02.03.2003 | 6:43 pm

We started announcements today with a moment of silence after the national anthem and the pledge to the flag. The little children were very quiet and serious for those few moments. It is interesting how something of this nature...the loss of heroes, has an impact on such young people.

Our vocabulary and spelling lists are becoming harder. This week we began words with a double, middle consonant such as giggle, fiddle, middle, and wiggle. Why is it that those words have a double letter in the middle anyway? I really am so happy with the progress my little squirrels are making in reading and language arts. Besides learning the nuts and bolts of spelling, punctuation and grammar, they are learning wonderful facts like fiction, nonfiction, fantasy and fact, main idea, cause and effect, setting and characters. I taught them the word genre today. We also practiced saying the word correctly with a voiced g at the beginning. They are just so smart!

We are getting an additional server at our school to handle the increased computer traffic. This has disabled the entire computer system for the whole week. We can�t go to the computer lab on Friday, the kids can�t log on to take AR tests and I can�t check my e-mail from school. The last consequence is indeed the most tragic:-( My little guys who really thrive on AR are at a serious disadvantage. Poor Ryan was going stir crazy today without his AR tests. I had put out all kinds of Math games and puzzles to take up the slack, but he lost interest quickly. I�ll have to put my thinking cap on and figure out some really challenging stuff for him for the remainder of the week.

Our buddy class came and read with us this afternoon. They are fourth graders, and a much bigger class than us. I also have two out with strep throat, so our numbers were down considerably. The kids without partners got to do Tangrams today. Tangrams are a 7 piece puzzle that can be configured to all sorts of shapes and images. What I have are laminated copies of different shapes and objects such as rabbits, pigs, sheep, goats, boats, and the like, that the Tangrams can be arranged to fit. I was amazed at how little spatial dexterity these fourth graders had. None of them could do the simplest of puzzles. I worked with all of them for about 30 minutes and they were still stumped. Next time our buddies come, the first graders will be showing the fourth graders how to tackle Tangrams. I think the secret here is to allow �free exploration� of objects such as these, several times a week. Some people think that might be a waste of time, but I know spatial sense, direction, and know-how produce great sciencentists and engineers. What this means is...let the kids play with the blocks and Lego�s!

catsnapples~ in first grade and at life

___________________________________________

< previous | next >