CE Kidlights

5th Grade Buddy's

2011-09-29T19:25:00.004-04:00

Today we were joined in our room by Mrs. Lehane's 5th grade class. The kids were so excited to be paired up with a buddy. To 1st graders, 5th graders are true superheroes. This will be a partnership that will continue all year. Today the 1st graders read to the 5th graders from their Independent Reading bags. Throughout the year our class will pair up with these fantastic 5th graders to play math games, do science investigations, read and write. Stay tuned for our next adventure!

Meet Our Super Heroes

2011-08-29T21:47:00.001-04:00

Untitled from Michelle Ellis on Vimeo.

First Day of School

2011-08-22T18:06:00.009-04:00

Wow! What a great day we had today. Everyone came in knowing our routines just like we never left. That is one of the reasons why looping up with a class is so fantastic. Our new friends, quickly learned the routines and made friends with others. We walked through the day with Skills Block, and Reader's Workshop. We also saw "Omegaman" who encouraged us to work hard and be a dream maker! We finished our morning with Writer's Workshop. During lunch we loved being close to the stage. After lunch we went outside. Boy was it hot. After recess we came in for Math Workshop and learned geometry.

Dismissal was interesting. The students loved being independent. We are looking forward to tomorrow.

Superhero Wanted

2011-08-16T19:03:00.003-04:00

We are so excited to start this school year. On Friday we will welcome our class from last year back from summer vacation. We do have 4 new friends joining our 1st grade class. We have vowed to do a better job of blogging this year. Our goal is one post a week.

Our school theme this year is all about Heroes. We are all heroes in some way and this year we will explore what makes us a hero.

"Bossy E"

2010-11-02T19:32:00.002-04:00

Today during Skills Block we learned one of the most important reading strategies an early reader can learn. The "Bossy E". If you don't have an older child at Chets, you might be wondering what is a "Bossy E". When a word ends with a vowel, consonant, then an "e", the vowel is long and the "e" is silent. We tell the students that the "e" is so bossy that it tells the vowel to say its name but he doesn't say anything. Some examples of "Bossy E" words are: like, cake, ape, lime, Jane, bike, hope, etc. Each night when your child is reading their Book in a Bag have them look for "Bossy E" words. Encourage them to tell you the rule after they read the word.

Pumpkin Exploration

2010-10-30T10:55:00.004-04:00

We had a great time this past week exploring a large pumpkin. The students predicted what they thought the inside of a pumpkin would look like. Next, we cut one open. The students loved looking, feeling, and smelling the pumpkin. They even predicted how many seeds would be in their slice. Then they counted how many were actually there.

Farm Field Trip

2010-10-19T16:40:00.002-04:00

WOW! What a fantastic field trip. We began the day with an hour long bus ride. It was all worth it though when we got there. We learned how cows are a part of our every day life. We rode pony's and went on a hayride. We got to feed goats and cows. Boy do they have long tongues!!! We also ate lunch. After lunch we spent time in the bounce house. We also saw Grandma Ellis ride this barrel roll that went upside down. Our last stop was a nature trail. On the long bus ride back to school almost everyone fell asleep. This day will be one we remember for a long time.

Game of Compare

2010-10-13T12:39:00.003-04:00

Today during Math Workshop, the students learned to play a new game called Compare. It is played just like the card game "War". Our decks of cards only have the numbers 0-10. We encourage you to play this game at home often. Deal the cards so that each member playing has the same number of cards. Hold the cards in a stack with the numbers facing down so you can't see the numbers. Each player will flip over one card. Each player states their number out loud. The child will decide which number is more. The player with the highest number takes the cards and puts them in a seperate pile. This game allows the students to compare numbers and determine which is more or less. If the game is overly easy have your child add 2 cards together before they determine which is more.

Growing Pumpkins

2010-10-13T12:22:00.002-04:00

Today we planted some pumpkin seeds that will grow in our classroom. Emily's family donated a kit for growing minature pumpkins. We observed the seeds before planting them in the soil. Then we watered the seeds. Once they start to sprout we will transfer them into a cute pumpkin shaped ceramic pot. We can't wait to see the vines, flowers and hopefully the pumpkins.

Open House

2010-10-12T16:00:00.000-04:00

Open House from Michelle Ellis on Vimeo.

Pumpkin Unit

2010-10-12T13:32:00.003-04:00

In Science, we have begun a new unit on Pumpkins. Every day we are learning a new fact about pumpkins. Today we learned that the average size of a pumpkin is 12 pounds. However, some pumpkins can be 1,000 pounds. We loved this picture of a huge pumpkin.

Tomorrow we will learn that pumpkins come in many different colors.

Math Game - Grab and Count

2010-09-19T20:18:00.005-04:00

This past Friday, we learned a new math game called Grab and Count. The students were given a variety of objects to grab a handful of, then count how many they had in their hand. Before we played the game we discussed what a "good grab" would look like. Our class decided that a "good grab" would be with one hand and the objects would fit into their hand without falling out. After grabbing, the students then counted the objects. The students found it interesting to see that grabbing a handful of bears was different than a handful of pattern blocks. They discovered that the smaller the object the higher the number of items that would fit in their hand. We would like for you to play this game with your child at home. Find different objects that are different sizes and discover together the number they could grab. You could grab legos, blocks, pennies, beans, etc. Have your child begin to use a plan when counting the objects. They need to organize them to help them count the quantities.

Partner Reading

2010-09-17T10:21:00.006-04:00

This week the boys and girls learned about Partner Reading. It is a very important routine that the students will engage in throughout the school year. During Literacy stations partners choose books to share with each other. They learned that good partners sit shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee with a book between them. The partners share the reading and discuss the book in a natural way. This ritual is important for young readers because it helps them build stamina and comprehension. It is also alot of fun to read with a friend. Look at these partners in action.

Fuel Up to Play

2010-09-12T16:35:00.002-04:00

We would like to thank our wonderful PE teachers that organized "Fuel Up to Play" which is part of a grant through NFL Play 60. Our school following their lunch times ran/walked twice around the big track. Our school together ran more than 700 miles. Our PE teachers are hoping to win $10,000 to support our athletic department at Chets.

It was a hot day and Mrs. Ellis wore the wrong shoes but fun was had by all. We came in and cooled off with ice pops! It was a great way to end a great week at school.

Math Workshop

2010-09-07T18:06:00.006-04:00

Last Friday, the students had the opportunity to explore geoboards. They seemed to really enjoy them. They practiced making shapes like squares, triangles, rhumbus', and rectangles. They also had fun making designs

Today during Math Workshop the students explored buttons. They noticed that some of the buttons were smooth or rough. The buttons were different colors and shapes. After exploring the buttons for a while, the students played the game "Button Match". They picked out one button and found another button that would match. It only had to match one attribute. For example some students matched buttons that had two holes or four holes. It was exciting to see how many different groups of buttons they found.

Learning Rituals and Routines

2010-08-28T09:03:00.013-04:00

We have completed our first week of school. We have already learned many new things in our room. We learned how to use our wipe boards correctly. We practiced writing on the boards the beginning sounds of the words Ms. Ellis called out.

We also received our Independent Book Bags which we will use every day. Our bags hang on the back of our chairs. We learned that we can turn around without standing up to get a book out of our bags. Right now we have our Poetry Folder and a Star Book in our bags. As we learn to read they will hold "just right" books that we can read.

After reading out of our Independent Reading bags we had a chance to go to our Literacy Stations.
Literacy Stations are libraries we visit each day. Each table has their own library to read from for that day. We also have special places we will sit to read. We have the Book of the Month Library that holds all the previous Books of the Month since Chets Creek has opened.

We also have the Math Genre Library. There we get to read counting and math books.

We have a Series Library. There we find Clifford, Froggy and other books that have multiple stories written about the same character.

The third station is the Genre Library. There we have collections of books about subjects. We have a basket about zoo animals, fairy tales, and transportation.

Our final station is the Science Library. There the students love to read books about insects, sharks, and space.

Day Two

2010-08-24T11:56:00.003-04:00

Our second day of school was very productive! We were very busy learning the rituals and routines that we will follow all year long. We started our day with Skills Block where we talked about the letter "Bb" and the sound that it makes. We even put "Bb" words on our word wall. In Readers Workshop we decided that good readers read ALOT and this year we are going to read ALOT! In Writers Workshop we decided that good writers write ALOT and this year we are going to write ALOT! Today we wrote about how we get to school each day. We had Math Worksop in the afternoon. We looked at our calendar and then we learned about some of the tools that we will use as mathematicians this year. We used connecting cubes to build a really tall tower. We counted 35 cubes and that's how many friends are in our class. We also had a great time at lunch together and we played on the playgroud. It was such a good day and we can't wait until tomorrow:)

1st Day of School

2010-08-23T20:29:00.002-04:00

WOW! What a day! We had so much fun. After saying goodbye to our parents, we went to our class to begin our day. We had story time in the Media Center. A real farmer read us a story about where food really comes from. After the story we returned to our room for Writer's Workshop. We read the book "Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready For Kindergarten". We loved that story. Then we went to our seat to write about how we got ready for kindergarten. After lunch we went outside to the watermelon patch and ate some yummy watermelon. We then watched Ms. Ellis ride in a wagon that was pulled by two mules. Wow, did they run fast. We also saw a really old tractor and a new tractor. Next we got to pet some animals like lambs, goats, chicks, pigs and a pony. Following that we learned about Bee Farms. We even got to taste some new honey made by the bees we saw. Finally we planted a seed. We can't wait to see what comes up. It is going to be a great year! We can't wait to see what the next 179 days hold for us.

Welcome to Kindergarten

2010-08-10T21:05:00.002-04:00

Welcome to Kindergarten at Chets Creek from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

Who better to ask about Kindergarten then the previous students. These old students share their favorite part about their Kindergarten year.

Welcome to a whole new "crop" of students!

2010-07-30T11:56:00.002-04:00

Hi new Kindergarten students and parents. We are so excited about the upcoming year. We are looking forward to meeting all the new students. It will be a "blooming" year for everyone. See you soon on August 20th for Orientation!

Pamela Duncan Edwards and Henry Cole

2010-03-29T20:20:00.007-04:00

Wow! We were spell bound by these two wonderful people. You could hear a pin drop while Ms. Edwards was talking and Mr. Cole was drawing. Ms. Edwards read the story Livingstone Mouse while Mr. Cole was drawing a mysterious picture. At the end of the story when Mr. Cole turned his paper around he a drawn in a matter of minutes and incredible picture from the book.

Next they talked to the kids about the process of how they come up with ideas. Using the ideas from the students Mr. Cole drew a picture of a cat going to a dance with a dog as her partner. All the details came from the students.

We also found out that our new book of the month is Princess Pigtoria and the Pea written by Ms. Edwards and illustrated by Mr. Cole. Our class was so excited because it is another one of their stories using alliteration.

We loved their visit! We wished they could have stayed the whole week.

Author Study - Kevin Henkes

2010-03-17T19:49:00.012-04:00

We had a fabulous celebration of Kevin Henkes last week. The students came in very excited dressed as their favorite characters. We had Lilly, Wilson, Chester, Wemberly and many other great characters in our room. The student spent the day making mouse ears, completing fun activities and eating cheesy snacks with other 1st grade classes.

Collect 25 Cents

2010-03-17T13:51:00.007-04:00

This week we learned how to play a new game called Collect 25 cents. This is a fabulous game that combines adding numbers with counting money, two seperate skills that we are working on. To play this game you and a partner will need a collectin of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. You will also need one dice. To play the game one person will roll the dice and count out the amount of money that matches the roll. For example if you rolled a 4, the only way to make 4 cents is by counting out 4 pennies. Next the other person will roll the dice. That person will add their money to the previous roll. For example if the 2nd person rolled a 6, they would add 6 cents to the 4 cents. When adding the 6 cents the partners will need to decide if they want to add 6 pennies or 1 nickle and 1 penny. Next they will count all the money (10 cents). The game will continue until they reach 25 cents. This game can be adjusted to the level of the players. All pennies can be used if they are just learning how to count money. The players can also continue to exchange the coins so they have the fewest possible, for example if I had 17 cents I could have 1 dime, 1 nickle and 2 pennies. That would be the smallest amount of coins I could use compared to 17 pennies. If your child has no problem counting up to 25 cents, continue to raise the amount of money they are trying to reach. Another variation would be to roll two dice together to make the total of 1 dollar.

Owen: From English to Japanese

2010-03-09T19:02:00.004-05:00

A. has amazed us again with her knowledge of both the Japanese and English language. Our class has been studying Kevin Henkes as an author and illustrator. This morning A came in and showed us the book of Owen. Owen was one of the first books we read as a class of Mr. Henkes. The students loved the story of a boy who wanted to take his blanket to school with him in Kindergarten. At first glance it looked the same as our book, then we noticed it was written in Japanese. Of course A said she could read the book and would be willing to read it to the class. We were so excited. A did an outstanding job. She used intonation and read with fluency. The other students were spell-bound by her knowledge of both languages. We are so fortunate to be able to share both books with our class. Thank you A for making this possible.

Please stay tuned for an audio peak of A reading Owen.

Total of 10, Tens Go Fish

2010-02-22T09:55:00.002-05:00

This past week we have been playing a math game that focuses on finding combinations of ten. All you need is a deck of cards. You will need to take out the face cards or you can treat the face cards like a wild card. With a partner pass out 7 cards each. Each player will look at the cards in their hand. They will look for two cards that add up to ten. For example: 5+5, 7+3, etc. They will set these cards aside. Next they will continue to play the game just like Go Fish. Each player asks the other if they have a number that would help them make a combination of 10. If the other player does not have that card, the person asking would take one from the left over deck of cards. Continue to play until all cards are gone. If one person runs out of cards, they will draw 7 more from the deck.

If your child can not hold the cards in their hand, another variation would be for you to place 5 rows of 4 cards facing up on the ground. Have your child look at the cards to make combinations of ten. They can use multiple cards to make the combination. As the child takes cards from the rows, replace them with new cards from the deck.

Repeated Reading Builds Fluency!

2010-02-18T18:13:00.019-05:00

By the end of the year, we expect first-grade students to be able to independently read aloud from Level I books using intonation, pauses and emphasis that signal the structure of a sentence and the meaning of a text. They should use the cues of punctuation -- including commas, periods, question marks and quotation marks to guide them in getting meaning and fluently reading aloud. Repeated Reading has been shown to improve students' reading fluency and general reading. Recording students while they read aloud is a great strategy to use. As they listen to themselves they can hear when their reading does not sound fluent and along with teacher guidance they can begin to make corrections to improve fluency.

Using your own recording device at home, record your child reading their Book in a Bag. Your child should listen to their recording. Discuss strengths and areas that need improvement. Then, have them read their book again as you record. Have your child listen to the second recording and discuss their areas of improvement. Repeated Reading is sure to make a positive impact :)

Listen to Amanda read Ribbon Rescue. Notice the changes she makes from the first time she reads the story.

Science Mystery Beads?!

2010-01-28T11:50:00.011-05:00

Science was a hit this week! We took a look at some mystery beads in our science lab and used lab sheets to record our data. The beads looked like regular white beads when we were inside the classroom.

To our surprise, the beads changed color once we walked outside!! Our class determined (after testing different factors such as wind, heat, and moisture) that these mystery beads changed color because of the UV rays in the sun! Our discussion then led to different ways the sun can help the earth and how to protect our bodies from the harmful UV rays. Our friends had some wonderful questions, connections, and just plain fun!

So many friends are wondering where they can get some of these UV Beads... Check out the link below :)

http://www.teachersource.com/LightAndColor/Ultraviolet/UltravioletDetectingBeads.aspx

Starry, Starry Family Night

2010-01-28T11:20:00.014-05:00

Throughout our study of the Solar System, we have been learning some pretty amazing things about the stars and planets. This year, first grade has been shooting for the stars and incorporated unforgettable learning activities for the students. On Tuesday night, we celebrated our Starry, Starry Family Night with a dinner, some space snacks, and a movie under the stars!

We were so fortunate to have Mr. Ted and Miss Letty (who are real Astronomers!!) come to our school and share their knowledge and give us a front row view of the moon through a giant telescope! Our class made a book for Mr. Ted and Miss Letty thanking them for a family night we will never forget! :)

Polygons

2010-01-27T14:02:00.009-05:00

During Math Workshop, we have been looking at shapes and determining whether a shape was a polygon or nonpolygon. We learned that two-dimensional shapes are split into those two major groups. All simple closed shapes with straight sides are polygons. Simple shapes are shapes with sides that don't cross each other. The students also encountered closed shapes that are not polygons. These shapes have all or some curved sides, such as a circle, ovals, or semicircles.

The students looked at different shapes and sorted them either by the number of sides or angles a shape had, or the type of sides. Have your child look at these pictures and tell you if they are polygons or nonpolygons.

Test Taking Strageies

2010-01-27T13:45:00.004-05:00

As our students begin to read and comprehend at higher levels, it is important to test their comprehension in a formal way. We begin to give the students written comprehension test. However, because 1st graders have never taken a written test before, they are not sure how to best find the answers. In January we incorporate in our homework a reading passage the students will read nightly. During the week in the classroom we are teaching the students strategies to help them answer questions about the passage. The first strategy is very simply learning how to bubble in the answer. Next we teach them to read all the answers. (RATA). They might see the answer as the first choice but they still need to read all the choices.

Next the students need to prove their answers. Not all questions can be found in the story, but for right now the questions with the "stars" next to them should be proven. That means the students will look back in the passage and find the answer. Once they find the answer they will highlight it with a marker. Next they will write the question numbers next to where they highlighted.

Finally the students learn that some answers are "BAM". Right there word for word like your choice from the question. While other questions you might have to think about to decide what the best answer should be by reading the details from the story.

For this month of January, these are the strategies we are working on. Stay tuned for February's strategies.

Fieldtrip to MOSH

2010-01-27T13:33:00.008-05:00

We kicked off our study of planets by going on a fieldtrip to the MOSH to see the planetarium. We had a fabulous trip. We began the morning by touring the MOSH. We saw an interesting exhibit about human bodies, we saw fish, we saw dinosaur bones, as well as live animals like owls. When we went into the planetarium were amazing by the shape of the room. The students had fun looking at the round ceiling. The instructor was so informative. He explained how Earth is rotating at a speed around 1000 miles per hour. However, we don't feel this movement. He said it is like riding in a school bus. As we travel down the road we don't feel like we are going 60mph because we are sitting on the bus. However, we are traveling in the bus that is going 60mph, so we must be going the same speed. The Earth is spinning fast but because we are on the planet we don't feel it.

During the show we saw what the night sky looks like, and learned about some of the constellations. We learned so many new things about space. It was a great way to begin our study on planets.

Nonfiction Text

2010-01-27T13:20:00.006-05:00

When we returned from the Winter Break, we began a unit on Nonfiction Text. This type of writing makes the students look at nonfiction books differently and as a result their report writing changes. During Reader's Workshop we shared nonfiction books with the class. Each day we focused on another convention that could be found. Together as a class we made a large Convention Notebook and the students made their own book during book clubs. The conventions we learned about are: Table of Contents, photographs, captions, drawings, labels, close ups, cutaways, maps , charts, types of print and glossary.

The students used this new knowledge about nonfiction text to write reports on the Solar System. The students used a Table of Contents to help the reader find a certain planet. They included captions and labels about their pictures they illustrated. Many students also used different types of print to emphasize the name of each planet. The new conventions they learned about deepened their writing.

SORRY!

2010-01-14T10:12:00.004-05:00

You might be wondering where we have been or what has been happening in our classroom. We must apologize for the temporary leave of absence from our blog. We have been quite busy and alot has happened in our classroom as one year ended and a new year has begun. We promise to take the next few days to catch you up on the latest. Happy Reading!

Thanksgiving Dinner

2009-11-23T12:54:00.002-05:00

We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving break. Our class sounds like they are going to eat some yummy food! We hope this brings a smile to your face :)

Untitled from Michelle Ellis on Vimeo.

Literary Pumpkin Festival

2009-10-27T20:05:00.001-04:00

Book Clubs

2009-10-27T11:46:00.007-04:00

We have added Book Clubs to our Reader's Workshop. Everyday students participate in their own small Book Club. As a club, each group gave themselves a nickname to establish their own identity. Book Clubs are a great way to get students talking about books and learning about different story elements. Over the past two weeks we have been studying the characters, settings, problems and solutions in our stories. The students have also worked on using "Accountable Talk" in their book discussions. This will get students talking about books in a deep and meaningful way. Talk to your child about it! In the video below you will see some of the students from our room as well as from Ms. Thomson's class during their Book Club.

Untitled from Michelle Ellis on Vimeo.

In the "Hot Seat" with Tough Borris

2009-10-27T10:05:00.007-04:00

During our mini-lesson, we read the story Tough Borris by Mem Fox. After reading the story Ms. Tracy picked two different students to play the part of Tough Borris. The other students were able to ask this character questions. Some of the questions were: " Do you ever cry?" "Why do you wear earings?", "Why are you scary". The students enjoyed this activity.
When reading stories with your child have them pick a favorite character to act out. This is an easy and fun to check if your child understood a character from the story.

Rockin Our Number Sense

2009-10-19T18:39:00.007-04:00

Math Choice Time is an important component to our Math Workshop. After learning a few new math games, the students have the opportunity to choose which game they want to play during Choice Time. Our Standards-Based Bulletin Board this month, shows our community what Math Choice Time looks like in our classroom. Previously we introduced the games of On/Off, Counters in a Cup, Roll and Record Addition,

Roll and Record Subtraction, and Double Compare. All the games focus on building number sense. In the game On/Off and Counters in a Cup the students play with 10 chips.

This helps the students learn the different combination of ten. In both games of Roll and Record, the students play the game with two dice. They are working on number combinations of 12. The real focus that we were looking for is "How do the students count the dots?". Do they simply count each dot on each dice? Do they count on by placing the larger number in their head and counting up? Do they know the combinations without counting. Choice Time also allows us to conduct informal assessments as we observe the students playing each game. Many of these games can be played at home, if you are interested in having a copy of the game sheets and directions, just let us know.

Disco Pumpkin

2009-10-19T15:03:00.007-04:00

Today, we finished making our class pumpkin for the Literary Pumpkin Festival. The festival is a celebration of fall and literary characters that we have here at Chets Creek every October. This year we decided to continue our disco theme. Each student had the opportunity to glue mirror tiles onto our pumpkin. They also made a dancing body to attach to their picture. The pictures we used are from the beginning of the year when the students had their disco wig on. When you look at the display it looks like the students are dancing under the lights of the disco ball. If you have time, please make plans to come into our front foyer at school. You will be amazed at the creativity of each class.

Where the First Graders Went on a Field Trip

2009-10-19T14:43:00.004-04:00

On Friday we took our first field trip this year. We loaded the bus and made our way to the movie theatre where we saw the movie Where the Wild Things Are. The Chets Creek first graders had the entire movie theatre to ourselves. We had an upclose seat to watch the main character of the movie Max, sail off on his private boat to where the wild things are. When Max arrived he and the wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws. This fictional story looked as if the characters from the storybook jumped right off of the pages and onto the movie screen. After watching this imaginative tale we were more than ready to visit Sunshine Park where we would eat lunch and enjoy playing with each other. The weather was perfect, although it was just a little hot for October, atleast the skys were blue. We had a great day together!!

Wild Things Fieldtrip from Michelle Ellis on Vimeo.

Open House

2009-09-25T12:53:00.000-04:00

Untitled from Michelle Ellis on Vimeo.

Using Strategies To Read

2009-09-21T13:18:00.002-04:00

Reading is a complex process and, because of this, no single strategy works best all of the time. In Kindergarten the boys and girls learned strategies that provide a balance between reading strategies, self-monitoring, and cross-checking behaviors. This year in first grade we have been reviewing the reading strategies and taking them a little deeper using harder text. Here is a list of some of the strategies your child should be familiar with.

1.Look at the Pictures - readers make predictions about words based on clues gained from the picture.

2.Point to the Words - young readers to be sure that they are saying the same number of words that are on the page. This is not a strategy they will as they become more proficient readers.

3.Does it Make Sense? Good readers need to make sure that what they have read is logical and sensible.

4.Get Your Mouth Ready - readers need to get their mouth ready for the beginning sound(s) when they are stuck on unknown words.

5.Reread- children reread to use knowledge of oral language and to check meaning.

6. Chunk it - readers break unknown words apart and look for parts that they do know.

Every Day Counts Calendar Math

2009-09-09T19:20:00.006-04:00

Each afternoon, we spend 10 minutes learning a variety of math skills through the calendar. We talk about the days of the week and when they fall for this month. For example, September 9th is on a Wednesday. Each number card also has a different picture so we explore patterns. We count how many days we have been in school. Today was day 12. We represent that number using the Tens Frame and with sticky notes that follow a pattern. We also explore the number 12. The number 12 means we have one bundle of 10's and 2 ones. We also use the number 12 to help us count minutes on the clock. Using the 100's chart we practice counting by different numbers like 5's and 10's. The last portion is picking two numbers and writing a word problem to match those numbers. It can either be an addition or subtraction problem. The students make up the problem and write an equation to match. It is a lot of math in a little bit of time. It is a very powerful part of our day. Have your child look at the picture above and teach you about each part.

1st Week of School

2009-08-28T10:45:00.003-04:00

We had a VERY busy week establishing the rituals and routines in our first grade classroom. The students were pros at remembering some of the routines from the past and quickly learning some new routines. We are so proud of everything we accomplished in our first week of school. Take a look at us in action. Roll your cursor over each picture, for the ritual and routine.

div>

Meet Our Class- "Funky Town"

2009-08-25T20:20:00.002-04:00

Have your child tell you the names of each person :)

First Day of School 2009/10

2009-08-24T17:44:00.009-04:00

Wow! What a great day we had. It all started this morning when Mrs. Phillips had music playing in the front hall. The music really helped set the mood of the day. We were so happy to see all of the happy faces in our room.

We saw familiar faces as well as new ones.

Also mid morning we went to the dining room to see a great band that played music from different genres. We had fun dancing and singing.

At the end of the day we had a man playing the steel drums as the students left.
This is going to be a great year.

The Night Before School Starts

2009-08-23T16:19:00.002-04:00

Well, tomorrow is the first day of school. We are so excited about the upcoming year. That also means it has been one year since we started this blog. It blows our mind to think that over 9,000 times people have logged on to read our blog. We hope to continue sharing about our class with you. As you read in the next few weeks, you will notice we have about 10 new students in our room this year and we are now in First Grade. We are looking forward to getting to know them. Please check back tomorrow to see pictures of our class.

Last Call for Letters

2009-08-05T22:25:00.004-04:00

Hi Everyone! We hope you are enjoying your last two weeks of summer vacation. We have been busy planning and setting up our classroom. We can't wait for you to see the changes. Be prepared to get Funky in First Grade! We have received a few letters from you over the summer. It's not too late for you to write. Drop us a letter this week and let us know what you have been doing this summer. Also try to think of something new you would like to learn about this year so we can included it in our plans for the year. See you soon!

Summer Reading

2009-07-07T19:06:00.003-04:00

What have you been reading this summer? On the side of this blog is a book shelf where we have put a few of our favorite books we have read this summer. We would like for you to tell us your favorite book you have read so far this summer. Please leave us a comment and we will add it to the shelf.

Play Day

2009-06-30T20:59:00.000-04:00

Disco Music

2009-06-22T22:16:00.003-04:00

We hope everyone is enjoying their summer break so far. We are relaxing and starting to plan for next year. We found out that our theme for next year will be Disco for 1st grade. Each grade level is a different genre of music. So as you are out and about keep an eye out for disco decorations. Don't forget to send us a letter or post card this summer. We already received one from Amy in Japan and Ashley in PA. Be safe! We love and miss you guys.

Hello from Canada

2009-06-02T18:28:00.002-04:00

We are happy to welcome another student from Regina University in Canada. She has sent us a video to get to know her better.

Hey Tammee - We were wondering if your kids are out of school for the year? Will you and your family be going on any vacations this summer?

Welcome Canadian Friends

2009-05-28T13:22:00.005-04:00

We are lucky to have two students from the University of Regina following our blog again. We are glad to share our ideas. They are Christina and Cassie. We recently found out that the city they live in has fewer people than our school. Wow! We hope they will go back in our blog by clicking the word video to see the movie we made earlier in the year.

It is a crazy time of year for us. The year is quickly coming to a close. We are mostly completing our writing folders, doing last minute running records, reviewing our math standards and learning new games we will see again in 1st grade. On Monday we have our last awards ceremony and field day.

Teacher Appreciation Week

2009-05-12T17:18:00.005-04:00

Wow! What a great week we had last week. It all started last Monday when students brought in beautiful flowers enough to fill 5 vases. Our room smelled wonderful and it added such a brightness to everything. The next day, the students brought in "Promises" of things they were going to try to do. Wednesday came and the students brought in books from their homes or new books for our classroom. It was funny learning why each student chose their book. Thursday it was fun to receive gift cards and pamper items. We will have fun and smell good at the same time. It all ended on Monday, when we had a pizza party. We also received a photo book filled with different pictures of events we had this year. It will be something we will always cherish. Thank you to everyone who made us feel special.

How Many Could I Have?

2009-05-05T20:22:00.005-04:00

This week we are working on word problems that have more than one answer. Today the students were given this problem to solve:
I have 5 crayons.
Some of them are red and some of them are blue.
How many of each could I have?

A few students right away wrote down the answer 10, thinking they had both 5 red crayons and 5 blue crayons. Some of the students looked a little blank in the face. While others started drawing 5 crayons, coloring some of the them red and some blue. It was fasinating to see their stratgies. It was also amazing the different recording strategies they used to show their answers.

Give your child a similar problem at home to see how they solve the problem. Encourage them to find more than one answer. With the help of their classmate Bryce, the class also discover how to tell when they have found all the combinations. Look under one heading either the red crayons or the blue crayons. Check to see if you have used each number. For the above problem, they looked to see if they used 1,2,3 and 4. We also talked about why the combination of 0 and 5 does not work in this problem. If your not sure why, it is because the problem states I have some of each color.

Teacher of the Year and Employee of the Year

2009-05-05T20:15:00.003-04:00

Last week we had a celebration breakfast for Mrs. Cothern and Grandma Ellis. It was a fun morning with the teachers performing skits in honor of them. That night we also attended the Eddy Awards which is where they pick the Duval County Teacher of the Year. We had a great time having dinner with 20 other teachers from Chets and 300 teachers from the county.

On/Off - In/Out - Toss the Chips Math Games

2009-04-23T13:29:00.007-04:00

This past week we have been exploring number combinations. We have learned to play three new games. The first one is called On/Off. Each student will have a playing mat, 8 counters, and a paper to record the findings. The student will hold the 8 counters in their hand above the mat. They will open their hand and watch the counters fall to the mat. The student will next count how many land on the mat and how many fell off the mat. They will record their findings on the paper. As the students play the game, they should begin to notice the patterns they see. If they have counted 5 counters on the mat and 3 off, a few different times, they should be able to remember the number combinations without having to count all the counters the next time they get 5 on and 3 off.

The next game is called Counters in a Cup. Again the students start with 8 counters, 1 cup and a paper to record their findings. This time the students are playing with a partner. One student hides their eyes, while the other student places some of the counters under the cup and leaves some of them out of the cup. When the student who has been hiding the counters is ready, the other student opens their eyes and trys to decide how many are in the cup and how many are out of the cup. Both students will record their findings then check their answers by looking under the cup. Again they are looking for number combinations and patterns.

The final game is called Toss the Chips. The students again get a set of counters that are are red on one side and yellow on the other side. They toss them onto a mat. They count how many landed red side up, and how many landed yellow side up. They record their findings on a sheet of paper.

We would like to encourage you to play these games with your child at home. To make counters at home all you need is dried beans, and paint. Paint only one side of the beans. You can also adjust the number of counters for your child. If they need more of a challenge work with 12 or higher. If your child is struggling you might just want to use 6 counters. You want your child to see the connections between each round. They are making combinations. As they learn them they should need to count each number less. For example: If they have 8 counters and they notice 4 are off, then they should realize they have 4 on without counting as they get to know all the combinations of 8.

Text to Text Connections in English and Japanese

2009-04-16T11:08:00.003-04:00

During our Eric Carle author study, our class was reading the story Where Are You Going? To See My Friend! when we noticed that the book had both English and Japanese text. We told the class that we could not read in Japanese so we weren't sure of what the text said, but we thought it was the same story that Eric Carle wrote about. "A" raised her hand and said, "I can read that story to you.". We were very excited and we allowed her to read it to the class. After that encounter we soon discovered how fluent in both languages "A" could read. Our Standards-Based Bulletin board this month shows the amazing journey she has made to become literate in two languages. Below is a recording of her reading another story by Eric Carle and a similar story she found in Japanese. The story is Walter the Baker. She brought in her Japanese story the next day to share with the class because she said the stories were very similar.

I'm A Big Chicken When...

2009-04-16T09:50:00.002-04:00

After reading the book Big Chicken by Leslie Helaski he students wrote about what they were afraid of. Below they have shared what they feel. We are looking forward to meeting Ms. Helakoski tomorrow when she visits our school.

Zoo Fieldtrip

2009-04-11T19:57:00.000-04:00

Children's Hospital

2009-04-10T19:43:00.000-04:00

Eric Carle Celebration Day

2009-04-05T19:26:00.000-04:00

We love learning about Eric Carle as an author. The students had so much fun reading a new book everyday. They soon began to compare his books, make noticing, write responses and try their own hand at writing like him. At the end of our study we had a celebration to honor his work. Some of the students dressed as their favorite character from one of his books. We also made art work, ate pancakes, played Eric Carle Bingo and played charades. It was a fun day!

St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T19:51:00.002-04:00

What a fun day! It started with the students bringing in their traps. They were so creative. We had an exciting morning making Leprechauns and rainbows. The students even had a chance to try some harder math activities for fun and they graphed Lucky Charms. At lunch time we set our traps and hoped to catch a pesky Leprechaun. When we returned from lunch we discovered that no one caught one but our room was a mess. They over turned shelves and the rocking chair. They threw paper everywhere. They even used our restroom with out flushing the toilet. Yuk! They did leave us gold chocolate coins. Later when Mrs. Ellis was reading a book we spotted the Leprechaun outside our window. With all of our yelling, I think we scared him away. By the end of the day we were tired yet excited about our St. Patrick's Day.

3-D Shapes

2009-03-11T09:37:00.007-04:00

Geoblocks are a special set of three-dimensional wooden blocks. There are five kinds of shapes in a Geoblock set. Rectangular Prisms, Square Prisms, Cubes, Triangular Prisms and Pyramids are the three-dimensional shapes the set includes. One reason we use Geoblocks in Kindergarten is that it is important for students to work with three-dimensional materials and see the relationship between three- and two- dimensional shapes. Most kindergartners love to build with these blocks; they build towers, towns, roads, ramps, bridges, and many other things. During this building time, they intuitively learn many characteristics of the blocks. During Math Workshop, the students were encouraged and challenged to build with Geoblocks. Look at the amazing designs they came up with.

Traveling Chet

2009-03-09T15:33:00.011-04:00

Wow has Chet been busy. We decided since he has been many places and Mrs. Ellis and Mrs. Cothern have fallen behind on post, to combine a few.

5 Christmas's, 5 sets of grandparents, 40 hours of driving and 10 days of traveling- Chet had a lot of fun and saw a lot of present opening! He had a great time with Z. Wow what a Winter Break

I had a great weekend a few weeks ago as I got to go away with my friend C.
to a place called Siesta Key, Florida. We had so much fun together. We
went to the beach and Siesta Key Beach was voted to have the finest sand in
the world, and a crafts fair, Outback steak house for dinner one night, and
fishing everyday. We caught lots of different kinds of fish like, red
snapper, perch, sheep head, and even a skate and a stingray. I even had
family with me as C.'s sister E. had her Chet's bear from her class with
her too. thanks for a great weekend.

I also had a fabulous trip to Disney World with C. It was so much fun seeing the characters and riding the rides. My favorite activity I did with her was going on the Pirate ride. I can't wait to go back soon.

Over Valentine's Day, L. took Chet to Charleston, SC and visited several historic sites, as well as relatives. She took Chet to Fort Moultrie, which has suffered numerous attacks and updates throughout history and originally dated back to 1776. It was very interesting and Chet loved seeing cannonballs up close and personal. In addition, Chet was amazed by all of the historic homes on the Battery as well as Rainbow Row. At the market, Chet got to see historic basket weavers. This was very special because the basket weavers gave L. and Chet some seagrass to take to school and share with all of their Chets Creek friends. L. and Chet enjoyed visiting Charleston and had a fantastic trip.

Is 50th Good Enough

2009-03-01T19:59:00.001-05:00

“The right action of all of us is made up of the right action of each one of us. Unless each of us is determined to meet the duty that comes to us, we can have no right to expect that others will meet the duties that come to them.”

~ Calvin Coolidge

No one can deny that we are living in trying times. All around the country, our friends, relatives and acquaintances are suffering. On Monday, your friend was laid off. Last Friday, you heard about your relatives living without power and water as their homes are buried in ice. Two weeks ago, your neighbor left with his unit for a tour in Iraq. Your spouse is worried about their job security. Discount stores are advertising entire store clearance sales. We are all hurting in some way. If we are not yet hurting, we are just waiting for it to trickle down to our house, our job, our bank account. We know it is coming.

Your child’s school is not immune.

Duval County expects to suffer from a $150 million budget deficit for the 2009-2010 academic year. All the facts tell us there is NO WAY to “trim the fat” and balance this budget crisis without affecting the classroom. In short, your child's school will suffer.

Guidance and Media services could be reduced!
Valuable resources like Art, Music and PE may be cut!
Essential supplies and materials could disappear altogether!

It is important to understand that this problem, this CRISIS, is not limited to Duval County alone. This fiscal crisis is statewide. The state of Florida was ranked 47th out of 50 states in tax revenue prior to the passing of Amendment One, which served to further reduce our state taxes. Regarding the total amount of funds allocated and spent on education, the state of Florida is ranked 50th in the nation. I ask you, does this represent your priorities? I doubt it.

Article IX, Section I of the Florida Constitution guarantees that:

"The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida."

"It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for … a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education …."

Are our legislators upholding the requirements of our state constitution?

As voters, we share a heavy burden. It is our responsibility to educate ourselves with accurate facts. It is our responsibility to make our voices heard. It is our responsibility to act.
It is our responsibility to advocate for our children. It is our responsibility to fight for their rights, for today and for their future. If not us, then who? If we do not meet our duties, we cannot expect others to meet theirs.

I urge you. Educate yourselves. Research the facts. Go to the source. Ask questions. Speak out. Make demands. Do not accept it as fact because others believe it to be true.

Ask yourself, is 50th good enough for your child?

If the answer is NO - contact our state's legislative delegation and ask for immediate help from one of these short term solutions:

1. One cent increase to the sales tax of Florida for just 3 years. It generates ten billion dollars over 3 years to plug the education funding cuts!

2. Please give flexibility to the school districts in the areas of categoricals, (SAI, Class Size, Instruction Materials, Reading, Safe Schools).

3. Please suspend unfunded mandates on the districts. (Examples: Transportation, Testing & Curriculum Requirements, Safety Nets, and Staffing Requirements.)

4. Please give flexibility of capital funds—so they can be used for General Revenue.

Ask them to find long term solutions to the critical funding situation in Florida and urge them to make public education a priority so that even our children's children can benefit from a right guaranteed them by our state constitution!

Retelling of Wolf's Chicken Stew

2009-02-27T15:12:00.004-05:00

The Wolf's Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza is a favorite in our classroom. Our first experience with it was on the 100th Day of School. We read the story to the students during read-aloud time at the beginning of the day. During a Reader's Workshop mini-lesson, we told the story again by using a flannel board. The boys and girls loved the story so much that it became a highly requested book for the students to read during our Literacy Stations. Because the students related so well to the simplistic storyline of the text, we used it to teach a comprehension mini-lesson on sequence of events and a writing mini-lesson on responding to literature by retelling the story in their writing. During our share chair time in Reader's Workshop, small groups used the flannel board to retell the story in their own words for their classmates. Below is a video of such a retelling. If you have a chance to see our Standards-based Bulletin board outside our room, you will be able to read a few of the retellings the students wrote.

Reading With Intonation

2009-02-23T10:40:00.004-05:00

Reading with intonation is our focus in reading this week. During reading conferences we are so pleased to see students apply the strategies they have learned in Reader’s Workshop to their reading. They are using picture clues, looking for sight words, looking for letter combinations, noticing bossy “e” words and two vowels walking. Students are pointing to the words when they need to and they are paying attention to the punctuation. Using these strategies along with the others we have focused on has helped the children to decode the text or read the words. This is a great step to becoming a fluent reader. Now we need to focus on some strategies to help us comprehend or understand what we read. We have noticed that most students are reading the text in a word by word, staccato, monotone manner. The boys and girls will learn to read with intonation and hear how that will help them enjoy the story better. If they like and enjoy the story, then they will better comprehend what they read. You can help your child practice this at home with the book in a bag. Have your child read his or her book twice each night, first to decode the text, and once again to read with intonation. Here is an example of two students reading the same story, The Big Giant. One is reading in a staccato manner and the other is reading with intonation. See if you can hear the difference.

All You Need Is Love

2009-02-17T11:58:00.002-05:00

As you watch this movie, it makes you realize how much love is all around.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-17T08:39:00.003-05:00

A look at our heartfelt day!

Pay Attention to Punctuation

2009-02-11T19:08:00.010-05:00

The boys and girls have learned another strategy to improve their reading skills. "Paying Attention to Punctuation" has been our focus. When children learn to read, they often read right through the end of a sentence without stopping at periods, question marks, and exclamation points. We have taught the students to read the periods without saying a sound. They should stop at the period and exaggerate closing their mouth so that they pause before reading the next sentence. This is not a natural way to read, but it is a strategy to help beginning readers train themselves to stop and pause at the punctuation that ends a sentence. Much like pointing to the words the readers will eventually pay attention to punctuation without closing their mouth in an exaggerated way.

One More, One Fewer

2009-02-10T19:04:00.006-05:00

Today we played a new game in Math Workshop. The game was called One More, One Fewer. The students played the game with a partner. There were multiple steps in the game. First the students flipped one card over.
After looking at the number they placed the same number of pennies on a ten's frame.
The students then recorded the number on the game sheet.
Next they rolled a dice. The dice either had a plus one sign or minus one sign. After reading their dice they had to determine whether to add one more penny to the ten's frame or take one away. Finally they recorded their new total on the game sheet. The students loved playing the game. Some of the interesting conversations revolved around what happened when they flipped over a 0. They even thought it was interesting when they flipped a 10 because the ten's frame only has 10 squares. We will play this game again tomorrow now that they know how to play. We can concentrate on the strategies they use to count the pennies, recognize the numbers and add one and take away one.

2009-02-09T12:50:00.002-05:00

Below is a video of the college student from Regina University in Canada that we are mentoring. Krysta Wishlow wanted to share a little about herself with us and the students.

100th Day of School

2009-02-03T11:57:00.000-05:00

Level C Reading Level

2009-01-30T12:34:00.002-05:00

This video was taken in class during our literacy station time in Reader's Workshop. The student is on an Independent "B" reading level and this is a "C" level book from her independent reading bag. This is her Instructional reading level so she needed some guidance to read the text. She uses her reading strategy paper to help remind her of the strategies she should use when reading. Please help your child practice using the strategy paper they brought home when they read their book-in-a-bag each night. Happy Reading!

Hello University of Regina (Saskatchewan, Canda)

2009-01-29T18:28:00.003-05:00

We have been asked to mentor pre-service college students who attend the University of Regina. They will be following our blog for the next few months. They will be leaving us comments, and hopefully they will also tell us about themselves. We are excited to share what we know about teaching with them. Below is a video we made to tell them about our wonderful class.

Kindergarten Mentor Video from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

Stinky Shoe Attributes

2009-01-29T18:17:00.004-05:00

If you had visited our room on Wednesday you would have noticed the different smell when you opened the door. Then you would have noticed that no one had their shoes on. All of the shoes were on the table. Each child had one of their own shoes, then another one of their friends shoes. You would have also heard excited voices talking about the attributes of the shoes they were comparing. The students were looking for the ways the shoes were the same and different. They compared the length, size, color, and purpose. Tonight have your child compare two different shoes at home. See what attributes they comment on. See if they know what the word attributes means.

Alphabetical Order

2009-01-29T18:03:00.003-05:00

During Skills Block over the past week, we have been learning how to put words in alphabetical order. We started the lesson out simple by just writing 6 words on cards. We used the first 6 letters of the alphabet. The students picked it up quickly and became pro's. Our next step was to pick random letters from the whole alphabet. This was a little more difficult for them. They learned strategies that would help them like using the word wall, or saying the alphabet softly to myself to help. This morning we moved it to the next step by using 6 words all starting with the same letter. The students learned to look at the second letter to put the words in order. Quiz your own child at home to see how they do.

Letter Combination Poem

2009-01-20T12:27:00.002-05:00

Each day either during Skills Block or Reader's Workshop we read the Letter Combination Poem. The students are encouraged to use this poem to help them decode words they do not know.

Employee of the Year

2009-01-15T19:24:00.003-05:00

We are so excited about Grandma (Barbara) Ellis being chosen as the Employee of the Year. It is nice to keep it in the family. I am so proud to have a Teacher of the Year and Employee of the Year as family members. When you see Grandma Ellis when you are picking up your walker, make sure you congratulate her!

Gravity

2009-01-14T20:02:00.000-05:00

Gravity

2009-01-14T19:28:00.005-05:00

Today in class we had a lesson on gravity. We learned that everything around us is influenced by gravity. Gravity pulls everything towards the middle of the planet. It also is the reason why the planets are round. Ask your child to tell you about our experiment with the tissue box, block and paper.

Fieldtrip to the Movies

2009-01-14T19:24:00.002-05:00

What a great day we had. It was so much fun to go to the movies with over 100 5 year olds. Thank you to all of the parents that were able to go with us.

"Bully Buster" Week

2009-01-11T18:29:00.003-05:00

This week is "Bully Buster Week" at Chets Creek. Our Foundations Team is a group of teachers who dedicate their time to design activities that educate our students on what it means to be a good citizen. This week will bring awareness to "bullying" and students will learn how to deal with this important subject. Below is a list of activities that the children and teachers willl participate in this week.

MONDAY

Every student will write on a paper brick about bullying.
A "Bully Wall" using the student bricks will be displayed on the wall in the dining room.
Chick-Fil-A Night from 6:00-8:00. Our fabulous business partner is donating proceeds from this family night to our school. Any CCE students who goes to the counter and says that they are a "Bully Buster" from Chets Creek will get FREE Ice Cream. Chick-Fil-A Rocks!!
WCCE will show students role playing about bullying each day during the morning announcements.

Thursday

All Faculty, Staff and Students are encouraged to wear the color blue to school to join together to fight the "Bully Blues".
"Bully Buster" assembly in the dining room to tear down the brick "Bully Wall".

Wow! It sounds like a great week to fight bullying.

Seven Things You Don't Need to Know About Mrs. Cothern

2009-01-05T21:31:00.008-05:00

There are many blogs that I follow and read on a regular basis. Our standards coach at Chets Creek is Suzanne Shall and her blog is one that I make a point to take time to read. I was so interested to read her post about the seven things that most people don't know about her and then I got to the end of her post to find myself tagged to publish a post to share seven things about myself that most people don't know. I don't think that there is a whole lot that people don't know about me, but I will give it my best shot.

1. I am a native of Jacksonville. I was born, along with my twin sister (Donna) at St. Vincent's Hospital. It wasn't until 4 hours after my sister and I were born that our mother learned that she gave birth to twins. Oh yeah my brother (Steve- Mrs. Ellis' husband) was only 16 months old at the time. YIKES!

2. I graduated from Fletcher High School where I was voted "Most Involved" by my class. I was in the Spanish Club, Theta Club, Senior Women, Yearbook Staff, Future Teachers of Tomorrow, and Captain of Varsity Cheerleaders.

3. I have had several jobs including: cafeteria server, receptionist, check out clerk at Publix,

2-year old daycare teacher, and test proctor at Florida State University (Go Noles!!).

4. I Like to think that I can enjoy the ocean and snorkle like the rest of the world, but the truth is, I am very bad at it. My husband loves to watch me make an attempt so that he can laugh at me. I have gotten better at it over the years, I just need more time on vaction in the islands to get lots more practice.

5. I was almost named Susan Elizabeth. Because my parents did not know that they were having twins, they had only one name picked out. My sister was born first so she became Donna Lynn. When my mom decided on Susan Elizabeth for me, my dad and the nurses said that it was not a twin name, so it was not long before I became Deborah Lea.

6. I once ran around a hotel trying to find Elvis Presley. True story, I was in the third grade and Elvis came to Jacksonville. I went with my mom, sister, and grandma to see him in concert. My grandma was so crazy about Elvis that she took us to his hotel to try to find him. We did not run into Elvis, but we did find a few members of his band. Thank you, Thank you very much!

7. I was never a fifth grade patrol. I went to Seabreeze Elementary school and I was the President of the Student Council. After running for president and winning I was very happy but a little sad because I always wanted to be a patrol.

I would like to know seven things that I don't know about the following people - I tag...

Maria Mallon
Dorry Lopez
Lauren Morgan
Angela Phillips
Rick Pinchot

Happy New Year

2009-01-05T20:47:00.004-05:00

Wow! We had a great Monday. The boys and girls came into the classroom ready to get to work. They had lots of stories to share about their winter break. They certainly are a busy bunch of kids. They were also interested to know what we did over the break. We told them that we spent most of our time with our families and each other. We shopped and ate and played a little too. We even got all dressed up with Mr. Cothern and Mr. Ellis and rang in the New Year together. We went to a big party with lots of friends. Can you name this famous athlete in the picture with us?

Seven Things You Don't Need to Know About Mrs. Ellis

2009-01-05T20:05:00.008-05:00

Suzanne Shall tagged me for the Seven Things You Don't Need to Know About Me meme by Anne Oro and Bill Genereux . This is a blog post I have enjoyed reading on the blogs I follow. There have been many things I have learned about the women I work with. I hope to share with you a little part of myself.

1. I lived in seven different places growing up around the country. I was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, then moved to Minneapolis Minnesota, Phoenix Arizona, Louisville Kentucky, Miami Florida, Lafayette Louisiana then finally Jacksonville Florida. My father was a computer consultant.

2. My husband flew first the F-16 then the F-15 with the Florida Air National Guard for 13 years prior to flying for Fed-Ex.

3. My first job was at Penny Patch, a vegetable stand at the beach when I was 16. Since then before I started to teach I worked at 2 different surf shops, was a very bad waitress at three different restaurants, opened mail at Prudential, checking groceries at Publix, secretary for 2 different building companies, a nanny and data entry.

4. I grew up singing, dancing and acting in musicals. I have played the lead roles in Grease and Oklahoma.

5. Up until this year when my children entered 8th and 6th grade, I fed them breakfast in bed every morning before school. I felt it started their day out in a relaxing and happy way.

6. My brother, sister and I had to do "chores" every morning before school growing up. One of us cleaned the bathrooms, one vacuumed the whole house and the last one did the dishes. To this day, I HATE to clean house.

7. I am the biggest klutz. I am always bumping into things. I drop things all the time. I cut corners on the wall too close and hit my shoulder on them. I have no idea how I can wear high heels everyday to work.

I now tag the following people to share seven things.
Laurie Thomson
Julia Lewis

Wordle Meme

2009-01-05T19:35:00.003-05:00

Over the holidays our friend and principal, Susan Phillips, tagged us by means of a meme to try creating a Wordle. Yeah, we didn't know what a meme was either - still not real sure we understand it - but it's kinda like a chain letter with questions. A Wordle is like a collection of important words from a blog or piece of text - what seems to be most prevalent in your writing - and it's cool!

Here is how to create your own:Wordle Meme:

1. Create a Wordle from your blog's RSS feed.

2. Blog it and describe your reaction. Any surprises?

3. Tag others to do the same.

4. Be sure to link back here and to where you were first tagged.

5. Create different Wordle clouds of your blog's RSS over a period of time. Do it once a month for the next year to capture the spiritof the times.

We were surprised that the word bead is so big. But I am sure it goes with the rekenrek since the rekenrek is made of beads. And everyone knows that Mrs. Ellis loves the rekenrek. It was also fun to see the word students highlighted. Our blog does focus on how to help the students and parents, so this was not a surprise.

As the meme mandates we are tagging the following to try it out!

1. Laurie Thomson and Julia Lewis

2. Rachel Bridges

3. Julie Johnson and Rachel Happ

4. Nina Thomas and Laura Stewart

5. Beth Stresen-Reuter

Happy Holidays

2008-12-19T11:48:00.002-05:00

We have been so blessed with all of the gifts we have received this week. The biggest gift we get everyday is your children. We cherish them and give them our all. Thank you to all families for everything you do to help your child grow. Please have a fun and safe holidays. Try to read some everyday and practice counting your presents under the tree. See you in January!

Winter Party

2008-12-17T17:07:00.001-05:00

Chet went to Oregon

2008-12-04T18:59:00.005-05:00

Hi, Ms. Cothern and Ms. Ellis

Chet and I had a wonderful time in Oregon. We went to Portland, Newport, the Pacific coast, Eugene, Bend, Sisters and back to Portland. We landed in Portland.
We went to Powell's, the world's biggest bookstore. It was Chet's first time to see that many books! Next stop was Newport. There were so many sea lions just laying on the dock!! Chet and I made friends with them.

In Eugene, We met our relatives. Playing with uncles, an aunt and a cousin was lots of fun. We left Eugene and went to Bend. We had so much fun hiking at the Deschutes river surrounded by nature and animals. The water fall was beautiful.

On the way back to Portland, we stopped at Sisters. The snow capped three sisters' mountains were such an awesome view. Chet and I saw and did so many amazing things. It'll be a life-time memory for me.

A and Chet

Rekenrek - Mental Images

2008-12-04T18:17:00.006-05:00

Today we had another lesson using the rekenrek. We talked about making mental images of things we see. For example if you close your eyes and think of an elephant a large gray animal with big ears comes to mind. You can see that image in your mind because you have seen one before. Well in math we want students to also create mental images of numbers. If we say the number 4 to students, they should have a mental image of what that would look like. We use the rekenrek to help with that image.

Today each student had a blank paper divided into four squares. I had 9 rows of our rekenrek covered, so only the top row could be seen and used. I held a paper in front of the rekenrek and pushed 4 beads over to the other side. With all eyes on the rekenrek, I flashed them the beads. They only saw it for 2 seconds before I covered it again. The students next wrote what they saw. It should have been 4 balls. They could have also written the number four. The students next had another chance to see the beads before we check their thinking.
With the beads still hidden, I asked "What did you see?" Bryce raised his hand and said he saw 4 beads. I asked him, "How did you see them?". He said, "I saw two red beads, then two more red beads. I know that two and two more is four."

Next I asked, "Did someone else see something different?". Courtney said she just saw four red beads because she counted them.

Finally I asked Lainey, "What did you see?" Lainey explained that she noticed that not all of the red beads were used. She saw one left on the other side, so she knew that there were only four beads. Each student was correct. They all had the right answer but saw the beads in different ways.

We continued to follow the same routine with the numbers 5, 7,10, 11 and 15. The conversations continued to sound the same, with students seeing the same number but having different mental images of those numbers. With the numbers 11 and 15 we used two rows of beads. Even though you would think the higher numbers would be more difficult the students said it was easy because you don't have to count the first row if you see that all the beads have been moved over, you only have to count how many beads are on the second line. Because you just add the second row with 10 from the first row. Already the students in our class have a clear understanding of numbers and how the rekenrek works. When we finally get around to introducing addition the concept will have deeper meaning since the students will have a deeper understanding of numbers.

Holiday Auction

2008-12-03T16:00:00.005-05:00

It is time for the annual Holiday Auction here at Chets Creek. Each class makes a decorative item to be autioned off to the hightest bidder. They are hanging in the lobby. We are very proud of our wall hangings this year. They have been lovingly made by hand. We hope that you will be able to stop by to see our fabulous creations. Here is a sneak peak at them.

Two Vowels Walking

2008-12-03T15:39:00.006-05:00

Did you know that when two vowels go walking the first one does the talking? Now your child knows this valuable language rule. Two vowels are side by side in words like rain, read, coat, pail and seat. The first vowel says the long sound and the second vowel is silent. Thinking about this language rule or pattern will help children begin to read. Here are two pages in a "B" level book from our leveled library.

The students have been taught lessons that support this text and they should be able to apply what we have learned in class and read the text. There are 3 sight words that we have introduced in class - I, and, my. There is one word with a bossy "e" - take. There is one word with two vowels walking - pail. There is one word that does not have a bossy "e" or two vowels walking so the students have learned that the vowel must be short - net. Because the kids have learned all consonant sounds, all vowel sounds, and these important language rules, they should be successful reading books at this level. Ask your child to show you examples of these kind of words when you are listening to him or her read the book-in-a-bag each night.

Chet went to the Blue Ridge Mountians

2008-11-24T11:12:00.004-05:00

B. and Chet had about a 8 hour drive up to Blue Ridge, Georgia...it was a long ride but they had a good time. We arrived at our first cabin but it was infested with wasps but everyone in the family survived no wasp stings and was moved to our new cabin which was located in TN. B. and Chet had a great time playing with B's sister, A. and hanging out in the cabin. B. and Chet also went to an Apple Picking Farm where they got to pick apples and purchase them and at the Apple Farm got to run around in the field. Also, while in TN got to go to some really cool shops where they had tons of Native American stores and they thought that was really cool since it is being discussed at school. When we were leaving B. and Chet were upset they had to leave the really cool cabin but were excited to come back to school.

Pow Wow

2008-11-24T10:34:00.004-05:00

Native Americans from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-20T08:50:00.001-05:00

BJ's Adoption

2008-11-19T15:00:00.003-05:00

Did you know that BJ's Wholesale Club has adopted Chets Creek this year. We are so honored.
This Friday night at BJ's they are selling hotdogs, chips and a drink and all proceeds are going to our school. Our Chets Creek Recorder Club will also be performing.
Also during the holiday season from December 1st - 19th our school is having a can food drive. If our school receives 1000 cans, BJ's will give our school $1000. Please help our food drive by sending in cans from now until the winter break. Our class goal is for everyone to send in 2 cans a student.

Pow Wow

2008-11-17T18:51:00.003-05:00

We have been very busy making our costumes for Friday's Pow Wow. Please make sure you look in your child's folder for important information regarding the Pow Wow. We could not have finished everything without help from some wonderful mommy's. Thank you to Chase S., Grace, Jordan, Emma, Courtney, Brandon, and Ashley for letting their moms help us. Thank you to everyone else for bringing in all the supplies. We can't wait for the fun!

Chip

2008-11-13T20:47:00.007-05:00

Hi, I’m Chip! My brother Chet was already travelling with one of his class friends, so I got to take a trip to Colorado with T and her family! We flew on a big jet to a place called Atlanta, which is in Georgia. I learned that is a state next to us in Florida. From there, we took another plane to Colorado. It was so far away, we had to set our watches back two hours because we got there before the sun did.

It was pretty cold in Colorado, partly because it is North of Florida, but also because it is at a higher elevation. Jacksonville is at sea level because it is right next to the ocean, but when we landed in Denver we were 5,280 feet – or a whole mile – above that. Thankfully I have a thick coat, and I really needed it for our first adventure: a visit to a town called Estes Park. Initially I thought we were going to play in a park, but that’s just the name of the town. It’s even higher (and colder) than Denver – 7,522 feet – because it is even closer to the Rocky Mountains. While at Estes Park, we saw wildlife just walking around the town! There were elk white-tailed deer and even bighorn sheep (though I thought they should have been called smallhorn sheep!)

Next to Estes Park is the Rocky Mountain National Park. Here we actually got to drive up into the mountains and saw snow flurries during the drive. T and I climbed up a rock at one of the scenic lookouts and with beautiful snow-capped mountains behind us. Unfortunately so much snow fell the previous day that they closed off part of the road for the rest of winter, but where the road ended we were at a place called Many Parks Curve at an elevation of 10,829 feet. The air was so thin up there, it was hard to catch my breath!

Near the end of the road were more scenic lookups and some signs that showed us what mountains we could see and T and I also read how the mountains and valleys were formed by large glaciers, which are solid blocks of ice, cutting through the land over many, many years The adventures of the day really tired out my good friend, T.

The next day we went to a place called the Butterfly Pavilion. I thought we were just going to see butterflies, but they had exhibits of insects and fish, too! We saw some creepy critters, like bees , scorpions, fiddler crabs, Madagascar cockroaches and they even let T’s daddy hold a live tarantula EWWWW! Of course, we also saw a wide variety of butterflies including some that hadn’t been hatched yet. These butterflies were in things called pupa where caterpillars change into beautiful butterflies. According to the sign we read the Pavilion gets these pupa from all over the world for their collection – they even had some from Florida
Even in all this excitement, T and I were feeling a little homesick and missing our friends back at school. On our last day, we said goodbye to T’s great-grandmother and braved the freezing cold to journey back home, bringing with us treasured memories…