Even though we have said goodbye to Eric Carle, his books are still among our favorites. Here is an interview with Eric Carle discussing the 40th anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Our class entered a coloring contest a few weeks ago celebrating this anniversary!
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Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Hello Pattern Books
As we end our Eric Carle Unit, we keep with us some of his books as mentor texts for a new unit, Pattern Books. We have seen before that books have patterns in them. We noticed this when we read the book, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?". We noticed that there was a question and an answer pattern. We also noticed with our own books in our bags that we had "question and answers" too! Ask your student about what kinds of patterns they have found in the Eric Carle's books as well as their own book-in-a-bag! We will be writing our very own pattern books this week and as we return from Spring Break. Check out our "published work" outside of our classroom and inside!
Goodbye Eric Carle!
We have had so much fun studying Eric Carle!
Responding,Retelling, and Celebrating all of his great books.
Check out our Celebration Day!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Over the River and to the Hospital We Go!
Today, our class visited Wolfson Children's Hospital. We were graciously escorted to see the sign-in desk, Roxy the pharmacist's robot, the Kid's Care Van, and the emergency helicopter. Our students learned safety tips from the staff as well as the procedures that would be taken if they had to visit the hospital. We all came away having learned something new about hospitals, what to do in an emergency, and staying happy and healthy! Many of us said our favorite part was seeing the Kid Care Van (kids' ambulance). Who could blame them, we got to see inside this van and take a picture with the crew!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
We be catching some wee leprechauns this week at the Bridges Bay. Our traps in hand, we be the finest leprechaun catchers in the land! Our celebration day was full of leprechaun fun. We set out our traps in hopes to catch us a leprechaun or two. We kept getting notes from Lenny and Lisa Leprechaun. Our PE coaches even warned us that they had seen them planning to trick our class! As we kept an eye out, we sang leprechaun songs, made leprechaun puppets for Reader's Theater, wrote notes to Lenny and Lisa, sorted and graphed Lucky Charms, and even got some fresh air with a Compound Word Clover game outside! At lunch, those tricky leprechauns had tripped our traps and trashed our room! They were kind enough to leave us some gold :). Check out this slide show from our celebration day :0).
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Reader's Response
In Reader's Workshop, we have been learning about the different ways to respond to text. We have learned that we can tell our favorite part and why, explain what the book reminded us of and why (text-to-self connection), give our opinion of the book, and/or explain how a book reminds us of another book (text-to-text connection). The following is a video clip of student responses made during Individual Reading Time. The students would then use these responses to further respond during Writer's Workshop. Stay tuned for more work from this unit!
Chet Knows How to Take a Vacation!
Where has Chet been lately? Try North Carolina on a ski trip with L's family.
How fun was that? VERY COOL! Over President's Day weekend, Chet had the opportunity to check out the snow at Sugar Mountain. What better place than Sugar Mountain to learn how ski! Mrs. Bridges' husband learned how to ski on that very mountain. I bet Chet had a blast and good thing that he has his fur to keep him nice and warm.
Chets' next stop will be back to Texas for Spring Break! Check out the pictures of Chets trip to Sugar Mountain below:
How fun was that? VERY COOL! Over President's Day weekend, Chet had the opportunity to check out the snow at Sugar Mountain. What better place than Sugar Mountain to learn how ski! Mrs. Bridges' husband learned how to ski on that very mountain. I bet Chet had a blast and good thing that he has his fur to keep him nice and warm.
Chets' next stop will be back to Texas for Spring Break! Check out the pictures of Chets trip to Sugar Mountain below:
Friday, March 6, 2009
Is 50th Good Enough?
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!
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!
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