Starting to Put the Pieces Together

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...

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!

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

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

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

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

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!