs. We absolutely love our church.

I cannot sit in one place for very long. So, I definitely do not expect 5 year-olds to. We are constantly moving around and are actively engaged in our learning. The students have ownership in every single lesson I create or steal from other great teachers. Currently, I am researching and practicing Inquiry/ Project Based Learning. It has been such an honor to share my experiences in my classroom with fellow teachers in Spartanburg County and across the state. I have enjoyed connecting to parents and family members through blogging. Parents have enjoyed seeing what their children were doing daily in the classroom. Several parents shared the blog with other family members who lived far away. Blogging is a fantastic tool that has endless possibilities. I look to explore more this year!

Thanks for reading. I appreciate your support and I know your child does too. Enjoy what's left of summer! I look forward to an exciting adventure in August!

Emily Daniel