Heidi's Crafting Mecca

This little guy is absolutely adorable! The second he opens his mouth, the adults in the classroom melt. Listen closely as he says "OH my God" when he gets excited. I bought them a kaleidoscope at Bowne & Co. this past weekend. I use it as an incentive for when kids are really behaving. It doesn't come out very often as I don't want it to lose it's "luster" as something really cool to earn. This little one thought it would be amazing to show the kaleidoscope through the camera. HOW SMART! At the end, you hear them gathering to see what happens. THIS is why this age is so fabulous to me. I am starting a hands-on Science unit next week on the ocean...I can only imagine the excitement!

After all of that fun, I wanted a few of them to share some pictures they were working on. The kiddo that was making the drum sounds is a hoot. The part that I loved is that he looked at each part of the drum set on the picture as he made the sound. That way he didn't miss any of them! I am going to do a ton of singing and music this year--starting next week! He is sure to love being the drummer. I have a bin of instruments from http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/ which I know they will love. The gal in the red is my new paraprofessional, Ms. Perez. She is AMAZING! Her willingness to learn and model positive teaching practices is so refreshing. Mr. Fray is the gentleman that works in my room. He is certainly a positive role model for these young men. Mr. Fray just adores Marlon...he said he wants to just pinch his little cheeks.

This is the area of my classroom called the Reading Reef. The KIDS call it THE BEACH and work to earn some time reading in there. In this picture, they are enjoying a story on Cd and listening through headphones.

Precious. Big books are a fun way to develop a love of reading. How cool is it to be 6 and lugging around a book that is almost as big as you are!