New Friends from Canada!

We are so excited! We are going to have some new friends reading our blog and commenting on it. They are going to be teachers and they are taking a class in Canada! We wanted to introduce our class to them - the TDs (that stands for Mrs. Timmons and Mrs. Daniels, although Mrs. Timmons is going out on maternity leave later this month and Mrs. Ruarke, who has already started in our class, will be taking her place!) We got to film our introduction on a very important day in our life. It was our traditional first grade sleepover and some our parents got to watch as we filmed! So.... introducing the AMAZING, the FANTASTIC, the BEST in the whole wide world... THE TDs!

First Grade Mentor Video from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

Sleepover!

What a great day! We started with a parade through the darkened hallways carrying our teddy bears and flashlights as everyone sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Then it was a pancake breakfast in the Dining Room, furnished by Denny's. After eating, Principal Phillips had us all up and dancing, including our teachers!

Soon we were ready for "centers" led by our fearless Resource Team. We learned the "Bear Polka" where we even got to R-O-A-R like a lion and then partnered up for Square Dancing. In art we got to design our own book covers. Outside we had to "defend our bears" and then it was "Sleepover Bingo."

We had lunch in the room and then in the afternoon we went to "KK's Sleepover Party!" With our pillows and teddy bears, we watched a shadow play of Ira Sleeps Over and a winnie Pooh movie with drinks and popcorn (what's a movie without popcorn!) and then rounded it off with some Sleepover dancing!

The teachers are exhausted from so much sleepover fun but the kids had a WONDERFUL time!

Guess Who Was on TV?

Guess who was on WCCE this morning? We were! Two students from our class were on the morning television program with their bears, to remind everyone at school that tomorrow is the BIG event - our sleepover! and guess who the anchor was this morning? Mrs. Daniel's fifth grade daughter (she's the one on the left in the pretty pink!) They were all FANTASTIC!

Z-z-z-z-z-z

This is First Grade Sleepover Week at Chets Creek. On Tuesday night all parents were invited to join their child in our classroom to make a pillowcase. Children came with their families to enjoy the night. Of course, I'm not sure who worked harder on the pillowcases - the child or the adults?! But we turned out masterpieces! Thank you so much to those familes who were able to join us for this fun event!

Lookout Hollywood!

Did your students come home today and tell you that we had video cameras in our room all morning? Well, they were right! Today our class was videotaped during a longer-than-usual Skills Block and you would have been so proud! The children responded like stars, showing off all of the things that they have learned this year. The tape was for Pearson, a professional educational company. An edited version of the tape will eventually be used to train teachers from all over the country. Afterwards Dr. Eagen from the University of North Florida taped a follow-up session about assessment with four of our students. They made us all so proud! There is nothing more satisfying to a teacher than to see students show how much they have learned - and today was very satisfying indeed! Hollywood, here we come!

Bully Buster Week

January 12-15 is "Bully Buster Week" at Chets Creek. Even though Chets Creek is a very safe environment for our children we recognize the bullying starts very young and gets worse as children get older. Research tells us the devastating effects that bullying has on three groups of children: those that are bullied, those that bully and those that watch bullying take place and do nothing. All week on our in-house morning television program, WCCE, the children will see little vignettes about what to do when they see one child bullying another.

On Monday each child will receive a paper brick and will write about a time when they felt uncomfortable. Every child in the building will contribute a brick to a wall that will go up in the Dining Room.

Monday night, January 12, is Chik-fil-A night and part of the proceeds from 6-8:00 will be given back to Chets Creek to be used for bully prevention. If any child goes up to the counter and says he is a Bully Buster from Chets Creek, he will receive free ice cream!

On Thursday every child in the school is encouraged to wear blue to fight the "Billy Blues". The children will have an assembly in the Dining Room when they will tear the wall down of negative feelings that they built on Monday.

Visit the linked website with your child to learn more about bullying. Or try this website. Let us know what you think!