Mrs. Harbour's class

The Opening of ARC

2010-05-29T07:23:00.000-07:00

If you ever want an example of a school that really does care about it's community of students, all you have to do is look at Chets Creek. About two weeks ago we had our grand opening of the ARC center in one of our local communities. Check out the complete description of this amazing resource from dayle timmons.

What happen to the year??

2010-05-11T19:22:00.001-07:00

For some reason, this year has probably been the hardest for me to think and write about when blogging. Of course, going back to Kindergarten after the end of first grade always is an eye opener (you tend to forget how young they are)and how busy you can get but this year I questioned what was important to write about. Did I have anything to say that was of value to another teacher? What would I look back on in another year and learn from what I had written? What positives were happening to me professionally that I needed to write about. As we near the end of the year, I realize that although it has been a tough year, there has been a lot of positives that are worth reflecting on. Many times my husband and colleagues have said to me that I take on too much and that I should learn to say no. But...here are a few of the positives in my year that have made me feel successful. Ask yourself about the positives aspects of your year. It might just make you feel a little more valuable. :)

* I have once again been able to work with a group of teachers that I thoroughly enjoy. Sure...we all have difference of opinions at time, but overall we are a talented group of teachers. Some of these teachers I have been able to work on grade level with for 6-7 years. Some of them I have gotten the pleasure to work with for the first time. Do you appreciate your teammates? Have you told them? Do you enjoy spending time with them outside of the school day?

* I've continued to be a part of a great Target team at our school who continues to stretch ourselves to find effective ways to help kids! Have you taken extra steps with the kids in your class to help them beyond what is expected? Have you made a difference for the one kid you never thought you would reach? Did you help a student from another class become successful?

* I've gotten to continue my role as a science lead which has been my passion for so many years I don't even remember. With this I have continued to work with the teachers at my school and the county teaching science curriculum through our Academy of Science. Do you have a passion about a subject? Does your principal know about it? What steps are you taking to enjoy that passion?

* I have been able to write curriculum, along with other colleagues, that I am proud of. They are lessons that not only align with the standards but are engaging to students. Are you continuing to learn more yourself to be able to deepen the work of your students?

* I was able to mentor a great intern who I know will become a great teacher. I enjoy teaching teachers just as much as teaching children. I have always felt that mentoring is so important at every level. Have you reached out to help a teacher this year? Do people feel they can come to you when they need something?

* Most importantly, I have worked my tail off with the 22 students in my class to help them academically, behaviorally, and socially. I have tried my best to prepare these kids for first grade and find a love of school. If you have any doubt that you haven't made that difference, pick one child from your class that was your biggest challenge in August and where is that child now ~ academically, behaviorally, or socially? Sometimes it just takes a friend to point that out to you.

I hope that as I reflect on my year you can find a way to do the same. I would love to hear from you and the successes you have had this year.

A Brand New Sleepover

2010-01-30T19:22:00.000-08:00

Each year our First Graders participate in Sleepover in January. In previous years, this special day has been centered around great narrative stories about sleepovers, narrative writing, teddy bears, and friends. We read many books and wrote great stories about sleepovers. The study came to and end on the actual Sleepover Day where students came dressed in their pj's, brought their homemade teddy bears, had a pancake breakfast, and partipated in fun activities all day that were related to sleepovers.

This year the first grade teachers decided they wanted to change the annual event and spice it up with a little bit of science - ok, a lot of science. The theme just didn't focus around sleepovers but the night sky! Students learned about stars and planets. Over the course of a couple weeks, they incorporated science standards into their reading and writing as well. They had a family night where they had guest astronomers come with telescopes and families were invited to watch a movies outside under the stars. On Friday, they had their big day. They started out with a parade as usual but instead of homemade teddy bears, each child had made a pillow into a star or planet (they were really cool). They still had breakfast but with donuts and juice. Then it was off to their stations. They had a music where they sang "out of this world" songs, art where they made cool pictures frames, a galatic experience inside a big bag where they could watch the earth and moon move, and played space games on the smartboards. At the end of the day they went to the media center and watched a great shadow story on the ceiling, watched a movie, and danced. The kids had a BLAST!

Since many of our teachers loop back and forth between K and 1, I spend the day documenting the events so that we can use it for planning next year. Here are some highlights from their day.

Solar System

Space Worms

Project Wild at the Zoo

2010-01-18T19:17:00.000-08:00

This weekend I attended a great workshop offered at the Jacksonville Zoo. Project Wild is a curriculum workshop that focuses on engaging lessons around animals and the environment. This was one of the most valuable workshops I have been to in years. There were about 20 people there from all over - Nassau County, Duval County, St. Johns County, GA, Tallahassee, and even two people from the Bahamas. We were fortunate enough to sit at the table with Tamika and Portia from the Bahamas.

They both worked for the National Park service there and were ready to learn what they could do to improve and provide education within their parks. Throughout the day we participated in great lessons, got to see some animals, and went through a section of the park making observations.

In May they offer Project Wet which I have already signed up for. I can't wait to go back and see what new and exciting things I can learn and bring back for my students!

Back on track- A community reaches out

2010-01-14T18:19:00.000-08:00

As a teacher and a mom, sometimes time gets so far ahead of me I feel like I am chasing after it. As I was taking pictures the other day for a topic I wanted to blog about, I realized how long it had actually been since I had sat down and blogged on this site. Was it because I didn't feel I had anything worthy to say? Was it because POW WOW and holidays tend to put me into another world? I am not really sure but the other day I couldn't wait to get a chance to sit down and write about what I was experiencing from my school.

Last weekend, our community experienced a devastating fire at the apartment complex across the street from our school. The fire took out 20 apartments. Luckily - no one was hurt or killed!! In the process, 6 of our families lost everything they owned. Everyone felt their loss. Immediately our school sent out an email addressing the issue and what we could do to help our families. The next morning, people were bringing in clothes, blankets, and anything they could spare to help them. Fliers were sent home with students explaining what had taken place and asking for donations. The next morning, the response was overwhelming. As I brought in bags of clothes myself, I was almost in tears as I witnessed what our school family has to offer. Our office was literally turned into a department store (except everything was free!) There were coats, shoes, televisions, sheets, dishes, pillows, microwaves, pictures of couches, shampoo, toilet paper, and every size of clothing you could imagine. I took a couple quick pictures with my phone because I wanted to capture the love and support our community was able to give for these families. Throughout the week, we continued to received an immense amount of stuff to help these families get back on their feet. At once point I could hardly walk through the office! Thank you Chets Creek and all our parents for continuously reminding me that our families know what giving is all about.

Teachers working together

2009-10-28T19:07:00.000-07:00

As the science lead teacher for my grade level, it is my goal to make sure my team learns everything tey can about Science instruction. This week, we had a Science TDE (temporary duty elsewhere). On these days, we get subs for our classroom so that we can meet as a team for professional development. Our day began with a great demo lesson from one of our fellow teachers. The lesson included just the engage and explore phase of the 5 E's for Science.

Then we went back to the conference room and debriefed the lesson. Then as a team, we wrote the rest of the lesson plan for that benchmark. Our next step was to review the components of the 5E's and discuss how that fits into a workshop model. We spent the rest of our time, taking the 2nd 9 weeks Essential Questions and writing 5E plans to go with them. The best part of the day was that the teachers were able to spend time collaborating with each other creating lessons that each of them had ownership in. What more could we ask for!

Teachable Moments

2009-10-06T17:48:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had a time when something just happened by chance and you realize that WOW...that would be great for the kids to learn. Well that has been my experience this week. On Friday, I adopted a new stray kitten found outside my classroom. He had a sister but a friend took her. Our new addition is about 4 weeks old and his name is Rafiki. When I shared this with the kids they were ecstatic. I realized that documenting his life cycle would be a great learning experience for all of them. Many kids don't have kittens or have ever seen a kitten this young. Each week or so I will post new information on our class blog about how Rafiki is growing and changing and taking pictures all the while. I think the kids will learn more from this real life experience than any book could teach them.

2009-10-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

Each month we complete a board outside our classroom. This is our Standards Based Bulletin Board. A standards board is where work that meets the "standard" is displayed. The teacher includes what standard the work meets, a task to explain what the work entails, work samples, and commentary. Our first standards board was a math board that included Patterns as our work sample. Here are some pictures of our board. (If you click on the individual picture it will enlarge).

Have you ever done a glog?

2009-09-13T18:18:00.000-07:00

Last year our technology specialist at Chets introduced me to a glog. You may be asking the same thing I did at that time - What is a glog? If you haven't ever seen one - they have a wide range of uses. One of the best things I have learned is how to use it as a teaching tool. On a glog you can use pictures that you have downloaded personally, add text, link to other websites, add video, and just about any other thing you can think of. My goal this year is to create a glog for each Science Big Idea we will be studying in Kindergarten. Feel free to check out our class glogs. Once on the glog, any area that becomes circled in red is a link to another site. Each glog will be posted on our class blog so that parents will be able to access it with their children at home. Try something new and create a glog for your class - I promise the kids will love it.

Plants All Around
What is a Scientist?
5 Senses

In the Swing of Things...

2009-09-07T18:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, the first crazy couple weeks are behind us and we are getting into a good routine. The students have learned all about the different workshops and the different parts of our day. It is always hard to come back to Kindergarten after looping a class to 1st grade. They are so grown up by the time they leave us to go to 2nd grade that we forget how young those little ones are when they began.

This last week was busy as we began Star Names, Star Book Vocabulary, and our nursery rhyme unit in our Skills Block. In Reader's Workshop we are beginning to learn how to retell stories we have been listening to. This week our focus was on Caps for Sale (one of our favorites). In Writer's Workshop we are learning how to tell stories to each other about all the great things we have done (such as going to the beach). In Math we finished our diagnostic testing and learned all about different manipulative's. Science has been great as we learned that science is the world around us. We also learned about Scientists through out What is a Scientist glog. We have been learning about each other's families in Social Studies which we have enjoyed sharing with new friends.

As you can see, our Kindergartners are busy learning every day. Day #11 - here we come!

The First Day is Here!

2009-08-23T18:54:00.000-07:00

The summer is over and our rooms are once again transformed into a new and exciting place to learn. We had a great orientation on Friday with many parents and children showing up. The kids are excited and nervous of course. Tomorrow we will have a busy day as we get to know one another, practice all those expectations for class, work on fire/tornado drills, and are treated to a performance from a band. The first day at Chets Creek is always a great beginning for teachers and students.

Here are some pictures of our classroom this year. I hope that you stay in touch with our blog as we journey through another year.

Back to Work

2009-08-11T17:59:00.000-07:00

The start of school is always an exciting time. This year our theme is a Orchestrating a Symphony of Success. Each grade level is a different genre of music with Kindergarten as Country Music. As I go into school this week (even though we don't officially start until the 17th) you can tell that the teachers at our school are motivated and ready to transform our school into a magical place. Some of them having been working prior to this week getting their rooms in order. Some, such as myself, have tried to squeeze every last minute of summer in with the kids.

Each year we are welcomed back from our principal with a letter. I am always excited to see what the presentation of the letter will look like and how it will be based around the direction and theme of our school for the year. Yesterday we received our welcome back in the form of an invitation to a new wiki. Our principal has set up a school based wiki that has a video clip to welcome us along with all the important paperwork that is usually given to us on the first day (this falls right into line with our school trying to decrease the amount of paper and keep as much as possible electronic). What a fabulous way to house all important information for the year. I am already excited to think about how easy it will be to find and access important links, schedules, faculty info, etc.

This year I am back to being a single teacher. Although I love co-teaching it is nice to be by myself again. I look forward to an great year with a new group of children. I hope you enjoy our new journey with us this year.

What happened to the time ???

2009-06-15T14:07:00.000-07:00

After a month of not posting I found myself questioning what happened the last couple weeks of school that kept me too busy to be writing. I am sure your last month of school is just like ours. So much paperwork! Getting the kids every last minute of teaching time possible. Making sure cum folders are all set. Putting together portfolios. Grades, grades, and final grades. Flag retirement (check out our class blog to see our own Julia singing the National Anthem). Sometime in there we also want to find those last moments to share with them and build memories. This year, our awards ceremony was great. We sang Celene Dion's song "Because you Loved Me" in sign language to our parents. We also sang a fun song about summer. We had our great awards where everyone in our class earned their Reader's to Leaders pin for the first time this year. Our ceremony ended with a movie that highlighted our year (oh yeah...that is where a lot of my time went!) Our afternoon was filled with a great field day hosted by our PE teachers with support from many parent volunteers and other staff. It was hot but it was fun.

Now the year is complete. The room is cleaned and packed up - ready for summer school. This year our school will be hosting summer school and many classrooms throughout the building are being used. Of course, there is still always work to be done over the break. Cleaning out files, professional reading, and getting ready for the next school year.

As far as our theme next year - it is always a surprise until the last day of school. You can check it out at the Chets Creek Travel Guide.

A Time for Reflection

2009-05-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

Every year as we approach the end of the school year, we are asked to reflect on ourselves and our teaching practices. This may not seem important to some people but for myself it is an important part of who I am. When I was a younger teacher I would try to keep a journal and write reflections in it once a week. I always tried to keep one positive and one negative about what happened. Of course my life became busier as my children became older and the journal slowly slipped away. About that time I was going through my National Board Certification. WOW - now that is really a time for reflection. Since then, I have taken on many more responsibilities through the years along with teaching full time. One of my favorite roles is coaching. I love to mentor and coach science. This time of year we are making reflections about our coaching strengths and weaknesses. Those answers don't come as easily for me as do my individual teaching reflections since coaching impacts others than myself. How have I helped teachers find effective ways to teach science? What impact am I making to each grade level I coach? What do my teammates need from me to become stronger in science content? What do I need to do to strengthen our K-5 team? What am I going to do to make the work deeper next year? Today I may not know all the answers to these questions but I know that they will be the center of my goals as we begin to think about next year. I know that being a teacher truly is about continuing to be a life long learner- isn't that is what reflections are all about!

A Visit from Leslie Helakoski

2009-04-20T14:36:00.000-07:00

Each year we are blessed to have a guest author visit our school. This year it was Leslie Helakoski. Lucky for us, we were able to celebrate two of her books in the last couple months.

In March we had Big Chickens as our Book of the Month. What a great story about these four chickens that are scared of everything until the end of the story when they become four brave chickens once they had chased off the wolf. This is a story that many children can relate to since they too may feel like a big chicken when they are doing something new. You can see our class conclusion of this story in Big Chickens - the Untold Story. In April our principal chose the book Woolbur. This is a story about a sheep who is not like any other sheep. Woolbur has his own way of doing things! His parents worry even though grandpa continues to tell them not to. By the end of the story, Woolbur is leading the flock and therefore not so different. This is a great book for anyone who has never fit into the "flock" and has his/her own way of doing things.

Throughout the day, Leslie talked to each grade level about her life as an author. The first graders learned about the struggles and triumphs she has had as an author and an illustrator. She discussed how the first publishers loved her work but hated her illustrations but she has never given up. She continues to write, edit, and learn through each book. She also engaged all the children as she read both of our Book of the Months aloud. At the end of the day, kids were allowed to have personal books signed by Leslie herself.

We hope that Ms. Helakoski enjoyed our school as much as we enjoyed her!

As the end approaches...

2009-04-20T14:20:00.000-07:00

At Chets Creek the end of the year is crazy as I am sure it is for all teachers. There are many things we do to help us and our children prepare for the last couple weeks and get ready for the next year. Recently our first grade team met with a group of second grade teachers to review what they do at the beginning of the year. This helps us make sure that our kids are as prepared for the upcoming year as much as possible. We look at things like assessment practices, skills block, math strategies, etc. We are also required to complete a Work over Time Standards Board. This board contains at least one students' work from August to April that shows his/her growth in an academic area. This year we chose to put up two students work that reflects their writing growth. It always amazes me to see how much they have grown (Especially when I have had them since Kindergarten)! Over the next couple weeks we will be reviewing and completing portfolios, finishing our academic goals, and assessing the students on our end of the year diagnostic for reading and math. Only 34 more days....

First Grader's Reader's Theatre

2009-03-17T20:06:00.000-07:00

Last week our class finished our Kevin Henkes celebration with a Reader's Theatre for our parents. We hope you enjoy some of the highlights.

Untitled from dayle timmons on Vimeo.

Kevin Henkes Comes to an End

2009-03-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

After many weeks we have just finished our Kevin Henkes author study. What a great unit for our students as they have learned how to do detailed Response to Literature writing. Throughout this unit, the students have learned how to think about characters, identify story elements, complete detailed retellings, and respond with connections. Our unit ended with a grand celebration - Kevin Henkes style. We had outside games, Kevin Henkes Jeopardy, time at a Lightbulb Lab (we made purple plastic purses, movie star glasses, and decorated shiny quarters), and a Kevin Henkes movie with popcorn. For pictures of our exciting day and a look at our work, check out our class blog.

Is 50th Good for Any Child?

2009-02-27T20:29:00.001-08:00

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!

First Grader's New Favorite Author

2009-02-09T19:31:00.000-08:00

Last week we began our new author study on Kevin Henkes. If you don't know this author, then you must check out his books to find out why first graders and teachers love him so much. Last week we began by reading one of my favorite books - Chrysanthemum. Our study began by making connections to this book and writing about these connections. Over the next 4 weeks we will continue to read many of his stories, write connections, discuss his books and characters, and complete retellings. We will learn to respond to literature in many ways. Below is a list of some of the books we will be reading throughout the study:
* Owen
* Julius the Baby of the World
* Wemberly Worried
* Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse
* Lilly's Big Day
* Sheila Rae, The Brave
* Chester's Way
* A Weekend With Wendell
* Jessica

Check out more books by Kevin Henkes. Watch for samples of student work!

First Graders - they are always so busy!

2009-02-02T18:20:00.001-08:00

WOW...what a busy couple weeks for our first graders. Last week we had our annual First Grade Sleepover. We spent our time reading and writing about sleepovers! Our annual event happened on Friday and what a success it was. Check out the slide show on our class blog.

Today we celebrated out 100th day of school. Another great academic day centered around the number 100! We had lots of activities and a visit from Zero the Hero. We learned so much about life 100 years ago.

Now it is on to something new - our Kevin Henkes author study. We can't wait to show you everything we will learn.

First Grade Sleepover

2009-01-26T13:20:00.001-08:00

Say the word "sleepover" to any first grader this week at Chets Creek and you will see their eyes light up! That is because one of our longest traditions is our First Grade Sleepover. You might be asking "Do they really let them spend the night?" No! But the kids don't care. Prior to the actual day, we begin by having the kids make a teddy bear at home. Yes, a stuffed teddy bear. Sure we have children who aren't able to make one due to family situations, but we have parents and teachers who will help them make one of their own. During this time, we begin reading fiction books about Sleepovers. Our favorite is Ira Sleeps Over. In Reader's Workshop we work on story mapping, comprehension strategies, and reader's responses. In Writer's Workshop, we review functional writing (how to make a teddy bear is always popular) and narrative writing. The students love to make up stories about sleepovers. We also love to do fun crafts during this time such as decorating paper pajamas or teddy bear glyphs. Finally the big Sleepover day arrives. Students and teachers come dressed in their pj's and slippers. We begin with our Teddy Bear Parade where we walk around the school showing off their bears that were made by the students. We end in our cafeteria with a pancake breakfast and a slide show of all the students. Then we have centers such as Bear Square Dancing, make book covers for their narrative stories, have a scavenger hunt, etc. During the afternoon, each class is invited into the media center for a "Sleepover Party". There we dance with the lights off, watch a movie and eat popcorn, and listen to great stories. It is the highlight of the day. Before we know it, the day is over and everyone is exhausted. For me, sleepover is more than just a fun day. It is a day of memories for both myself and my two children (Now 15 and 13). My kids still have the bears we made when they were in first grade and can even remember dancing at the "Sleepover Party". I only hope that these memories stay with all the kids who walk through our doors each day as they share in our traditions. Make sure you check back next week to see highlights from our First Grade Sleepover on Jan. 30th.

7 Things No One Knows About Me

2009-01-05T18:58:00.000-08:00

Here it goes - I've been tagged to share 7 things no one knows.

1. I love to take pictures - of anything, but especially of my kids and the beach! My best Christmas present this year was my new digital that replaces my old SLR.
2. I played the flute, piccolo, and piano up until 10th grade.
3. I decided I wanted to major in Special Education after sitting in Dr. Mercer's class at University of Florida. Yes, the Dr. Mercer of Great Leaps Reading Program. He inspired me more than I ever have been in my life. Once we were in his upper classes he would take all of us out for pizza because he felt that it was only fair since we had to buy his book for the class. He was a great teacher.
4. I took jazz and ballet classes from middle school up through the day I graduated high school.
5. My two worst classes in high school were Honors Chemistry and AP Physics (especially Physics!). I'm amazed I came to love science as much as I do.
6. One of my first paid jobs was being the perfume lady at JCPenny's. My mom worked there and got me a job when I was 16 years old. I would work one Sat. a month for 4 hours (couldn't take it longer than that) and ask people if they wanted to try a new perfume. I made $6 an hour!
7. I always wanted to work with kids. So when I was 14 I started volunteering at the daycare right by my house during the summer. Each day I would go in and help with anything they needed. I worked almost every day for two summers - free of charge.

Holiday Traditions

2008-12-22T20:45:00.000-08:00

With each season comes new traditions at our school. Each year we put up a Christmas tree in the lobby and all the kids have an ornament with his/her picture on it.

We also are treated to Cookies with Auntie Claus where students listen to a story read by our own "Auntie Claus" and then get to have cookies and milk. Our media center become transformed into a beautiful cozy setting and makes everyone feel right at home.

We also have traditions in our classroom. Each year we hold our own book exchange in the class. Each kid is asked to donate one book under $5.00. (For those that can't afford it I always have some extra wrapped books so that everyone gets one). It can be a holiday book or any other book. The book is wrapped and students are allowed to write who the book is from if they choose. During our class party, we gather in a circle. Each child is given the opportunity to choose a book out of the pile (we pull class numbers out of a box). Once everyone has a book we get to shred them open and see what great new book everyone recieved. This has always been a favorite with the kids and parents.

Another tradition we have is to collect for a charity. This year we collected for BEAM which is a local organization that provides food, clothing, and personal items for families in our area. Even after our school food drive was complete our class still collected about 25 more cans of food. This year our class alone was able to donate over 100 cans to local food organizations. What better way to teach children about giving to others.

I feel lucky that we are able to share so many traditions with our students. I know that these will become lifelong learning experiences and memories for them. Isn't that what teaching is all about!

2008-12-08T20:04:00.000-08:00

Science Workshop Song

2008-12-08T19:54:00.000-08:00

Academy of Science

2008-12-04T17:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was fortunate to share a demonstration lesson for a group of teachers in our county for Academy of Science. It is exciting being on the instruction end of this new learning as teachers think about the depth of science in their classroom and how to incorporate the 5 E's into their teaching.

After the video conference I was able to spend the afternoon with them discussing not only the lesson but instruction in the primary grades. This is a great group of teachers who are motivated, risk takers, and eager to learn. This year we will have two more AoS days. I can't wait to see the progress they are making in their classrooms.

A Time for Giving

2008-11-30T19:09:00.000-08:00

As teachers we teach our students to be academically ready for the world but we also try to make sure we help them to become considerate, helpful, caring individuals. This time of year is a great time to help our students learn about giving to others. BJ's who is one of our business partners this year is helping us do this with our canned food drive. Each year Chets Creeks has a Giving Tree. Students are encouraged to bring in cans of food, toys, clothes, or whatever they feel would help other families in need. One thing our school does is that we support needy families from our school community first. We make baskets for those families during the holidays so that everyone will have plenty of food. This year, BJ's has offered our school $1,000 for 1,000 cans of food donated. Though that may seem like a lot, I know that not only will we meet our goal but will exceed the standard! I can't wait to hear how many cans of food will be donated to help our community families!

The Top Blogger!

2008-11-18T18:34:00.000-08:00

Today we had our awards ceremony for our first graders. One of our goals this year is for our students (and parents) to be more involved in our class blog. We encourage them to read it with their parents. We entice them with simple rewards when they have posted a comment. For some children, they are excited by what they find on our blog. They can't wait to see pictures or see what our Extra Expedition is. This is especially true for one of our little girls - Faith. Today Faith received the Top Blogger award for posting more comments than any one else in the class. Faith gets on the blog a couple times a week (I am told by her mother she logs in herself) and writes her own comments. She is proud of herself and learning how to type on the computer. She loves to share her thoughts. She is seeing how we can bring part of the classroom to our homes for our families. But more important, Faith (at 6 years old) is learning about the technology that is part of our every day lives. She is a "top blogger".

Time..Time...Time

2008-11-16T18:33:00.000-08:00

Time...do we ever feel like we have enough of it? As a wife, mom to two BUSY teenagers, and a teacher who loves her job, there is never enough. Especially when there is so much out there I want to do and learn. This year I have stretched myself to continue learning how I can use technology in the classroom. One thing I have learned it that learning about technology takes time. It amazes me when I look at the clock and realize that two hours has passed. Tonight was just another one of those days. I found this great site from Jenuine Tech. This site is dedicated to helping teachers learn how to use technology in their classroom. If you go under the newsletter section, she has an area where she highlights different blogs and websites from teachers once a month. There were so many great sites and so many ideas. If you can, take the time to read and search all there is to offer. I hope you will find new ideas as well. Just remember you'll need a little, okay - a lot, of time!

Always a Learner

2008-10-30T19:35:00.000-07:00

Some people believe that you go to school, get a degree, and then you are done. For teachers, I don't think we can ever stop being a learner. Today I found a great new site that allows me to complete my own professional development in technology. I came across this new ning - classroom 2.0. This ning is all about technology and education. WOW...if you need to learn ANYTHING about Web 2.0 you should check this out. The ning is open to anyone. They also have a great Wiki about Web 2.0 with explanations and links to help those that may not be as proficient as others - such as myself. I am really excited to become involved in their forums and learn all the great things they have to offer. You can also find an introduction and the location of it's members on voicethread. I hope that this ning can offer you something new as well.

Traditions

2008-10-26T13:10:00.001-07:00

For many people, they may not understand the importance of traditions. Here at Chets, traditions are the foundation of our school. Each year there are certain things that happen because we feel they are important and provide meaningful memories. One of those events is our Literary Celebration. At the end of October, our school is transformed by Literary Pumpkins. Each year I walk out thinking my pumpkin looks the best only to be WOWed when I see what other classes have done. I can't believe they get better and better. One important aspect I believe in with this event is that all students should be able to have a part in the process. I love to find a book that kids can make a little pumpkin to go with. This year our book was Apples to Oregon. It is a great story and the kids love listening to the adventures of Delicious. The kids homework project was to decide on one type of apple and make their pumpkin look like that apple.

They couldn't have gotten any better.

Making field trips meaningful

2008-10-16T19:49:00.000-07:00

Today our first graders visited MOSH (Museum of Science and History). We have been on this field trip for many years. When we got there I was very happy to see that they had added a whole new Force and Motion section because we are currently working on that in our Science standards. But the one thing that I hate about this trip is that there are always so many, many students there. We have about 220 first graders there ourselves. I worry the kids never get enough out of it because they have to share the space with so many other children. Do they hear all the cool information when they press the button? Did they get to try all the neat science tools? Did they get to see everything there?

Today I was put back into the mind of a 6 year old as I was reminded that they don't care that there are tons of kids all around. They don't care that it is loud. They don't mind that they didn't get to see EVERYTHING. Today, I was reminded that they enjoy just being able to see new things, learn new information about ANYTHING, and are excited by just being there. For many of our students this year, this was their first time being to MOSH. They were so excited to see all the great things they have - like the skeletons of people and manatees. We ate lunch with our friends at Friendship Fountain and played vocabulary games while we ate. We shared our food with our friends.

They had a wonderful time with their classmates and learned something new. This was a meaningful field trip!

What is coaching all about?

2008-10-15T18:32:00.000-07:00

As the science coach for Kindergarten and First Grade, my goal is to help teachers learn best practices for teaching science to our future scientists. For the most part, that entails having meetings to discuss the standards, curriculum, look at student work, and discuss ways to teach in an inquiry classroom. For many teachers in the primary grades, they are still learning how to write and teach lessons in the 5 E model . Some times we forget that teachers are just like our students - they learn from modeling. This week I spent Tuesday in 5 Kindergarten classes teaching a lesson from their pumpkin unit. Hopefully, spending time modeling one lesson will increase the time and passion that each one of them spends in science instruction. Hopefully, they are able to vizualize exactly what some parts of the 5E model look and sound like. Hopefully, I made a difference for not just one teacher, but 5 teachers. That is what coaching is all about!

Celebrating Mem Fox

2008-10-05T14:40:00.001-07:00

In our class we have just finished our unit of study on Mem Fox. What a great author for first graders. They love her work and she is great model for Authors as Mentors.. On Friday we celebrated her work and her homeland. We began with our Reader's Theatre of Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge. What a great way to teach comprehension, fluency, and intonation! We had crafts all day and re-read her stories. If you have any great ideas from an author study celebration, please drop us a comment. You can check out all our fun from our class blog.

Open House

2008-09-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Open House at Chets Creek. At our school Open House means more than just meeting the teacher and looking around the room. Open House is a time to learn about their childs' day.

In our classroom, we do everything we can to motivate the students to come to Open House. We talk about what we are going to share with the parents. We discuss we want to show off (this year it was a song with the months of the year). We talk about how excited we are for the parents to see our work and our classroom.

This year we began with a song. Once we were done the kids stayed on the floor and read our Mem Fox books (this is our current author study). Then we presented a short powerpoint presentation about key information to help first graders be successful. Then the fun began. Each student was given a map of Australia with 7 different activities (ex. read the standards board with your parent or find two word family charts to read). One of the activities was to complete the skllls sheet that was an example of what we do in class. The final project was to name 3 out of the 7 states (or territories) that are included in Australia. This was a previous homework assignment from the week prior. The kids were calm but the parents were sweating bullets! Finally the kids came up, shared with us the great job they did with thier parents, and received a treat.

It was a great Open House. We love getting to see our kids with their families. I only hope that each parent walked away with positive thoughts about first grade.

Traveling Chet and Chelsea

2008-09-21T18:06:00.000-07:00

This year we have started a traveling bear for our school and classrooms. Many classrooms have adopted their own Traveling Chet. Our class has Chet and Chelsea. Twin bears that are ready to see the world. We have invited parents and students to take Chet or Chelsea with them on their travels and to document it along the way with journals or pictures. We are so excited to see and learn about their destinations. You can tune into all our Chet travel bears to learn about their journey around the world in 180 days!

Flag Raising - A Tradition at Chets Creek

2008-09-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

On Friday we had our first Flag Raising Ceremony of the year. This has been a tradition at our school since the beginning. What a celebration it is. The whole school is able to come together and be a part of this ceremony. Students and teachers gather around our primary playground. On the side of the school, our principal and administrators stand together. The patrols are called out to raise the flag, pledge allegiance, and sing the National Anthem. Then Mrs. Phillips sends a message to all the students and teachers. It may be about making good choices and presenting ourselves as good school citizens. It may be about how our families support our school through PTA and the importance of that connection. It may be about the men and women who serve our country to protect our flag and our freedom. What ever the message is for the day, it is always a valuable thought. What a great way for our children to understand the need to respect our flag and what living in our country means.

School is finally starting to become routine

2008-09-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

For those of you that live outside of Florida (especially Jacksonville) you may not know that our school year has been anything but normal so far. We started school on the 21st of August only to attend two days that week until we were showered by Fay. It may have only been a tropical storm but it dumped many inches of rain and wind on us which in turn stopped us from going to school. We came back the following Monday to what felt like the first week of school for us and the students. The week was rough as we were all trying to figure out exactly what day we were on - mentally! This week started with Labor Day off and put us on a four day week - crazy once again. With 12 new students added into our looping class, we could not take for granted that they knew what to do. As hard as it was to get rituals and routines down with all the days off in between, this week our class is becoming one once again.

Our kids will become better readers and writers, mathematicians, and scientists! They will have a year full of music and art. They will become immersed in books. They will have lots of PE and recess time to run and play. They will become fabulous first graders. I hope you enjoy our journey around the world in 180 days!

It was a great first day...

2008-08-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

Every year we wow our students the first day of school. This year was no exception. Although not only did the students have a wow moment, but I am sure each teacher in our building did as well. This year we were blessed with a visit from Bruce Junek. He gave an impressive discussion of his travels with his wife as they biked across the world. It took them 26 months as they biked through 22 different countries. I highly suggest checking out their website and viewing the wonderful pictures they have taken along their journey's.

When we returned to class we had a scavenger hunt around our school. This year we visited resource classrooms and the office and left them treats instead of finding treats for us. We wanted to let all of them know how much we appreciated them and that we were looking forward to another great year. We also decorated boomerangs we had ordered for the kids. Before we knew it, the day was coming to an end. We put on our new t-shirts and headed down to the lobby for our first of many class pictures. It was a great day to the beginning of a great year. I hope you enjoy our journey not only through our class but through Australia as well.

Around the World in 180 days!

2008-08-15T20:36:00.000-07:00

On Monday we begin the first leg of our journey around the world at Chets Creek Elementary. I am anxious to share and learn about our country ~ Australia. For me it a place I want to journey to in real life so I look forward to learning about it along with my kids. This is an exciting year as we begin a virtual tour around the world. What does that mean? To me it means there are endless possibilities. How cool is that if we can meet kids in first grade from Australia and the kids can blog about what school is like for each of them. Wouldn't it be neat to blog with someone on the other side of the world about what the daily temperature was and make comparisons between our weather and theirs? What if we studied different places within the country and blogged what we learn for others to read. I know that there will be many ideas that come to mind as we embark on this new year. I hope that you continue to travel with us and read about it through our class blog.

If anyone from Australia is interested in making a connection to our class, we would love hear from you.

G 'day mate!

Starting to Put the Pieces Together

2008-07-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

As always summer seems to slip by so fast. We sneak off for vacation as soon as possible to get away and relax. We spend our time cleaning closets, organinzing things around the house, shopping, and enjoying our friends and family. But before we know it, school comes back around.

During the summer I spend a lot of timing planning what my classroom is going to look like academically and visually. Most of the academic stuff comes along with whatever changes are taking place within the county. Usually we have our pacing guide set prior to leaving for the summer but this year we couldn't even do that. Our county has adopted a new reading series, working on a new writing pacing guide, written new math standards, and reworked the science pacing guide along with changing primary standards. There will be some changes but hopefully we will still be able to be ourselves.

As far as our room goes, my hopes of transforming our room to the Australian Zoo took a dive. After weeks of searching on-line and in stores I have not been able to find what I wanted. What a disappointment! In light of the situation I have decided to do the Great Barrier Reef along with a fellow colleague. As you can imagine there is plenty out there about the ocean. My new direction is to help kids learn about this great ecological area. I hope to still teach them about the conservation efforts of the reef and the plants and animals that live there. I want them to understand about the environmental issues that surround the world's largest coral reef system. More important, I hope that each child walks away knowing that he/she can make a difference to conserve these precious environments. I really look forward to connecting this work to that of our Mem Fox author study.

It will be a great year!

It may be summer but...

2008-06-25T18:27:00.000-07:00

Although we are a couple weeks into summer and I should be relaxing and enjoying my family time, school never seems to be far from my thoughts. As a looping teacher, I think it is even harder because we are thinking about the children we had all year and interested in how their summer is going as well. For us teachers at Chets Creek, summer is a time that many of us are planning our year. As for me, it also includes finishing up a vocabulary unit that I have been working on since last summer with some other colleagues from school. Thank goodness we have finally finished making our revisions after implementing it in our first year. Now we are planning how to make a vocabulary connection in science as well.

The summer also includes planning our theme into our classrooms. This year our theme is Around the World in 180 Days. You can catch a glimpse into our video preview on Mrs. Timmons blog. For first grade teachers our country is Australia. How great is Australia!! To begin with, this ties directly into our Mem Fox author study we do each year. Not only that, Australia is a fascinating country with many different habitats, culture, and abundance of unique animals. This is where my inspiration for classroom theme ties is for me. If all goes as planned, our room will be transformed into the Australian Zoo that was started as a reptile park by Steve Irwin's parents in the 70's. I am hoping that this journey will not only teach our students about the wonderful animals and habitats of this country but about conservation and programs that help animals all over the world. Make sure you check it to see how we work through this project over the summer to prepare our students for this new adventure!!

It's that time of year!

2008-06-02T19:00:00.000-07:00

Well the weeks have passed and blogging has had to take a back seat to all the events of the end of the year. Somehow the last two weeks of school go by so quickly that you can't believe it. Excitement from the kids grows more every day as it does with us as well. Our end of the year is filled with many memories for our little kindergarteners. This year we had our first Wacky Olympics hosted by our PE coaches. The kids had a blast playing different field events even though it was hot, hot, hot. We also had our end of the year awards ceremony. This is a wonderful celebration of all our children as we give out awards, present the kids with gifts, and watch a movie from their first year. It always amazes me how much the kids grow and change. We also have our team celebration which this year was a Luau theme. We had seashell games, limbo, beach ball relay, and Ducky Pool Party game to name a few. The kids had lunch with hamburgers, hot dogs, fruit, and chips. Then we went back to our rooms to make leis. Our wonderful day ended with hula dancing lessons in the cafeteria. What more could any 5 and 6 year old want! As we close this week, we are able to take some time and enjoy the kids in a relaxed atmosphere as we dress silly all week. This week we are dressing in wacky clothes, wearing PJ's and having pancake breakfast, and having silly sock day. We will also have our talent show on Wed. afternoon. We can't wait to see them all perform one way or another. As with all teachers, the end of the year is exciting yet sad. We love the idea of a couple weeks to relax but we find we miss the kids as well. Lucky for me, the class will loop with me next year. At the start of next year, we will celebrate being together again and look forward to another great year!

Carolyn Crimi visits Chets Creek

2008-05-10T14:13:00.000-07:00

This week we had our annual author visit. This year we hosted Carolyn Crimi.

What a great presentation she gave. One of the best things I loved from her was the idea of a "story hunt" and of course she had to put on her special hat which always helps her write.

She had the kids imagine that she was in her house (which is 100 years old) and follow her along as she looked for things to write about. The kids were so excited as she invovled them in helping her write a story out loud.

She was energetic, creative, and full of imagination.

At the end of the presentation she shared "The Louds Move In" and had the kids laughing through the whole book. It was great to have her here with us and movitate our young writers. Check out her website - Carolyn Crimi.

A Celebration of the Arts

2008-04-25T04:26:00.001-07:00

This week we have been having our annual Art Extravagza week at Chets. This is a week full of assemblies that expose the children to all the different cultural arts.
This week we started out with The Riverside Guitar Quartet. They were four guys who could really play a variety of music on guitar. On Tuesday we listened to jazz by The Kelly-Scott Jazz 6-tet. The kids loved that!

Wednesday was a Japanese storyteller named Kuniko Yamamoto.

On Thursday we watched the muralist Cliff Beaman as he drew beautiful pictures from chalk (with music in the background.)

On Friday we were able to see Tom Sapp. He is a graphic designer who has made many characters for mascots.

He even created Chets Creek a mascot of their own!

The kids loved the programs. On Friday night we celebrate with a family night of Arts Extravaganza.

The kids will have opportunities to make different things with their parents and see other types of art being done at the same time such as pottery.

We also have a silent auction where anyone can bid on themed baskets put together by each classroom. You would be amazed at them!

It is a fun filled week followed by a great night. What a great opportunity to enrich our children.

Looking for Something New

2008-04-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

The great thing about blogs are they allow you the opportunity to learn from others as well. One reader has shown me a great website that allows readers to read books on-line. They also offer books in different languages. Not only does this site have free on-line books to read but also has a great program that anyone can use to create a book on-line. Plus it has a tutorial on how to create your book. The site is free - all you have to do is register. The site is Big Universe. Check it out and give me your thoughts of how you can use it with your class.

Time to Celebrate our Teacher of the Year

2008-04-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

At Chets Creek we always celebrate big and with style. That certainly is true when it comes to our Teacher of the Year breakfast. This year that teacher was Haley Alvarado. We begin by welcoming our V.I.P. into our theme decorated media center. We start with breakfast and then each grade level performs a skit in honor of our TOY. By the end of the morning we are laughing uncontrollably. At the end of the day we will meet as a team to attend the district's Teacher of the Year Awards. It will be great ending to a great day!

Connecting the Work

2008-04-06T17:47:00.001-07:00

At Chets Creek we continue to think about how we connect the standards with the work we are doing in our classrooms. One way to show this alignment is through a standards based bulletin board. This month we chose to showcase our story the students made to How Little Cloud Became a Big Cloud. Although we don't have the actual voice thread playing next to it (we are hoping to get that up and running this week)we have the individual pieces of student work up along with the class portion. The rest of the students sheets were placed on the clips so that the whole story would be shared. Parents and other teachers are able to see how influential an author can be to students during an author study and how they are able to take on that author's craft. I can't wait to see how this impacts their narrative writing throughout the rest of the year!

How Little Cloud Became a Big Cloud

2008-03-16T18:11:00.000-07:00

After listening to Little Cloud by Eric Carle, we decided to write our own sequel to his work - How Little Cloud Became a Big Cloud. The kids loved this book so much and loved thinking about what little cloud could turn into. They wrote the middle of the story on their own and then we wrote the beginning and ending together as a whole group. What fun it was to hear everyone's ideas. We decided to voice thread the piece. We love it and I am sure you will love it to.

A great way to share books!

2008-03-04T18:35:00.001-08:00

Are you looking for something new to use with your class? Check out this great website that allows you to share on-line books with your class directly through their site or on your blog/website. It is Lookybook. It is a free website that has a wide range of books categorized by genre, author, or illustrator. What a great opportunity for parents to read new books with their child and share books that we also have read as a class. There is a wide range of difficulty which allows readers of all levels. Best of all, it gives you an opportunity to preview a book and decide if you are interested in buying it. The downside of it all is that if there is a lot of print, the size can make it a little difficult to see unless it is enlarge on a nice size screen.

One of my favorite characters is SkippyJon Jones. He is full of excitement, mischief, very creative, and always into trouble. If you haven't met SkippyJon, take a moment to enjoy this book. (If you click on the glasses it enlarges the image)

I can't wait to share all these books with my class. Please post a comment if you have any great ideas to use with this website!

Goodbye to Q Bear

2008-03-02T13:24:00.000-08:00

This week we sent off one of our travel buddies - Q Bear.

The kids loved him but they also loved learning about Q Bears home - Craig, Alaska. The kids loved learning about this small town that has about the same number of people in the town (1,100) that our school does. They also found it amazing that Craig is also a temperate rain forest and gets about 90 inches of rain a year.

This year it has been a great experience for our class to get to know kids from other parts of the world. Not only are they learning about new places but they are also learning to write letters to others about themselves. They have learned that boys and girls all over the world really are just like them although they may have different activities they enjoy depending on where they live. I was so proud of our letters this time and to see how much the children have grown in this area. Here are some of the great notes to Q Bear and his family as he leaves us on another adventure. (Don't forget to click on the student work to enlarge it)
Brandon

Carter

Dylan

Faith

Julia

Mia

Payton

Jasani

Our Book Study Takes Off

2008-02-25T19:49:00.001-08:00

Each year we participate in a book study at Chets Creek. Usually the books are non-fiction which help us become better teachers in one form or another. This year our administration decided to try something new. This year we were able to choose from fiction and non-fiction books that are about children and the struggles that some children go through in their lives. The book I chose was one that I just couldn't wait to get my hands on. The book is the real life story about Dave Pelzer who was the victim of the 3rd worst case of child abuse ever recorded in California. This book is an eye opener for not only teachers but anyone who interacts with children or even has children. It reminds us to think about that child sitting in our class that is having behavior problems, who isn't dressed well or bathed, is stealing food or money, who cannot focus during the lesson, or just gives us that feeling that things are not right at home. I was so touched by this story that I had to share it with my family. Now my daughter and son have both read it as well which allowed us to have a great book talk about it and have some reflections about making sure they never pass judgment about people. If you have any opportunity to read this book I highly suggest it. You won't be able to put it down! If you have read this book, I would love to hear your thoughts on a post!

Passion Quilt Meme

2008-02-18T10:26:00.000-08:00

Leave it to Melanie to always push me into something new. Today she challenges me to post about what I am most passionate for kids to learn. How do you do that in one picture? Well I have to say I really wanted to find the perfect way to describe that. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I couldn't find it in an individual picture (as you will see) but I did find it in one title.

The world around them!

I think that am most passionate for students to learn the world around them. I want them to know about the beauty of our world, how things grow and change, and the plants and animals that interact with each other. I want them to learn about roads that lead them to new places and the different cultures around us. I want them to know why things happen and how things are made. I guess I am passionate about them asking questions and finding the answers about their world around them.

Now it is your turn -
Here's the rules:

Passion Quilt Meme:
1. Post a picture from a source like FlickrCC or Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn about...and give your picture a short title.
2. Title your blog post "Meme: Passion Quilt" and link back to this blog entry.
3. Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce.

What are YOU passionate for kids to learn about?
Carrie Mcleod Mcleod Memos
Haley Alvarado Imagination Station
Jen Snead CC Art Happenings
Wanda Lankford Mrs. Lankford's Line of News
Dorry Lopez Lopez Literacy Leaders

The Final Celebration

2008-02-11T19:54:00.000-08:00

Our school's birthday has come and gone and what a great week we had. One of the most memorable things we did during this week was to work as a school to create a lasting memory - an alphabet book about Chets Creek. Each class, paraprofessional, and administrator was able to contribute to the book in some way. What a better way to preserve the memories of our students, faculty, and the school itself. If you would like to hear a voice thread of this book log onto our class blog.

It's our last day...

2008-02-02T07:01:00.000-08:00

It's Saturday morning and we all wake up exhausted after a long couple days. It's cold and windy, reminiscent of the night we came. It's been a busy week as we have run around session to session, trying to blog whatever we can, and trying to make sure we get the most out of our time here.

Yesterday I presented my vocabulary unit. It was a first for me. Nervous? Yes, I was. They say it gets easier each time. But an experience none the less. I have presented to my colleagues, run meetings, done demo teaches, and videostreamed and I am fine with all that. I guess I probably wasn't the first time I was put in those situations as well. Now I look at them as if it is not a big deal. Did I learn anything about presenting? Oh yes, get a remote control for your laptop so you are not bound to the same place. Technology problems - I knew there would be something that I was not happy about but I guess that comes along with the situation. I hope that I get to experience presenting again since I know that next time will be easier than this time.

We are off to our last couple sessions this morning hoping to learn a little more before we get back on that plane at midnight tonight. I'm coming home!

The Real Work of a Professional Learning Community

2008-01-31T19:23:00.001-08:00

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The conference begins

2008-01-31T08:50:00.000-08:00

We arrived yesterday evening to a cold and windy Hollywood. After a long day we ran back to the Roosevelt Hotel to freshen up and get ready for dinner. As ten of us packed into the van, we headed off to The Blvd. restaraunt at The Regent Beverly Wiltshire Hotel. We had a fabulous dinner with great company! On the way home we took the scenic view and enjoyed all the hoopla that goes along with being in Hollywood.

This morning we were up at the crack of dawn, I love being in a different time zone, and were off to the conference for our schools' virtual tour presentation. It was packed. At the end of our day we listened to Judy Codding, president and chief executive officer of America's Choice, as well as Dr. Wiggenhorn.

We are finally back to get ready for dinner though we are exhausted and our feet our tired. We look forward to a great day tomorrow! Don't forget to log onto live from the creek website to see the details of the conference as we experience it.

And We're Off !

2008-01-30T20:43:00.000-08:00

This week I will embark on a journey with 9 colleagues (administrators and coaches) as we head out to Hollywood, California. We have been a National Model School for America's Choice School Design for many years and this week will be presenting during the conference. During the week, we will also be blogging our experiences through our new blog LIVE From The Creek. This will allow our colleagues to share in the conference with us thousands of miles away. Make sure you tune in to see all that we are seeing and learning.

A Week of Celebrations

2008-01-27T20:30:00.000-08:00

The week has come to an end and everyone is exhausted from the celebrations. What a wonderful experience we have had here at Chets for the students and the teachers. For those of us who have been at this school for many years, it was an extremely memorable week. Chets Creek has become not only my second home (as I enter my
9th year) but to my two children who grew up in this school as well. On Chets Creeks' first birthday the school buried a time capsule in the primary playground. Last week we opened up the capsule to view all the great things that the students and teachers left. It was that year that my own son was in Kindergarten. Here we are ten years later, the time capsule is filled once again with memories from Kindergarten to 5th grade, and I look forward to the next 10 years of Chets Creek memories. Here is a glimpse into our week!

It's Party Time

2008-01-24T18:59:00.000-08:00

Today our students were treated to the Chets Creek Birthday Party in the cafeteria. All day the kids were excited about the fun afternoon. We made party hats in class and were ready to go.

They were invited in one grade level at a time and treated to dancing, singing, goodie bags, and cupcakes. Each child also received a birthday t-shirt to wear on Friday.

They had a great time and were exhausted by the end of the day. Check out our video coming soon of these great kindergarteners singing Happy Birthday!

Celebrating with the Chets Creek Family

2008-01-23T18:35:00.000-08:00

Chets Creek has always felt that in order to love your job it is important to build lasting relationships with students and colleagues. Today as we celebrate our 10th birthday, we were able to enjoy a day with our alumni faculty and alumni students. We began our day with a breakfast with all our current faculty and alumni. For those of us who have been at Chets for many years, it is so nice to see everyone who has left us to further their career or stay at home with new babies. As much as I enjoy talking to old colleagues, there isn't anything better than seeing former students all grown up. Today as I looked around the room I was reminded how important relationships are and I am thankful to be part of the Chets family.

Technology is invading our classroom once again! -Happy Birthday Chets Creek

2008-01-21T11:03:00.000-08:00

This week we stepped into a new area of technology in our class - voicethreads. For those of you who don't know what that is, you are not alone. In order to truly understand what a voicethread can do, you can visit voicethread and click on "What is a voicethread". But more important is understanding what voicethreads can do in your classroom. This week students were able to listen to a voicethread of our schools' Book of the Month - P is for Princess. They loved to watch the pictures displayed on the big screen and still hear my voice reading the story. Students were even more excited when they learned that they were going to be able to voicethread their own stories! I would never be able to describe the smile on each child's face as he/she read individual stories onto the computer and were then able to listen to his/her own voice. Now parents are able to see and hear the work from their child. You too can visit our birthday stories in honor of Chets Creeks 10th birthday this week. You can also visit our reading of the Book of the Month on our class blog!
Welcome to the world of voicethreads.

Where's Rick?

2008-01-15T19:45:00.001-08:00

You might be asking "Who's Rick?" and "Why do we care where he is?" Rick Ellenburg is Florida's Teacher of the year. We care because Rick was at Chets Creek this week to provide us with professional development in Science. Yes, believe it or not, Rick is a full time science resource teacher K- 5. Rick was able to spend the day with each grade levels' science teachers and provide them with ideas to help bring inquiry into the classroom every day!

Questions ranged from best practices for our Kindergarteners to how we can maximize our instructional time. I was able to host our guest and spend the entire day with him. I can't wait to meet with our Science Wizards to discuss specific topics that will enhance our instruction.

One idea that I heard him repeat throughout the day is creating a "take apart center" in our room. This area would allow students the freedom to take apart old electrical appliances and give them the freedom to learn how things work on their own. This would provide students with the opportunity to understand how things in their world work. What a great idea! I can't wait to start with my Kindergarteners. We truly appreciate the time and energy that Rick was able to share with us and can't wait to see our little scientist grow! If you would like to learn more about Rick you can visit his blog at http://2008fltoy.blogspot.com/

Alex's Lemonade Stand

2008-01-05T14:44:00.000-08:00

This year our Kindergarten team decided to adopt a program called "Alex's Lemonade Stand". For those of you who don't know who Alex is, she was a little girl who was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 4. Alex and her older brother set up a lemonade stand in their front yard to help raise money to support childhood cancer research. Each year they hosted their lemonade stand along with others around the nation who also wanted to raise money for research. When Alex died at the age of 8, her lemonade stands had raised over 1 million dollars.

The day before our holiday break, our class hosted the Lemonade Stand. We set up shop 45 minutes prior to our 2nd grade play and sold lemonade 1 1/2 hours. With the help of 3 girls from our class, we raised $115.00!!! We couldn't believe it ourselves. How powerful is it to show how much we can make a difference for just a small amount of our time?

If you want to learn more about Alex's Lemonade Stand you can visit the website at
http://www.alexslemonade.org

It's All About Family

2007-12-11T15:18:00.000-08:00

For many working parents, it becomes a challenge to find time to come to the classroom. In an effort to bring families together in our class, we have a holiday lunch each year in Dec. This is a pot luck lunch where everyone is welcome (including extended family). There is nothing better than families getting to know eachother. This year we had 20 our of 26 families able to join us for our grand celebration. Here are some highlights from our lunch:

It's a Busy Time of Year

2007-12-08T08:57:00.000-08:00

For Kindergarten teachers at Chets Creek, the time between Oct. and winter break seems to fly by. Between our Pumpkin unit, Pow Wow, holiday celebrations, and assessments we are continuing to find a way to keep an academic focus and still enjoy the season. At our school, the PTA sponsors a silent auction for holiday items that are made from each class. This auction is held in our lobby and takes place for about a week and a half. This year, our class decided to make ornaments and use them to decorate wreaths. In an effort to involve the kids as much as possible, we decided to make dough ornaments, allow kids to decorate them, and then have them do a functional piece of writing (How to...) to describe the procedures for making the ornamants. What fun this turned out to be! While we were making the dough, we had one child taking the pictures and another child writing the steps on the board with the help from the class. Here is a glimpse into this fun activity!

First we put two cups of flour into a bowl.

Next we added 1/2cup salt to 3/4 cup water and stirred it until it dissolved.

Then we mix it all together with our hands and make it into a ball.

Roll out the dough.

Then cut it out with a cookie cutter.

Make sure you have someone who is writing down the steps as you are doing it. That way you don't forget.

THEN TAKE THEM HOME AND BAKE THEM AT A LOW TEMPERATURE UNTIL THEY ARE HARD AND DRY.

Paint your ornament and let it dry.

Then you are done.

Pow Wow was a Success!

2007-11-18T18:55:00.000-08:00

If you ask the kids about the best part of the day - it was dancing and singing. How great it is to know that they enjoy showing their families and friends how hard they have practiced over the last couple weeks. As they come out in their costumes, the teachers are proud, the kids are excited, and the parents are amazed. Pow Wow is just not about costumes and dancing. We have proven that through all our hard academic work. But the costumes and dancing are the celebration of tribes just as it has always been for Native Americans. They dress in their best. They sing. They dance. They celebrate life and food. And that is what Chets Creek Pow Wow is all about. Check out our student blog to see how much the kids have learned!

Who were the Nez Perce?

2007-11-12T06:38:00.000-08:00

Each year the Kindergarten team at Chets Creeks completes a Native American Study. Each class is assigned to a tribe to study over a 3 week period. Our culminating event is a Pow Wow where each class participates in dance and song while dressed in their Native American attire. To describe this unit in its entirety is almost impossible. Every detail is taken care of from decorating the outside of the room, learning a wealth of information, making costumes, having a parent night, to the Pow Wow event itself. The academic unit focuses on many areas such as vocabulary, shared readings, elements of non-fiction for reading, functional writing, report writing, and sound through vibrations. The vocabulary focuses on words that describe the Native Americans or were specific to their tribe such as parfleche (a satchel used by the Nez Perce to carry their items.) Shared readings include poems written about the tribe. Reader's Workshop teaches students how to read non-fiction from different elements (headings, captions, glossary, gaining meaning from the pictures). Writer's Workshop focuses on writing functional pieces about the items they make in class such as a parfleche or medicine bag and ending with students writing reports which include non-fiction elements learned in reading. We also discuss sound and vibrations for science as we learn that the drums make different sounds by the size and content in the drum. This truly is a unit of study in all curriculum areas. While the students are learning about their tribe, we are also busy making our costumes. We try our best to make them authentic in look. We study what they wore and how they made their daily clothing and best dress for Pow Wow's. Of course we couldn't make this work without the great help from parents throughout the unit. The Pow Wow itself is a big day. We begin our morning with the song and dance celebration for all the tribes. Parents and some grade levels are invited to join. Once that is done, we rotate through stations run with our resource team. We complete activities such as food tasting, Native American tribal games, symbol writing, make clay pieces, look at artifacts, etc. By the end of the day, and the end of the unit, we are all exhausted. Though this may seem to be an immense amount of work, and it is, this becomes a lifelong memory for most of our students. Each year, students come back and remind us how much they learned about their tribe. Most students even remember their Native American names. My own children, who are now 14 and 12, participated in Chets Creek Pow Wow in Kindergarten. Although it was still new then and a lot has grown out of the unit over the years, it is still a memory for both of them that they love to talk about. That truly is what learning is all about!

Watch this week to learn about our tribe and see highlights from Pow Wow on our class blog at http://hkidshighlights.blogspot.com or look under favorite links!

The Literacy Connection

2007-10-27T18:11:00.000-07:00

Each year at Chets Creek we have our Literacy Parade and Carnival. This is a week long celebration of Fall and Literacy. We begin the week as each class submits a pumpkin (s) that resemble a book. This year our class submitted "It's a Small World" to go along with our class theme. The students painted a large pumpkin that resembled the world and then each child decorated an small pumpkin at home that resembled him/her.

The last two weeks in Oct.the Kindergarten classes begin working on a Pumpkin Unit. During this time the students are learning facts about pumpkins, writing about pumpkins, making food with pumpkins, using pumpkins for math, and being scientists as they investigate pumpkins.

The culminating event for us is the day of the Literacy Parade and Carnival. Each Kindergarten and First Grade child dresses up as a literary character and parades around the school with his/her book for the older students. This is an exciting day for them as they all feel like a star!

After we finish the parade, the students return to their room for fun stations throughout the day. That evening our school has their big carnival. This includes a trick or treat around the bottom floor of the school and then carnival food and activities outside. This is a great family night as well as a good time for parents to get to know other parents in the class.

Although the day is long, our Literacy Parade and Carnival are what makes our school different than most. It is apparent that our teachers and children embrace the opportunity to celebrate with all the families that make up our "family" at Chets Creek. It really is a place where dreams do come true!

It Really is a Small World After All...

2007-10-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

This week our class will begin a year-long experience of communication with 5 other schools around the country. Throughout the year, our class will be meeting other children from different states and learn what school is like where they live. We begin by creating a journal about our class, what our day is like, include pictures of things that happen in our class, and write letters to the students. We will send our journal along with our "travel buddy" (which of course is a jaguar beanie baby named Jag) along on the journey for other classes to enjoy and take pictures with as well. Our first school will be with Marlene Srock's class from Minot N.D. What is amazing is that I lived in Minot N.D. for 4 1/2 years and both of my children were born there. After learning that this was my first class to journal with, I knew that this was going to be a wonderful experience for my kids. Our travel buddy Jag will visit the following places from Oct. through the end of April. Here are the great places we will get to know:
Minot, N.D.
Midvale, Utah
Craig, Alaska
Farmington, MN
Brooklyn, NY

I look forward to keeping posts about this new experience. Stay tuned for further details as the year goes on! It really is a small world after all!

Technology in our class

2007-10-08T19:34:00.000-07:00

If you walk into our classroom today you would realize that it is nothing like school was when we were children. Technology is everywhere. Over the last couple weeks, our classroom has become a place where learning is taking place through many different types of technology. Here are some examples of how we are using new strategies and tools to teach our children:
* We no longer need the TV in our room as our morning broadcast is sent through the VCR and the projector.
* Read alouds can be share easily with the whole class when it is projected from the Elmo through the projector. Here is an example of us reading "Caps for Sale".

* Skills Block can be taught using websites projected for the whole class to see and participate or to share a document that the whole class is working on together. This is an example from our nursery rhyme unit where students are sounding out the words and we are labeling the items in the Little Miss Muffet rhyme. There is no longer a need for an overhead.

* Our closing in Writer's Workshop is able to be seen by the whole class when it is shared through the Elmo.
* Student work can be saved from the Elmo to the laptop. This work can then be sent to parents, posted on a blog or website, or saved for future use. What a great way to put together a portfolio of a child's work at the end of the year for parents to see what type of growth has taken place.

* Math strategies can be taught with the Elmo and saved into the laptop. What a great way for parents to see the type of work that is taking place. Here is a sample of work from our pattern unit in math. Students are able to share the patterns in the closing of our workshop.

* In Science we are able to show websites that have video clips, see pictures at a closer look, and even do activities such as sorting objects and making observable properties. Here all students are able to help sort objects by the number of sides each piece has.

* On top of all that we still have our stand alone computers where students are able to work on academic websites to provide reinforcement for individual skills he/she may need.

As you can tell, learning in our class is full of content and fun at the same time.

A Morning of Literacy

2007-09-22T15:46:00.001-07:00

At Chets Creek, our primary school devotes their morning to a 2 1/2 hour literacy block. This includes a Skills Block, Reader's Workshop, and a Writer's Workshop. Our Skills Block is usually around 30 minutes but at the beginning of Kindergarten it is closer to 45 minutes. During this time we work on phonemic awareness, phonics, and vocabulary. This year a group of teachers worked collaboratively to write our own vocabulary unit based on the research of Beck and McKeown (Bringing Words to Life) that deepens the “Star” books (which are narrative books read to every kindergartner). In order to help deepen our understanding we love to act the words out such as "frightened".

In Reader's Workshop we have a 7 - 10 minute mini-lesson which focuses on a reading strategy. During this time of the year, we are working on learning new literacy stations and retellings of our favorite "Star" books that we are reading for our vocabulary unit. This is where children learn the elements of retelling and enjoy acting them out. "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" is one of our favorite stories to retell.

After we are done with our mini-lesson, we have about 10 minutes of silent reading from our individual book bins. During this time, students practice what has been taught in the mini-lesson.

For the last 30 minutes of work time, we work with a group in Literacy Stations. We end our Reader's Workshop with a closing where the students are able to share what strategies he/she used during our work time. The last hour of our morning is spend in Writer's workshop. Once again we have a 7-10 minute mini-lesson followed by independent writing time. At this time of the year, students are learning how to write their own "small moments" from the Lucy Caulkins Writing Series.

When we are finished, we close with our "share chair" which provides an opportunity for students to showcase work that included the writing strategy that was discussed in the mini-lesson. What a great time for the others to learn.

To learn more about our morning of literacy, check out our class blog at http://hkidshighlights.blogspot.com

The Day in the Life of a Kindergartener

2007-09-03T17:29:00.000-07:00

Each day in our small world we have a very structured routine. We begin with a 2 1/2 hour Literacy Block. This includes a 30 minute Skills Block, a 1 hour Reader's Workshop, and a 1 hour Writer's Workshop. It is the morning where reading and writing become part of eachother. After lunch we have a 1 hour Math Workshop which includes our new Math Counts and Math Investigations. Here at Chets Creek we are fortunate to have a resource 4 out of 5 days during the week (every day except Wed). This includes Art, Music, PE, Media, Character Education, and Science. After resource we have a 15 minutes Science Workshop. Every other Wednesday we have an extra 40 minutes where we are able to complete hands-on activities for Science. At the end of the day, our little ones are tired and are ready for some play. They love our 30 minutes of recess. Before we know it, it is time to pack up and go home. For us as teachers, another day is done and we begin thinking about tomorrow.

This week I will be discussing each part of our day on our class blog. Check it out to learn more about each part of our day.

The Chets Creek Way

2007-08-31T10:42:00.000-07:00

If you have never experienced a Kindergarten class at Chets Creek Elementary then you have never experienced teaching at its best. I love to be in an environment where the teachers are excited and truly love working with children. Yes, it is only the second week of school but this group of teachers are this way all year. Each day we take our kids out for car rider dismissal and get an opportunity to chat while we are there. Each day we get to share the great things we did in our class with each other. Each day we get new ideas from one another. Each day we get to share the funniest things our kids did in class. In Kindergarten something funny happens every day. It is here that we close our day on a positive note no matter what type of chaotic day is was with the children (as it is with all Kindergarteners in the second week).We too live by the thought that each day you start as a new day. Sometimes we forget how important support amongst our colleagues is. I am blessed to be a part of this community of teachers and live THE CHETS CREEK WAY!

Our Magical Week

2007-08-23T20:24:00.000-07:00

It was first week of Kindergarten and what a busy week it was. Twenty-six little prince and princess begin their life long journey as learners as they walk into our castle every day. How fortunate are we as educators to help determine the fate of these little ones. This week we began to set the rituals and routines of our class. By the third day of school they were already working on phonemic awareness with our Star Students, learning during Reader's and Writer's Workshop, completing our new Math Counts in our Math Workshop, and hearing lots of great new stories. Check out our class blog under favorite links to see what each child thought about the first week of school. I can tell that the magic is just beginning!

It's A Small World After All....

2007-08-20T19:41:00.001-07:00

The first day of school has come and gone with 25 new little smiling faces. How exciting it must be to come to your first day of school where everything is decorated as a magic kingdom.

Our students were enchanted as they watched a magic show, had pictures taken around the school, and wore themselves out on the bounce house. In the morning we read A Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn. It is one of my favorite stories. During lunch, Chester Raccoon snuck into our room and left us a note with a list of clues. We used these clues to find important places around the school such as the office, the music room, and art. At the end of the hunt, we found a box of popsicles left for us by Chester. The kids had a wonderful time as they learned about all the great things at our school and had fun at the same time. For 25 little prince and princesses of Chets Creek - dreams really do come true.

A Trip To Hawaii

2007-08-10T20:41:00.000-07:00

Hawaii...a vacation in paradise. After two weeks we have come back exhausted and loaded with memories (just in time to prepare for school). The weather was perfect, the scenery was beautiful, and the people were welcoming. We were able to visit the whole island of Ohau and almost all of The Big Island. What fun we had getting to see famous places such as The North Shore, Waikiki Beach, Diamond Head, and Volcano National Park. Here is a glimpse into trip...

Hawaii

2007-08-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

A Tribute to Teachers!

2007-07-13T20:57:00.000-07:00

If you ever walk into my classroom you will see that I love children's books. Not only do I love to read them but I love to give them as gifts as well. This week I found a great book for a principal friend whose theme is centered around gardening - Mrs. Spitzer's Garden by Edith Pattou. I couldn't wait to share this book with everyone and anyone. This is a wonderful story about Mrs. Spitzer's metaphorical garden to her Kindergarten classroom. Year after year she is given a new pack of "seeds" that she will plant and nurture. This wise teacher recognizes that some will grow faster and stronger than others, yet they will all flourish if given enough love and tender care. At the end of the year, her little "seeds" have grown strong and her job is done. She closes up her classroom, puts away her "tools", and begins to plan for the next year. This book is a tribute to all teachers and their dedication to their "gardens". I hope you will share this book with a friend, a teacher, a colleague, or just buy it for yourself!

Off We Go...

2007-07-05T07:03:00.000-07:00

We are now in the middle of summer. This week my kids and I are leaving to visit family and spend a couple days at the beach with some friends. Then we head home and all of us pack for our upcoming trip to Hawaii. I think I am more excited than the kids. I am really looking forward to sharing pictures with my upcoming class and posting them here as well. I have finally finished working on a new vocabulary unit with some colleagues for next year which we are very excited about. We will be using it with our Kindergarteners. So now we are off to relax, do some reading ( can never get enough time for that), and spend quality time with the kids. Before we know it, it will be just in time for school!

Our Favorite Zoo Animals

2007-06-29T10:45:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to learn more about blogging, I decided to add our favorite photos from our zoo trip last year in First Grade. We loved going to the zoo and learning about all the different animals.

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-06-29T10:39:00.001-07:00

Summer Fun

2007-06-12T05:38:00.000-07:00

Summer is here and I am busy trying to relax and have fun। Heading to the beach, playing with my kids, and looking forward to vacations. I just finished a book I started in April and didn't have time to read in May - 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult. It was great. Summer for me also means getting prepared for next year which includes this blog. I look forward to a great year in Kindergarten!