What happened to the time ???

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

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

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...

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

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

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?

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!