Have You Seen My Cat? (Eric Carle) A World-Wide Journey

Have you ever wondered how long it took the little boy in the story, "Have You Seen My Cat?" to find his cat? Well, we did! We pretended that the boy started his journey and ended it in Jacksonville, Florida. He started his journey at the Jacksonville Zoo where he only found a lion and ended right back where he started searching. In the meantime, he found a Bobcat in Mexico, a Puma, Jaguar, and Panther in South America, a Cheetah in Africa, a Tiger in India, and a Persian Cat in Persia (modern day Iran). Below is a sample of the map that we used to follow his journey.

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Introducing Eric Carle!

This week, we began an Author Study of Eric Carle. Eric Carle has written or illustrated over 70 children's books. His most famous, "The Hungry Caterpillar" has sold over 29 million copies worldwide! Eric Carle is most famous for his illustrations done with a special collage technique. Truly, Eric Carle is one of the most beloved Children's authors!

To begin our work as readers in this study, we have begun to record our responses to Eric Carle's books in a Reader's Response Notebook. Your student has learned that there are many ways to respond to an author's work. The can re-tell the main events of a story, give their opinion and explain why (even if they do not like the work :), and/or recommend the book to others. The following is a piece written by a student, giving her opinion about the Book, "Have You Seen My Cat?".

In weeks to come, we will connect moments in the text to moments in our own lives, events in other books, or in the world. Stay tuned for more student work from our study of Eric Carle!

Magic E/ Bossy E Video :

Bossy Bossy E

This week in Skills Block, we have focused on words that follow the Silent E or Bossy E rule. We know that when silent or bossy e is on the end of the word such as "lake", the vowel "a" will say it's name. That bossy e on the end of the word will make the other vowel say it's name. A great resource for practicing this rule is found at Starfall.com and can be accessed by following this link: http://www.starfall.com/n/skills/silent-e/load.htm?f.There are also many other great resources on the main "Learning to Read" page: http://www.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-read/load.htm?f

Reading from Around the World

Reading is a daily adventure here at the Bridges Bay. As you are reading with your student at home there are many online resources that you can use to support your student's journey. Just today, I found a great link that will expand our horizons as online readers. Check out the International Children's Digital Library at http://en.childrenslibrary.org/. This website contains free online books from all over the world and in many languages (many of which are bilingual). If you find a great one that you think we should share with our class, please let me know!

February Book of the Month

February's Book of the Month has warmed the hearts of teachers and students here at Chets Creek. "The Impossible Patriotism Project" reminds us to thank those that make sacrifices for our country everyday. Our class has responded to this book by first sending a postcard to our troops through http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1280.html. Anyone is welcome to select a student made postcard through this website and send it via the web to our troops as a thank you :).
Each of our students at the Bridges Bay have also created their own postcards which we hope to send to one of our faculty member's family member in the service.
Included are samples of our students' work. It is always so important to say, "Thank you"!

V is for Valentine

What a great day we had last Friday! We were joined by Mrs. C, Mrs. K, Mrs. W and Mrs. G for a morning of Valentine Centers. Thank you to all the parents that donated supplies for our day as well as a big thank you to the parents that ran our Valentines' Day centers. We made Valentine necklaces, cupcakes, books, and cards for our families and we had a great time! Thank you for all the beautiful valentines and gifts that were brought for our students and teachers! We were all hearts at the Bridges Bay :).

Celebrating President's Day!

I hope everyone had a fantastic three day weekend! Last week, our students learned about the importance of a president's job as well as two very important presidents (George Washington and Abraham Lincoln). Students were asked to describe what they would do or what it would be like if they were president. This VoiceThread contains just a few of our students' work.

Hurray, Hurray it's the Hundredth Day!

One hundred days of learning fun here at the Bridges Bay and we just couldn't help but celebrate! Each of us has grown by leaps and bounds and we are getting ready for First Grade! We celebrated our 100th Learning Adventure Day by decorating ourselves with 100 things, ribbons, bugs, buttons, pins, and even our school mascott. We counted to 100 in many ways, with our snack, writing numbers, and even collecting groups of ten.
To top it off, we even got to meet Zero the Hero in a special Kindergarten Assembly. He taught us about what it was like 100 years ago, but before he began we all counted to 100 of course!

Dental Health Month

In honor of Dental Health Month, we were visited by three tooth fairies. Well actually, they were dentists and one of them was M's mom! These ladies graciously visited our entire grade level, bringing with them goodie bags filled with toothbrushes, dental floss, and toothpaste. Even our Kindergarten teachers received their very own tools to dental health!

We learned about healthy foods for our teeth, important facts about even the drinks that we consume, and how to brush! Each student got a chance to brush a puppet's very realistic teeth in order to learn first hand the right way to brush.
A big thank you to our own tooth fairies and hurray for Dental Health Month!