peek into our room

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The Heater Elves

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Do you kids ever wonder what goes on after you get on the bus?

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You just never know what we’re up to!

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Wish you’d been here!  All the measuring, screaming metal saws, concrete pounding, soldering copper pipes, and wiring would have given you a math and science thrill for sure.

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Teambuilding

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Here we are playing “Boppity Bop Bop Bop” during teambuilding time.  

Meet the moose,

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the cow, 

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the lobster,

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and another cow!

 

DES uses Responsive Classroom as a model to help us achieve our character goals.  During the first six weeks of school, we have four important intentions socially.

***Create a climate and tone of warmth and safety.

***Teach the schedule and routines of the school day and our expectations for behavior in each of them.

***Introduce students to the physical environment and materials of the classroom and the school, and teach students how to use and care for them.

***Establish expectations about ways we will learn together in the year ahead.

(Denton and Kriete, The First Six Weeks of School, p. 3-4)

 This game was a quick change of pace in our day that helped us to articulate our expectations of how we will treat each other plus the difference between laughing at someone in appropriate and inappropriate ways.  Who would guess that a silly game called “Boppity Bop Bop Bop” could be a learning opportunity! 

 

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Operation N.O.U.N.

Rumor has it that a strange character was seen lurking at DES, singing noun songs and handing out noun missions.  Could it be true?  Check out these pictures and judge for yourself whether this C.I.A. (Chief of Intelligent Answers) is real or not!


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The ransom note had fingerprints, so we used our observation skills to classify fingerprints.  We hunted down some suspects to fingerprint, and analyzed the prints until we found a suspect to interview. 

 

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Each detective created a mystery snack.  Some were foods in disguise, some were foods we might not recognize, and some followed the detective theme.


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We captured the moose “kidnapper”!  Thank you, Miss Holloran, for being such a good sport.  What a joyous day of learning!  (Too bad Miss Blessing missed it all–ha ha!)

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Chit-Chit-Weeeee!

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Chit-Chit-Weeeee!

by Alex the Writer

Hi!  I am Alex.  I am going to talk about the American goldfinch today.  If you’re wondering what the title means, it is the noise of a goldfinch (chit-chit-weeeee!)!  The American goldfinch actually can change color in different seasons!  Did you know that?  If you want to see one, look for a yellow body and face with a black forehead, a notched tail, and bold white bars on their brilliant black wings.  I took some pictures of the goldfinches at our feeder so you can see the winter colors.  Hope you find one!!!

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