And the cat came back....

We love all of God's creatures in class. We really do. So we were thrilled when Jack's cat Shadow came back to visit. You know, farming unit=cat. Not all of the creatures in the classroom were handled with as much care. Ah, but that's why we have special creature experts. Miss J is just a little too squeamish to handle....

....these guys! (We save them, we do! But sorry, centipedes get stomped on. By me. With glee.)

It didn't take too long for Shadow to feel comfy in class. Here, to the great amusement of Grade One, she took a stroll down the chalk ledge. They were more than ready to have her meow a lesson I think.

See, she's even checking out the computer for the day's work!

Checking out a quiet, safe place to hide. But it wasn't as quiet as...

....my chair. Which doesn't get too much use in a day with a double grade :)

I've found the best way to cure a child's boo-boo is to kiss it better.

Tears magically disappear because they'll do anything to avoid that! However, sometimes I get a tearful nod to please yes, do that! and then....miss j gets her comeuppance. That there's a sweaty foot you see. (photography courtesy of Katie)

And when those fingers got squeezed between desks, Shadow provided a nicer touch; she kissed that owie away!

See how exhausting printing is in Grade One?

napping through lunch...

listening to the afternoon's story

entrancing the entralled students

who couldn't leave her alone :)

Of course, that was reciprocated as she strolled across the room on their desks.

Exhausted and hiding after a long day of entertaining children. She was a great visitor, very gentle with the myriad of searching hands.

So how are your kids feelin'?

Ah, September.
For us in Grade One this school stuff is extra-hard work! Going to school every day, lots of work and hey! what happened to all the play time?!
Check out the visual evidence: 4pm, Day 2 of school. Good thing there's no such visual evidence for me :)

Here's more math class pics of Grade One. We're making a graph of our favourite recess activity. (soccer won....not that I see them play that much...)

Here we are taking a survey of our classmates to make our own graph of favourite fruits.

...and them just looking cute and working hard.



Hasn't this been a great September? I'm soaking up the sunshine in preparation for winter. So are they!




Afternoon rituals, we've got to say goodbye at the end of the day! It's actually very nice, even if the day hasn't been that great, it ends on a nice note when we're waving goodbye to each other.

Hanging around school...

Hmmm.
Well, obviously I'm going to have to take another picture of the class in order for you to get a view of their heads that makes them even slightly recognizable. I suppose you could always click on the pic for a better view. (Yes, we are working on rhyming in Grade One, how'd you know?)
Wait a sec....I've lost a twin here. That decides it. I need to take another one.
Oh I see him, he's behind Jonah.

Introducing Grade 2's new teacher. Yep, take a close look at that pic...

...that's not a gigantic green clip (as I had quite erroneously thought the first time I saw it). That's Iggy perched atop her head. And yes, she knows he's there :)

Ah. Show and tell...and show...and tell...and tell....showing some more....some how this worked better when there were only 12 kids in class!

Same name.

Same last initial.

Same shirt.

Think they called each other in the morning? Oh wait, that's passe, it's MSN/facebook now.

Woo hoo! What could be better? It's recess on a sunny day!

math class in grade one

My new class!
We're starting off with sorting and grouping in math class. For the first couple of groups we were trying to figure out why one person did not belong in the group (shirt colour usually).


And then they could make their own group and see if others in the class could find the sorting rule they had chosen.

Yep, he knew the rule!

Do you know the sorting rule for this group? highlight between the * * for the answer!
*they are wearing shirts with zippers*

Today they worked in groups making up sorting rules for buttons and um...plastic imaginary/real animals I suppose I could call them.

Looks like they're sorting by colour this time.

This group started by sorting by size. Both groups moved to sorting by number of holes in each button, which I thought was a pretty keen observation :)

Here they sorted by colour and then by type of animal.