Happy Thanksgiving! This week we have a delicious Thanksgiving feast and the children loved it. It was exciting to see the children try and eat new foods and all of the badgers liked it very much.

In Phonics we started on the letter Ww. They love using the computers to help them learn how to write the letters and it seems to help them remember the right way.

In Math class, we did an exercise that challenged their attention span and common sense. The children are getting better at writing the numbers now. We are past the hard part. the last numbers except for eight should be easy for them now.

In science we are still doing the states of matter. This week we learned about liquid. And what better way then with water balloons!

We got some new sight words in reading class this week. The words are starting to get longer now, and students are realizing that one word can have more than one syllable. "Butterfly" is now the biggest word on the wall replacing "yellow".

I am determined to guide my class down a path away from tattling. The students are beginning to understand that they are getting rewarded for solving their differences on their own. It is a big step for them to take and they have a long way to go, but they are starting to see the right path.

Jae
Everyone always wants to sit next to Jae, just this week I noticed that it is starting to go to her head, and she is beginning to pick and choose who can sit beside her. So I have given the students permanent seating. I also noticed just today that when it was time to wash her hands before snack that she just quickly rinsed her hands. I will keep an eye on this and make sure she keeps up good hygiene habits.

Leetrue also almost always forgets to wash his hands, but he knows I am watching him. It is funny because now all I have to do is look at him and he knows that he forgot to wash them and he goes back and does it properly.

Christine has been sticking her fingers in her mouth again. And she doesn't pull up her chair and sit on it properly. She usually has her chair too far back with one foot on the floor and one knee on the chair. I also often have to tell the other students to sit properly but I am especially concerned with her posture.

August
For the Christmas show, all the students have to say what they want for Christmas. August knows what he wants for Christmas and has no problem saying the word "airplane" in normal conversation, but when it comes time for him to say his lines, for some reason he seems to struggle with it and each syllable comes out very slowly. "For Christ-mas - I - want - an - air - plane."I think it's because when we he said it by himself the first time he said ""a" airplane", but we needed to correct it to ""an" airplane". This threw him off a bit. Maybe he could practice a bit at home.

Jason is still struggling to follow along with his finger when reading along with us. I don't expect him to be able to read right now, the first step for him is to recognize the divisions between words so he can follow with his finger. It would be good for him if when you were reading with him at home, if you could ask him to follow with his finger while someone else reads the words. Then he could try to repeat it and point.

Ryan has changed from the young new boy who could hardly hold a pencil, to one who can write many letters and numbers correctly. He is also now able to follow complex instructions and execute independently. Don't worry about him I believe he just has lots of energy, and a huge imagination.

Theresa has been quite grumpy after nap time recently. It takes her a long time to get into gear and ready for class time. And if she is urged to move faster, she just takes even longer. I realize that all she wants is some attention and a hug, and I will try and make her understand that she will be able to get more positive attention from me if she gets ready for class more quickly, then she will have some more time for a hug. I just don't want to give her what she wants when she exhibits grumpiness.