Happy Birthday!

In the past two weeks, we have had two very special birthdays in our class. Eliana had a birthday on August 10th and La'Shawn had a birthday on August 18th.

As a class we just LOVE birthdays. We hope that we were able to make both days special for both students. I can't believe that I didn't bring my camera to school on Eliana's birthday. However, I did want to share the photo (below) from La'Shawn's birthday. As a great surprise, one of the 3rd grade classes (Mrs. Hibbard's class) gathered around La'Shawn in the hallway and sang "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to him. La'Shawn was so happy and smiled the entire time! Thank you so much Mrs. Hibbard's class for making La'Shawn's birthday so special!

Happy Birthday Eliana and La'Shawn! We love you both!

Our First Fun Fantastic Friday!

On the first day of school, I promised our students that every Friday we would have FUN FANTASTIC FRIDAY!! So, last week (on our first real Friday), we started our tradition!

Every Friday, we will begin with a group game of UNO! UNO is not only fun. It is also a great way for the students to review their numbers, colors, and turn-taking behaviors!

Enoch and Lucy pose for a picture!

Tony loves our class and we love having him too!

Fridays also give us an opportunity to go spend some time in the computer lab! Our students LOVE this time!

... And then our FUN FANTASTIC FRIDAY activity!

For this FUN FANTASTIC FRIDAY, we made Guiltless Pizza! Since Lucy was the Teacher's Helper this week, she was the "Baker in Training"!

Our ingredients called for White Cheddar rice cakes, pizza sauce, olives, and mushrooms. It also called for mozzarella cheese but we accidentally left it in the refrigerator. Oops!

Our first step was to spread pizza sauce over our rice cake!

Ms. Malcom helping Joyria spread her pizza sauce!

Lucy giving Eliana olives to put on her "pizza"!

Joyria working hard to make her "pizza"!

After completing her "Baker in Training" duties, Lucy stopped to enjoy her "pizza"!

Eliana loved her "pizza"!

Our Guiltless Pizzas were actually quite good! Mrs. Stowe is in charge of the next FUN FANTASTIC FRIDAY activity. We'll see what she comes up with!

Another Employee of the Moment!

Last week, Mrs. Stowe was awarded the Employee of the Moment award! Mrs. Ford passed her trophy down and recognized Mrs. Stowe for her kindness/ respect towards all of the children at our school! Mrs. Stowe definitely deserves this award! Way to Go Mrs. Stowe! We are so proud of you!

Together Again!

The beginning of school is always so much fun! We are always so happy to be back together again!

Below, Lucy and La'Shawn pose for a picture! They are such great friends and were so happy to see each other on the first day of school!

Joyria was full of smiles on the first day of school! She was so happy to see all of her friends too!

At circle time, we all talked about what we did over the summer!

Joyria obviously had a great summer! She had lots to say!

Enoch was eager to share his summer events with us as well!

Lucy said that she went swimming over the summer. She also went to the beach!

This is our new friend, Tony! We welcome Tony to our class and look forward to a wonderful school year with him!

Enoch quickly earned fish to place on his behavior chart! Way to go Enoch!

Tony was a little uneasy at first. However, it didn't take long and he was ready to enjoy the school day!

One group: Lucy, La'Shawn, DeAsia, and Enoch!

The other group: Santoes, Eliana, Joyria, and Tony!

We have had a fabulous start to the school year! All of our students came in with positive attitudes and eager to learn! We are so proud of all of them already!

Employee of the Moment!

This year, our school started a new, fun recognition program. Staff members are chosen to represent the "Employee of the Moment". Once selected, the "Employee of the Moment" is given a trophy that they may keep in their room for a week. When their week is up, they choose another staff member to recognize. An e-mail is sent to the entire staff explaining why the person was chosen!

Last week, Ms. Malcom was recognized as the "Employee of the Moment"! Yay!

The "Employee of the Moment" trophy!

Ha! Ha! Mrs. Higdon and Mrs. Stowe actually deserve EMPLOYEE OF EVERY MOMENT!

Below is a picture of Mrs. Stowe, Ms. Malcom, and Mrs. Higdon before Open House! I am so blessed to have such wonderful co-workers. We work so well together and make such a great team. They are both so wonderful to our students!

Under the Sea!

At the end of last year, we decided to put up all of our Jungle-themed decorations and prepare for a new classroom theme: Under the Sea!

We LOVE it! We especially love the huge whale that Mrs. Higdon made for our wall! Thanks Mrs. Higdon!

This is absolutely true in our room!

Remember our TOP TOUCAN from last year? This year, we will choose one "TOP TUNA" each week! This students is one that demonstrates hard work and great behavior in class!

Part of our classroom!

The "WOW" board will be full of excellent work very soon!

Our class schedule!

Our lunch choice board!

Our classroom helper board!

My favorite part of the room: Reader's Reef!

Small group learning center!

Ms. Malcom's desk and a closer look of the whale's face!

Our "Looking for Fin-tastic behavior" chart! Students earn fish for good behavior and hard work. When they earn 10 fish, they get to choose something from the treasure box!

Our "Standards of Behavior"!

A closer look at "Reader's Reef"!

Our indoor recess or play area!

I am so excited about this year!

A New Year!

A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR!

I can't believe that this will be my 5th year teaching. It amazes me that, after 5 years of doing this, I still have that 1st day anxiety and excitement. The 1st day of school was so much fun! I didn't sleep a wink the night before and got to work at 6:15 (45 minutes early). I just couldn't wait to see all of those smiling faces as they entered school for a new year. My students were so excited to be there and so happy to see Mrs. Higdon, Mrs. Stowe, and I. It was a great day and I look forward to many more!

This blog will allow you to keep up with us over the school year! Check back often to see what we have been up to!

Love, Ms. Malcom

Special Olympics Closing Ceremony!

After the Parade, we all gathered in the Sharp gym for the Closing Ceremony. We didn't take many pictures at the Closing Ceremony, but below are some that we did take!

DeAsia wanted to hold Baby Blair! She was so sweet with her and they had a great time together!

Ms. Malcom poses for a picture with one of her former students, Tradarius! I miss this kid very much!

Mrs. Stowe was soooo happy to see Tradarius as well!

After the Closing Ceremony, we had hot dogs!

It was nice to have Mrs. Sterling (La'Shawn's mother), Mrs. McDonald (Lucy's mother), Ms. Angie (Lucy's aunt), Kelli, and Baby Blair join us for the Closing Ceremony and picnic! You all are wonderful!

That ends our week of Special Olympics! We had a GREAT time! Thanks to all who supported us and took time out of their day to join us! A SPECIAL THANKS to Mrs. Stowe and Mrs. Higdon for being so wonderful this entire week (as they always are) and encouraging our kids to be proud of themselves!