We had a great week with Letter Vv as we vacuumed everything we could find that began with that vibrating sound; vents, vans, veggies, vests, and valentines, of course.
We sorted valentine candy hearts by color and then counted and recorded our finds. The children are really getting great at remembering their number poems and putting them into practice. I absolutely love this time of year when I see our painstaking efforts pay off. We stand back and watch the magic of sorting, counting and recording happen right under our noses with very little effort on our parts. The room is a buzz with activity and many raised their hands in an amazing timeframe to have us come check their work. “Yep! That’s perfect! You did a great job! Zip that up in your backpack!” I hardly have to remind them to flip their nametags or push in their chairs. It has become automatic. Ahhhh! “The planets are aligning ever so nicely!” As the children worked, we could hear Sam singing his own rendition of the song from “Mulan”. He sang, “You must be swift as a coursing river…” He knew every word. And when he got to the chorus, Brody, sitting next to him, joined in to sing, “Be a man!” Both boys in sync, singing their little hearts out while sorting their candy! Miss Kristen and I busted up. It was adorable.
Sam was on a roll that day. As I asked what words began with letter V, Sam suggested “Vat”. I asked him, “Is vat a word?” “Yes!” he answered, “Vat is a bat in Spanish!” Oh! I didn’t know that! Too cute! We also found a small bug crawling up our wall. As I grabbed a tissue and pinched him up, Bradley was quick to relate his own experience, “My mom killed a cockroach inside the bathtub!” I’m not sure which reaction was bigger, the resounding “Oooh!” from the children when I flushed my captured victim into the toilet or when Bradley made his announcement, but both made Miss Kristen and I giggle…a lot!
Wednesday, we decorated our Valentine holders. Once again, we stood back and watched them color, cut and paste, crimp strips, and peel the backs off of sticky hearts to decorate their bags. I loved hearing the children expressing desires to decorate their own a certain way, “I’m gunna do this!” or “I want to put this here like that!” Trey loved the way his turned out, “This is so cute!” Many have captured my own passion for what paper, glue and a pair of scissors can do! I’m telling you, The planets! The planets! I do love February.
Thursday, we colored and played a letter V maze game using our heart candies, then I gave them a page with blank hearts and they each studied their heart candy messages and wrote down the letters they found on each heart. I went around reading them all, “Look! You wrote I LOVE YOU!” or “That says, CALL ME!” I also learned what TTYL meant from Miss Kristen. She is so smart! My tech savvy is so limited, so if a four year old doesn’t know it, neither do I! Pathetic!
We have been playing letter games and yesterday, we played a sound-blending team game. We divided up the class and let the teams choose their own team name. Then, I wrote three letter words on the board and each teammate had the chance to gain a point for their team by reading a word. Yesterday, the LOVES beat the BIRDS, 7-6 and the VESTS won the SCARLETS in a close tie-breaker 10-9! The children cheer when someone reads a word to add a point to their team score. It is a fun game. Because Brig had read 141 books by Thursday, I gave him a five-letter word, “splat”. He read it without a hitch. He could not be tricked. Little smarty pants! I am so proud of him! I love pulling up all of our readers, displaying their numbered stickers on their chests to the front of the room, to announce their accomplishments. We watch them bow as we clap and then, they all bow as we shout, “GREAT JOB READERS!” This has become our routine and I hardly have to remind a reader to bow and the classes resounding cheer at the end is bigger than ever! Ahhh! Gotta love those planets! These children are like putty in my hands. I love what they are doing and love the things we are seeing. This is when the rewards of teaching come full throttle. I love it! I love it! If your child does not have a reading folder and you think them ready, let us know and we will send you one. Also, if you want to have your child receive more books each time, let us know with a note attached to the folder. Miss Kristen is great at packing up and exchanging books.
Monday is our big Valentine’s Day Party. Please send your child with 24 personally signed valentines. We do not need backpacks on that day. Please leave them home. Please send your valentines in a disposable bag. We will exchange valentines, decorate some of Miss Connie’s famous heart-shaped sugar cookies and play Valentine Bingo. We feel especially lucky to get Connie’s cookies, as she has a son getting married next week, but she loves us so much that she was willing to make great sacrifices for us. We sure do love that Miss Connie and her amazing cookies!
Well, that about wraps up our Vv Week. We look forward to a wonderful day on Monday. Have a great weekend.
Much, much love and devotion,
Mrs. McClure
Miss Kristen
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