Curious Kindergartners Who Became Fantastic First Graders!

Saying Good-by

2009-06-04T21:01:00.006-04:00

Today is the last day of the 2008-2009 school year. Today we watch our little TDRs leave our classroom for the summer, to return in the fall as taller, wiser second graders. We could not be prouder of any group of children. We have had some wonderful times together and feel each child is well prepared for the journey ahead. We have so loved your children and we have also loved getting to know each family. You have been so incredibly supportive this year. We have a special thank you to our room moms, Gina Allmond and Donna Powell. We couldn't have asked for more help and support. We just don't have enough superlatives for all they have done for us and for your children. What a blessing! We are thrilled that Gina will joining our Chets Creek family next year as a paraprofessional!

We can't thank you enough for your thoughtful gift certificates yesterday! Look for us at the malls because we will each be shopping in the week to come! We also the love the other gifts and the picture to put on our desks to remind us of this year traveling around the world in 180 days! However, there is no gift that could ever compare to the gift you have given us by trusting us to care for your most precious child this year. We are not sure who has learned the most - the children or the teachers! When we get back to school in August, each of us will be going in a different direction. Mrs. Timmons and Mrs. Ruark will each be going up to their own second grade classroom to teach Reading and Writing. Mrs. Daniels will be in first grade again and Mrs. T will go down to Kindergarten. We hope that you and your children will stop by often and let us know how things are going. We will be looking for your smiling faces because we expect to hear the greatest things! We hope you have a wonderful summer break. We love you dearly!
Go TDRs!
Randi, Cathy, Tracy and dayle

TDR's Celebrate Third Nine Weeks

2009-04-28T18:20:00.002-04:00

I am the luckiest person in the world as I am experiencing my “firsts” as a teacher this year. Today was one of those “firsts” as the TDR’s celebrated their third nine weeks awards. I’m lucky because I’ve been able to watch as the students have matured from being timid and unsure to self confident amazing young scholars. They all have worked so hard these last nine weeks and have so much to show for it! I have learned just as much from them as they have from me and I will carry that with me forever. So bring on the last nine weeks of the 2008-2009 school year… it’s going to go fast but its going to be a heck of a ride!

Congratulations!

2009-04-24T11:54:00.004-04:00

Last night a students from our class was honored at Sandalwood High School. She is of Armenian heritage and when she came to Chets Creek last year she was able to take advantage of services for children who are learning English as a second language. She is one of 262 students at our school that speak 21 other languages besides English! It is like having our very own mini-United Nations. She has an opportunity to work with Mrs. Bort, who is a native Spanish speaker, each week. Mrs. Bort chose her to represent all of Chets Creek for her academic achievement this year. Last night she received a medal as the "Chets Creek Second Language Learner of the Year!" We are so proud!

Poetry...It's About Thinking Outside The Box

2009-04-16T21:47:00.001-04:00

The TDR’s started a new Reader’s Workshop unit on poetry this week. A lot of deep thought and visualization goes into poetry, but if you were to take the time to stop in and see our kids at work you would soon realize that our 1st graders are deep thinkers. It happened to be very stormy outside when we started the lesson so we read poems on the earth, sea and sky. We were able to get the children to feel what was going on around them and connect with their inner artist. One amazing student wrote the following poem titled The Wind.

The wind is waving the leaves and the vines.
The wind is strong going in days and nights.
The wind is cool and cold.
The wind is straight and wirley and curvy
and uply and downly and pointly and
upsidedownly and rightly and lefty and dently.

He clearly used his schema, his senses and his emotions to immerse the reader in how he was feeling at that particular moment. Wow! Wow! Wow! As a teacher I couldn’t be more proud. Way to go TDR’s!

TDR Spring Egg Hunt A Success!

2009-04-16T20:48:00.002-04:00

Chets Creek had their annual egg hunt last week and the TDR’s were hunting and gathering with the best of them! The students participated in arts and crafts which included making bunny bags (for collecting eggs), decorating egg cookies, and creating eatable bird’s nests among other fun activities. Each egg was filled with candy and hidden by our wonderful room moms. (What would we do without our awesome room moms?) Mayhem ensued and the playground mulch went flying as the TDR’s raced to find their eggs. All in all it was a great day and I gained about 20 lbs from eating too many chocolate eggs…but it was soooooo worth it!

Xtra! Xtra! Persuasive Writing 101

2009-04-05T16:58:00.005-04:00

Prior to spring break the TDR’s started our “NEW” persuasive writing unit. The children have been given the task of writing persuasive letters about their own “real-world issues/concerns.” Much to our delight the students came forward with an outpouring of ideas such as field trips once a week (for more in depth learning), a Nintendo DS (for educational purposes of course), a new trampoline because the old one is broken and a safety hazard, a puppy (to teach them responsibility) and many more. I have to say I liked the idea of McDonald’s and Domino’s Pizza being delivered once a week. We created our own TDR Post Office inclusive of stationary, stamps, envelopes, etc. Over the next two weeks we will be addressing and sending these letters out to the principal, moms and dads, teachers among many others. So the next time you go to the mail box beware…persuasion is in the air!

Exploring Plants and Flowers

2009-03-28T21:44:00.006-04:00

We have been talking about plants in science the past few weeks. We have been observing different types of seeds, roots, flowers. Last week, each child got to plant a bean seed and some winter rye seeds. It didn't take long for the winter rye to begin growing in our cups, but the bean seeds took a little longer.
This week, we did a experiments with plants. We put food coloring and water in a few containers and placed some white flowers, and roses in the containers. We also did the same thing with stalks of celery. After just a few hours, the colored water began to travel up tiny tubes in the stem of the white flowers and pink roses, and the petals began to change colors before our eyes. The same thing happened to our stalks of celery. We decided to split one of the celery stalks and put half of it in blue water, and the other half in red water. The colored water traveled up the celery, changing the inside color, as well.
A nearby florist was so kind to donate a variety of spring flowers for our class to observe. We set up different flowers at each table with magnifying glasses, and students were asked to describe the texture, color, smell of each of the flowers. Also, we opened up some of the flowers for them to observe the inside parts of the flowers. I think we are all ready for SPRING now.

Sight Word Song

2009-03-19T15:04:00.002-04:00

Once again we are singing sight words to a known tune. Ask your child to sing the following words to the tune of "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain."
animal

animal

fall

look

took

watched

why

what

some

loved

under

world

never

also

other

funny

thought

bought

family

children

mother

know

knee

knit

write

learn

father

walked

people

sure

world

busy

build

later

light

night

bright

slight

because

living

wouldn't

couldn't

shouldn't

tomorrow

first

second

before

finally

good-by

YEE-HAW!

Untitled from dayle timmons on Vimeo.

Wordle And The Big Chickens Project

2009-03-19T14:29:00.005-04:00

Teachers are always searching for cool new ways to reach their students. While working on the Big Chickens Project the TDR’s decided (after suggestions from our favorite ESE teacher) to utilize Wordle. Wordle is a great little tool you can use to help create “word clouds”. Words that appear more frequently in your text are greatly pronounced based on how often the word is used. You can create different fonts, color schemes and layouts. This is a great tool for any grade level or project. After reading Big Chickens by Leslie Helakjoski we had our students pick three words each that they thought best described the book. We entered the words into the Wordle website and our “word cloud” was created! I don’t know about you but I see a lot more fun with site words in our future!

The leprechauns Visit the TDR's

2009-03-17T20:16:00.004-04:00

The TDR's had quite the surprise when they arrived at school this morning. The classroom was turned upside down by some little green visitors. Chairs were flipped over, crayons and papers were thrown all about. The leprechauns even turned our water green! Mrs. Daniels and Mrs. Ruark were very proud of the children as they worked together to clean up the room and get it back to normal again. I must say it was quite a day...I hope those pesky little leprechauns don’t visit again anytime soon!

A Retelling of our Kevin Henkes Day

2009-03-14T03:24:00.004-04:00

What a way to end the Kevin Henkes author study. We couldn't believe our eyes on Friday morning. Instead of being greeted by 31 students, we were greeted by 31 cute little mice. There was Lilly, Chester, Wemberly, Owen, Julius, Mr. Slinger, and many more characters from Kevin Henkes books. We rotated from place to place doing special activities. The first stop was outside fun, where our class got to play tug-of-war, make bubbles, play crochet and play jump rope. These were all activities that occurred in the books that we had read. Second stop was watching a Kevin Henkes video of three of our favorite stories, and eating a yummy snack that mice love soooo much, cheetos. Third stop, we went to the Lightbulb Lab, and decorated either a purple purse or a wallet. Fourth stop, we played Jeaopardy and had to answer all types of questions about the stories we had read. Well, you could imagine all of this spectacular fun made our cute little mice very hungry. Thanks to all of you for being so gracious with your donations to our room mom, we had cheeeeeeesy pizza, strawberries, chips and soda for our lunch. We all can't 'THANK YOU' enough. You know our day is not complete until we eat something sweet. Did you know that mice love cupcakes?? Our mice were all given a cupcake and used toppings to make a mouse on their cupcake. Was your little mouse tired when they got home? Sweet dreams little mice.

Kevin Henkes Puppets

2009-03-09T17:04:00.003-04:00

Students were invited to make puppets as a family project last week and today they brought in the results. Popsicle puppets, bag puppets, and sock puppets were all displayed. The puppets will be used this week as the children practice retelling the stories of Kevin Henkes! Thanks to all the families that participated and for all of their creativity!

A Visit From Lilly

2009-03-08T23:34:00.007-04:00

Friday was not just any other ordinary day. Parker's mom, Mrs. Rossignol came to our class with props and costumes for students to act out the Kevin Henkes story, "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse." We have been working on retelling in our writing, and what a fun way to be able to remember all the events in a story. As if role playing a story wasn't spectacular enough, Mrs. Rossignol made special arrangements for the main character to make an appearance in our class. That's right, "LILLY" was in the house. Well, if you know anything about Lilly, she didn't just want Mrs. Rossignol to show her around by holding her tail, she wanted to get up close and personal. So, Lilly jumped to the floor, and what a show-off she was, running all around the room. We had it all under control, and I kept my eyes on that cute little mouse, as I was standing on the table. What can I say, it's never dull in first grade. Thank you so Mrs. Rossignol for making our Friday, truly exciting.

A New Arrival!

2009-02-28T21:19:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday Irelyn Ryan Timmons!

Born Monday, March 2, 2009, 11:59 am

6 lbs, 15 oz. - 20 inches long

Woo hoo!

Mrs. Timmons Surprise Baby Shower

2009-02-17T20:22:00.004-05:00

Did your child tell you about our exciting surprise baby shower for Mrs. Timmons on Friday? You could say that we 'KNOCKED' her socks off. We had to get Mrs. Timmons out of the room for about fifteen minutes to get everything prepared. Once she came in the room, we all yelled, "Surprise!!!!" Then, each child shared some words that described Mrs. Timmons. Of course, we had to sing her a song that we had made up. Then, we SHOWERED her with cards, gifts, and so much love. Finally, we ate some delicious cake.

WE were so amazed at the outpouring of gifts and donations from all of YOU. Also, an extra special 'Thanks' to Donna Powell and Gina Allmond for all of their help in making the shower a huge success.

Here's our song we wrote for Mrs. Timmons.

Mrs. Timmons, We Love You!
(to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

Mrs. Timmons, we love you,
We will miss you, this is true.
While you're home, make sure you rest,
We all promise to do our best,
Mrs. Timmons, we love you,
We will miss you, this is true.
Baby Irelyn and Kallyn too,
Will keep you busy as we do,
Mrs. Timmons, we love you,
We will miss you, this is true.
Time will pass by oh, so fast,
In a blink, you're back in class,
Mrs. Timmons, we love you,
We will miss you, this is true!

Schema Activated

2009-02-17T07:37:00.001-05:00

Our T. D. class is always amazing me. We've been talking about how good readers will make predictions, ask questions, activate schema or use their background knowledge to make connections. I was reading a wonderful book called Jin Woo, by Eve Bunting. It was about a boy whose parents were about to adopt a baby boy from Korea. In this story, the family is eating at a restaurant the night before they are going to go to the airport to pick up their new baby boy from another country. While the students were looking at the picture, Sarah's face lit up, and she began waving her hand for me to call on her. I knew she couldn't wait until I read the page, so when I called on her to share, she exclaimed, "The words on the window in that restaurant are Korean, and it says noodles." She then told us that she can speak and read in Korean. Her schema was activated, and by using her background knowledge she was able to enlighten us, and help us to better understand the text. We all come to school each day with so many different experiences about places we've been, things we've done, and none of us have the same experiences.

Kevin Henkes Author Study

2009-02-10T17:15:00.005-05:00

The TD's proudly present the beginning of the Kevin H enkes author study. This particular author study is a read-aloud study filled with delightful and relatable stories written by Mr. Henkes. We will read and reread stories to offer the students an opportunity to get a true sense of the author and his work. We will teach the children how to think and discuss “across” several books. The children will learn the importance of making connections to stories, how to compare and contrast story elements, how to retell a story and how to shape and record a variety of responses to the literature they are read. As our readers master the basics of this genre we will branch off into other creative avenues including timelines, murals, stories written through the eyes of the story character, student altered character adventures and story endings. So ask your child about Kevin Henkes and his world of wondrous mice!

2nd Nine Weeks Awards

2009-02-05T20:14:00.005-05:00

Thank you so much to the parents who came on Thursday to help us celebrate our 2nd Nine Weeks Awards, and... thank you to the parents who came on Friday. Because of a change in dates, both Thursday and Friday went out as dates for our Awards. Thanks to the parents for their patience on Thursday as we got ready when we realized the mistake and to those who came on Friday.

We are so very proud of our students this nine weeks. They are doing hard work and exceeding every goal. Special congratulations to our four Soaring Eagles above and to everyone of our special award winners below!

Hey Canada, We Have Questions!

2009-02-04T18:08:00.003-05:00

The TD’s are so excited about our new blogging friends in Regina, Saskatchewan Canada. With this excitement come lots of questions. Our tenacious 1st graders would like to know what the weather is like this time of year in Regina? Jacksonville’s average for February is 67 degrees Fahrenheit, but we’re thinking it may be a little colder in Regina. On a more urgent note, the TD’s would like to know what Canadians eat. Some of our favorites are spaghetti, macaroni and cheese and chocolate pudding, with the latter getting the most votes. I have to say, I voted for the chocolate pudding too! Our final question for this week is what does Regina look like? We would love to see some pictures to help us get a better idea of where you live. We look forward to hearing from you!

Happy 100th Day!

2009-02-02T12:11:00.003-05:00

Happy 100th Day of school! With 180 school days in a year, we are over half way! Can you believe it? Make sure to ask your child about Zero, the Hero who was at school today celebrating with us.

Today is also Ground Hog Day! We know because Micayla told us that the ground hog saw his shadow this morning so that means 6 more weeks of Christmas! Well, Micayla almost got it right. It does mean 6 more weeks of winter so button up!

New Friends from Canada!

2009-01-31T12:15:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-01-30T12:16:00.002-05:00

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?

2009-01-29T17:33:00.004-05:00

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

2009-01-28T07:56:00.006-05:00

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!

2009-01-21T21:15:00.005-05:00

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

2009-01-08T12:31:00.007-05:00

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!

Wordle

2008-12-27T23:55:00.001-05:00

We were tagged recently by Mrs. T to create a Wordle. Our Wordle is a collection of the words that have most recently been used on this blog. We love that family and fun show up the largest because that is exactly what this blog is about!

Here is how to create your own Wordle Meme:
1. Create a Wordle from your blog's RSS feed.
2. Blog it and describe your reaction. Any surprises?
3. Tag others to do the same.
4. Be sure to link back here and to where you were first tagged.
5. Create different Wordle clouds of your blog's RSS over a period of time. Do it once a month for the next year to capture the spirit of the times.

Holiday Break Ideas!

2008-12-23T14:52:00.006-05:00

Decorate you own virtual gingerbread man for the holidays at this fun sight.

Another fun sight is Elf Yourself. You'll just need head shots (photos) of your family or friends to make a videos that will have your family laughing!

Track Santa on Christmas Eve or play some of the fun games on the Kids countdown page.

Holiday FUN!

2008-12-19T18:31:00.005-05:00

Our last days before the holiday were filled with all of the fun and exciting activites that provide snapshots and memories that will last a lifetime. Enjoy some of the memories below!

We would each like to say a very special thank you to the class for your very generous holiday gifts. It'll be a shopping bonanza! We did call Santa right before we left school to let him know that all the TDs should be on the "VERY GOOD" list! He wasn't one bit surprised
Until next year,
Mrs.Daniels, Mrs. Timmons, Mrs. Ruark and Mrs. T

Holiday Homework

2008-12-18T09:06:00.000-05:00

Make sure to ask your child to sing the sight words below to the tune of Jingle Bells! Great practice for saying the words!

To the tune of Jingle Bells

flower
bird

children
grow

mother
of
all
call

paper
so
she
try
first
love

today
her
funny
cat

picture
these

people
fly

father
see
five
fall

family
friend
eat
every
room

our
world
a
blue
green
house

Happy Birthday, Mrs. Daniels!

2008-12-15T20:39:00.002-05:00

We celebrated Mrs. Daniels birthday today with a cookie cake and our handmade cards. Wishing you the best... and many more!

Green

2008-12-12T14:22:00.008-05:00

Our December Book-of-the-Month is When Santa Turned Green. It's a wonderful story for children about global warming. The message is that each child can do their part in making a difference. Mrs. Phillips challenged each class to do their part by coming up with "green ideas." Visit their web site to see what other children are doing around the world.

Among other things, our class decided to plant a tree to replace many of the trees that are being lost. The children carried the oak tree outside and all helped to dig a hole.

They covered the hole, pruned and watered the tree.

Finally, each child was given a chance to mash all the dirt with their fingers to make sure the water absorbed into the ground!
Below they made their pledge to do their part.

Leave a comment and let us know what are you and your child are doing to make a greener world?

Sometimes You Have To Get Dirty

2008-12-11T21:42:00.001-05:00

You may have noticed Tracy Ruark, who has been in our classroom for several weeks now. She is spending time with us and we are expecting she will be taking over when Mrs. Timmons goes on maternity leave. From this except, you will realize what a treat our students are in for!

Mrs. Ruark... I have to admit that my first lesson in front of Randi Timmons and Cathy Daniels was a bit nerve racking. But after admitting I took a couple of soil classes in college Cathy announced to the class that Mrs. Ruark has a degree in soils (my actual degrees are in Geography/Environmental Conservation and International Relations/Soviet Studies). It was then immediately determined that I should teach a lesson to the class on soils. I thought to myself, “Oh boy, I’m in big trouble!”

The night before my lesson I was really concerned about engaging the children. I prepared a number of different things only to place them on the chopping block. My husband’s advice was to see science as an action like a verb instead of a noun. I was aware of the 5 E model that is used to teach Science at Chets Creek and I was determined to, at the very least, create an exciting hook so the kids would be jazzed about science.

Finally, after hours of surfing on the Internet with my pug snoring at my feet, it came to me…just be myself animated and nutty, kind of like a cross between Bill Nye and Deb Rossignol. So I did just that. I let my mind roam back to my childhood and remembered a Sunday morning when I was about seven or eight and I was walking the top rail above the pig pen dressed in my finest clothes on my uncle’s farm in Iowa. Gravity did the rest. Needless to say, I was fully engaged with the soil, and other things.

So I decided to reenact the event and cover myself in mud from head to toe. And that is exactly what I did. I burst into the classroom and shouted excitedly, “Guys, I really need your help. Mrs. Phillips has asked me to go out and find different kind of soil that would be good for growing plants. I have been digging in the dirt around Chet’s Creek and have been unsuccessful. The job is just too big! I need help! So, I need you to help me look.”

The kids immediately blurted out, “What happened to you?” I knew they were hooked! What followed was an amazing dirt digging, soil gathering, slide making extravaganza. After coming inside we explored the slides under the doc-cam and the kids made wonderful observations about dirt (actually humus, clay and sand). The children stayed engaged for the whole lesson. I knew then, at least in some small way, that I had contributed to the building of new schema within our students. It feels pretty good to go with your gut and have it work out. I owe a huge thanks to Kathy and Randi for letting me be me, an animated and nutty dirt doctor.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-23T21:47:00.004-05:00

Friday was a day of thanksgiving. We started with watching the kindergarten Pow Wow and then enjoyed a morning of Thanksgiving centers. Finally we welcomed our families for a Thanksgiving feast. What a wonderful day!

Awards

2008-11-19T20:29:00.003-05:00

This week we celebrated with an Awards Ceremony in our classroom. We were so excited that so many parents were able to attend. We began the morning by showing our parents the "All About Me" reports that we have just finished! Then it was onto the awards. Enjoy the memories below (thanks to Tiffany's mom for the pictures!)

Our Playground

2008-11-18T22:51:00.002-05:00

What do you remember about your days in elementary school? The playground, of course! Enjoy these memories caught by Tiffany's mom!

Recycling

2008-11-16T09:23:00.005-05:00

Last week students were introduced to the idea of recycling. Look for the new green recycling bin in our classroom. On one side we will be recycling plastic (like those "will be with us in a million years" plastic grocery bags), and on the other we will be recycing paper (imagine how much paper we can recycle in a school!) As first grade teacher, Haley Alvarado, talked about reasons why we need to recycle in a first grade assembly, children learned that plastic grocery bags that get into the ocean look a lot like jellyfish and often are eaten by mistake and choke some of our sea animal friends! Make sure to ask your child what they rememebr about the assembly. We would love to hear your comments about the recycling that you do at home or if and how your recycling first grader's habits change as we continue this project in the classroom. Go green!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T18:08:00.002-04:00

It 's a spooky fun Halloween so we enjoyed the day by cutting into two pumpkins to see what was lurking inside! We left the seeds to dry out and will be counting them on Monday - "5, 10, 15..." Hmmm, "Witch" pumpkin had the most seeds?

The Pumpkins are Here!

2008-10-21T19:29:00.003-04:00

As always the pumpkins this year are as cute as ever, but I think our Koala Lou (based on the Mem Fox book, Kolala Lou) and our little gourd on-lookers are just the cutest thing we've ever seen. Thanks to that creative powerful group of moms (Donna Powell, Jennifer Dodani, Mona Lamba, Gina Allmond) for being about the best moms in the whole wide world!

TD Chet has arrived!

2008-10-19T14:03:00.008-04:00

Hooray! TD Chets has arrived in Australia. He is spending time with Fiona Banjer's class at Park Lake School. He sent the class the following note and photos!

I finally arrived in Australia. It took me a couple of weeks to get there through the mail! I was glad to finally get out of that little brown box but it gave me lots of time to rest up for my adventure. I want you to see some of the sights and people I am meeting.

In the background you can see the school where I am visiting. If you click on the link you can go to the Park Lake School web page and read about the school. It's a really cool place! You can also click on this Gold Coast link to see the area in Australia where I am visiting.

These are some of the people I am meeting that work at the school. Don't they look nice? They are!

I got to play on the playground with the children from Mrs. Banjer's class. I had a great time. Maybe you can send them a picture of the playground at our school at Chets Creek where you have fun every day.

I know you have been reading Mem Fox books. by now, you've probably read lots of them and even tried some Australian foods while I have been gone. I just wanted you to know that I am reading Mem Fox books in Australia too! Which of Mem's books were your favorite?

The children I am visiting in Australia only have ten weeks before they get out for a six week Christmas holiday! Can you believe it? They get SIX weeks off! We only get two weeks. Maybe I'll stay here for a while! I can't wait to share with you some of my other adventures. would love to hear from each of you. You can leave me a comment and I'll check back often.

Your friend, TD Chet

Push and Pull

2008-10-15T20:56:00.003-04:00

Today’s Science lesson was about moving things by pushing and pulling. We learned that heavy things need a bigger push or pull to get them moving. We also learned that the Earth’s gravity pulls us down when we jump up. As hard as we tried gravity brought us down every time!

Reading Strategies

2008-10-13T18:28:00.002-04:00

Students begin learning reading strategies early in kindergarten to help them attack unknown words and to help them understand that everything they read needs to make sense. They review these same 6-7 beginning strategies again in first grade. The strategies include:

Look at the pictures. Often looking at the pictures gives a child an idea of what the words are about and will give him the context to make a good guess at an unknown word.

Get your mouth ready. If a child is reading and he comes to an unknown word, he should begin by saying the sound of the first letter and sometimes, the word will just pop right out!

Does it make sense? Students always want to make sure that what they read makes sense. If it doesn't, they need to try another strategy.

Does it sound right? As the child reads, the words should sound right in the sentence. If not the child should try another strategy. For instance, "I is good" doesn't sound right so it must be "I am good," because that sounds right.

Do the letters look right? If a child makes a guess at an unknown word, he needs to go back and make sure that the letters in the word match the guess.

Reread. Any time the words don't make sense, the child needs to reread to clarify so that he understands what the words say.

These are strategies that parents can also reinforce at home when a child comes to a word that he doesn't know as he reads each night from his book-in-the-bag.

Today the children learned a new song to reinforce the strategies in class. The words are on the chart below with the strategies underlined. It's sung to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot."

A Day to Remember!

2008-10-05T08:31:00.004-04:00

What a Fun Friday as we brought our study of Mem Fox to a close. The students had been working all week to be ready to share their small group project. In between performances we listened to the real Mem Fox read her stories and played Mem Fox Bingo and even tasted lamington! What a wonderful day!

Combinations of 10!

2008-09-27T08:34:00.003-04:00

Math today is a lot different than the Math we had as kids, but the many manipulative activities built into our curriculum lay the foundation so that we can build many complex concepts in the days to come. This week students were given 10 M&Ms or colored marshmallows or goldfish. They were told that some were red and some were blue. How many could they have of each color? They were looking for combinations of 10. They were encouraged to show their work using pictures, numbers and words. They loved this activity, especially the part when they got to eat the M&M’s, marshmallows or the goldfish at the end. Isn’t this work that looks like fun?!!

Shoes for Grandpa!

2008-09-26T17:02:00.004-04:00

Shoes for Grandpa is one of our favorite Mem Fox books. Today each child drew pictures to retell the story of the things that were bought for Jessie. Make sure to ask your child to retell the story! I wonder if anyone will buy Jessie a pair of jeans?

We all scream for ice cream!

2008-09-25T18:32:00.004-04:00

Today's Writers' Workshop lesson included building an ice cream sundae in the same way you build a narrative story. The scoops of ice cream represented the events in the story - the M&Ms represented the characters and the sprinkles were all the details! After the students watched as one student built his sundae while he told his story, the rest of the class were licking their lips! Then it was time for the students to prepare and eat an ice cream sundae of their own. Yum! Yum!

Chet on the go!

2008-09-24T20:11:00.003-04:00

Hope you are stopping in with your child to enjoy the adventures of Chet, the Traveling Bear as he travels around the world. He just got back from a trip to Swaziland, Africa with third grade teacher, Ms. Young and it sounds like he had an awesome trip! TD Chet, our class bear, is on his way to Mrs. Banjer's class in Australia. It will take about 2 weeks for him to get there, but that's okay because our Aussie penfriends are on a two week break from school! I'm sure TD Chet will let us know as soon as he gets there! Make sure to stay tuned as he meets our new penfriends from Mem Fox country!

Open House

2008-09-23T21:55:00.001-04:00

What an exciting night to invite our families to join us at school! We had a full house! We loved showing off what we have been learning! Thank you for coming and sharing the time with us!

Pavlova

2008-09-20T05:45:00.006-04:00

We are continuing our Author Study of Mem Fox. As we were reading Mem Fox's Possum Magic this week, we discovered many Australian foods that we were not familiar with such as lamingtons, Anzac biscuits and pavlova! So for our Fun Friday Treat we decided to have one of the delicious Australian delights... until we looked at the recipes, which were a little more complex than we had imagined! So... we decided we'd Americanize one of the deserts, Pavlova, which is really a meringue-type dessert with fresh fruit. Our version included a slice of white sponge cake, whipped cream topping with fresh strawberries and blueberries. We discovered that many of our children were eating blueberries for the first time! Some of the children loved them and Chloe even told us about going blueberry picking on a farm last year (we recalled the pattern book that she wrote about the experience), but other children DID NOT LIKE THEM AT ALL! Whether the children liked our version of pavlova or not, the point was to give them some background experience so if they ever come across that word again, they will have a mental image of what it is and what it tastes like and will even remember that it is an Australian dessert. This is the same process we go through with any new vocabulary word although we can't TASTE every new word that we learn! Make sure to ask your child how they enjoyed pavlova as our Fun Friday Treat!

Does it MATTER?

2008-09-18T20:59:00.004-04:00

Matter is anything that takes up space. Matter can be a solid, liquid, or gas. Today during Science Inquiry we explored gases. A gas takes up space and can change size and shape. Gas takes the size and shape of what holds it. You cannot see most gases such as air. Gas is inside balloons so we had a great time today using gas to change the shape of our balloons!

Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge

2008-09-12T13:24:00.004-04:00

We have been reading many of Mem Fox's books in class. Today we read Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge. Not only did Mrs. Timmons and Mrs. Daniels read the book to the class but then they helped the class sequence the events in the story. Your child would really enjoy hearing an oral rendition of this story at home. Make sure to check out this retelling of one of our favorite stories at http://storylineonline.net/. After you have listened to the story with your child, make sure to ask him/her about the items that we sequenced (an egg, a shell, a medal, a puppet, a football). We have been learning to put "events" in our story, just like Mem Fox. See if your child can remember some of the other books we have read by our Aussie author!

Welcome Mem Fox!

2008-09-06T19:00:00.003-04:00

We have began an author study of Mem Fox books. She is an author that lives in Australia! Isn't that cool? First grade is studying Australia as our continent for our theme of "Around the World in 180 Days" and now we have a chance to learn about Australia through an author that writes about her native land. We have learned lots of things about Mem including that her parents were missionaries and lived in Africa when she was little; that she lives in Adelaide, Australia near the Indian Ocean; that she is married and has one daughter, named Chloe (just like the Chloe in our classroom!); and that she uses the experiences in her life to write stories just like we do! If you would like to learn more about Mem Fox, you can go to her amazing website and learn all about her, her books and Australia. You can even listen to her read some of her books! make sure to ask your child about the books we have been reading and which is their favorite. Mem Fox' favorite is Koala Lou!

Writers' Workshop

2008-09-06T01:00:00.000-04:00

For the first nine weeks we have been working on narrative writing. We are learning to use events from our own life as the inspiration for our stories. We have been using the pictures of our families and some of the things that we like that were sent in last week to help us think about the things that are important to us and that we know a lot about. Then we are trying to take a small moment and stretch it out. We can't wait to share with you some of the stories that the children are writing!

Science Workshop

2008-09-05T18:41:00.001-04:00

This month we are learning about matter - solids, liquids and gases. Did you know that if you blow into a bag that you can catch a gas?

To learn more about matter, we made Jello. We worked out how many cups of water we would need for 4 boxes of Jello by using tally marks. We noted that the delicious smelling powder in the box was a solid but when we added hot water, it turned into a liquid. We even watched as the liquid escaped and turned into steam - a gas - when we used the element of hot water! Finally we put the Jello in the refrigerator to see what the element of cold would do to the liquid! We will take a look tomorrow and have the Jello for snack! Make sure to ask your child what a solid looks like, a liquid and a gas! It's a matter of form!

Meet TD Chet!

2008-09-04T18:26:00.005-04:00

We had a surprise in our room today! TD Chet wrote us a letter. He is a stuffed bear from the Traveling Chet family. Some of his cousins live in other classrooms at Chets Creek. TD Chet loves to travel and he wants to travel with some of the families in our classroom. Today Ishaan said he would like to take TD Chet with him and his family to Vancouver and Seattle. Amre said he wanted to take him to the Sudan and Crawford volunteered to take him to Disney World over Christmas! If you would like to take TD Chet with your family, then let the teachers know. Your job will be to take some pictures and write about the adventures that TD and your child enjoy together. To keep up with the adventures of the Chet family, tune in often to Traveling Chet!

The Class Promise and Book-in-a-bag

2008-09-03T18:28:00.007-04:00

The TDs wrote a class promise this year that they read together every single day. It's always interesting to us what first graders think is important. We especially like that this year's class decided to include promising to flush the toilet and wash their hands! We have finally gotten into a routine and hope that the new hurricanes don't knock us off course again! Each child has selected books that are "just right" for them to practice reading in the classroom. This year we are using the nifty red Target bags on the back of our chairs to hold all of our "just right" leveled books. These are the same books that we will bring home to practice in our book-in-a-bag. You should have received a book in a plastic folder each night this week along with a book log and directions for the book-in-a-bag. Research tells us that children that read every night have the best chance of becoming readers. While your child should bring home a different book each night, it is okay if he brings home the same book for several nights in a row because repeated readings of the same book over and over build fluency which helps comprehension. It shouldn't happen often, but if your child happens to forget to bring home a book one night, just choose a book that you have at home for your child to read or that you can read to your child. Happy reading!

Fay, Fay Go Away!

2008-08-24T13:29:00.005-04:00

I don't think any of us were expecting to have a "holiday" after just two days of school, but Tropical Storm Fay had other ideas! On Wednesday and Thursday we wondered why we were out of school even though the sky looked dark and gray (we were out because some of the schools had to be opened as shelters), but on Friday we found out just what Fay had in store. Mrs. Timmons front yard looked like she had just moved to lakefront property as the road flooded over. However, the waters were soon back to normal and she didn't even lose electricity. How did Fay treat you? If your child is a little crazy from being inside for too many hours this past week, encourage them to draw a picture or write about of how their yard or house looked after Fay or what they did while the lights were out or any other interesting "adventures" of the past few days. Bring these to school so we can all share on Monday. Fay is just a reminder of how powerful Mother Nature can be... Stay safe. Stay dry!

Learning the Continents

2008-08-20T12:15:00.000-04:00

This year, with our theme of "Around the World in 180 Days," the students will be learning the names of all seven continents. Our "come to the carpet" song, which you heard at Orientation, even teaches the names of the continents to the children. This morning the class named all the continents and found them on a flat map and on the globe and even identified the continent where they live (North America). Can you name the seven continents without looking?

1) North America, 2) South America, 3) Europe, 4) Asia, 5) Africa, 6) Australia and 7) Antarctica.

See if you and your child can learn the seven continents by singing the ditty below to the tune of "Old My Darling Clementine."

North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa

Australia, Antarctica - Those are the continents!

Introducing the TDs

2008-08-19T01:00:00.003-04:00

Putting Mrs. Timmons and Mrs. Daniels' names together, we will call the class the TDs! Here are our stars!

First Day of School

2008-08-18T14:07:00.012-04:00

Today was the first day of school. What a thrill! As always, we started the year with an assembly that relates to the theme. We watched a beautiful slide presentation and listened to fascinating stories by Bruce Junek who, with his wife, bicycled around the world for two years! Make sure you ask your child about the beautiful photographs that they saw.

Since you couldn't stay with us for the day, thought you might enjoy the pictures
below. We had a a really GREAT day! Can't wait until tomorrow.

Please remember to send a healthy snack each day. We will snack in the mornings around 10 because we have a much later lunch this year. Please pack the snack seperate from lunch so your child knows which is which. Thanks!

Orientation Day

2008-08-15T16:39:00.008-04:00

Today we gathered together after the long summer break to see old friends and to meet new ones! What fun! Enjoy the pictures below of the TD's (Timmons-Daniels) Orientation.

School starts at 9:00 on Monday morning! See you then!

Orientation

2008-08-04T09:37:00.001-04:00

Can you believe it? The new school year is ready to start. New pencils... new crayons... new backpack! We can't wait to see you. We will be getting things ready all week! Mrs. Timmons has been thinking about you all summer and Ms. Daniels is so excited to meet her new class. Mrs. Timmons has told Mrs. Daniels about each and every one of you! Mrs. T will be in our room again this year in the mornings too. Don't forget to stop by at Orientation on Friday, August 8 from 11:00-12:00. We're in our new room - still on the first floor - but at the back of the building by the PE hall. It'll be fun to be in a new room but see so many of our old friends! We'll all be there ready to greet you! Can't wait! See you at Orientation!

And remember... School starts on Monday, August 11!

Vocabulary Review, Too

2008-08-01T21:58:00.001-04:00

Here is another list of words that we studied last year. Remember to ask an adult to copy the list and put it on the refrigerator and then ask them to circle each word as they hear you use it. Or you can draw a picture to represent a wrod to get it circled! Try to use every word at least once before we go back to school. Next year we'll be reading new books and learning a new list of words! Can't wait!

A Pocket for Corduroy

patiently –– hesitating – dilemma –– tumbled – damp – sidetracked

Peter’s Chair

fussing – rascal – jealous – arranged – cradle – cooperate

Mop Top

vacant - stumbled – stubborn - floppy - soaring - thrilled

Frederick

abandon – gather – daydream – anxious – blush – comfort

The Little Red Hen

eager – scampered – selfish – ripe – cozy – lazy

Jack and the Beanstalk

precious - nonsense - underhanded - cackle - tidy - panic

The Gingerbread Boy

crumble – strutted – sly – sniff – proud - curious

Vocabulary Review

2008-07-25T21:39:00.001-04:00

Last year we learned lots of new vocabulary words while we were reading some of the books that we loved. Remember? Below are some of those books and the words that we learned. Ask an adult to copy this list and put it on the refrigerator. Next ask them to circle each word when they hear you use it. Do you think you can use every word before we go back to school?

Caps for Sale
disturb – ordinary – imitate – refreshed – finally – mischievous

Three Billy Goats Gruff
meadow – gobble – villain – creak – hooves – wise

Where the Wild Things Are
private – tame – adventure – frighten – rumpus – longing

Goldilocks and the Three Bears
tempting – gruff – enraged – necessary – shrill - terrified

Harry, the Dirty Dog
clever – dashed – disguise – furiously – lovingly – content

Red Riding Hood
considerate – delighted – devious – horrid – alarmed - hero

Happy birthday, Mrs. Timmons!

2008-07-20T11:54:00.002-04:00

Today is Mrs. Timmons' birthday! You might remember that you all wrote Happy Birthday postcards to her before you left for the summer. Remember... it was a secret. We wrote them on one of the days that she was not there! Mrs. Conte mailed them all last week so Mrs. Timmons should get over 20 postcards in her mailbox on her birthday! I'll bet you can see her smile all the way from Richmond, Va. Feel free to leave her a comment to wish her a Happy Birthday! Happy, happy birthday, Mrs. Timmons!

Opposites

2008-07-18T20:59:00.005-04:00

One of the things that 1st graders are asked to do during the first few days of 1st grade is to demonstrate that they understand opposites. They are given a sheet of 10 words that they have to read and then write the opposite word. Spelling doesn't count. The assessment is repeated at mid-term and again at the end of the year as one measure of growth in vocabulary. To help your child prepare for the antonym, or opposite, assessment, read the Looky Book below.

Next practice on some of the opposites below. Say the word and encourage your child to say the opposite. I'll bet you and your child can think of some other opposite pairs!

slow - fast

ugly - pretty

good - bad

yes -no

clean - dirty

kind - mean

short - tall

soft - hard

big - little

low - high

hot - cold

sad - happy

hard - soft

old - young

rich - poor

near - far

thin - thick

near - far

light - dark

Enjoy this final book slection of opposites.

Meet Cathy Daniels!

2008-07-13T23:16:00.007-04:00

As you know, Mrs. Conte will be staying home next year and spending time with little Charlie. She will also be keeping Kallyn Timmons, Mrs. Timmons' daughter. Mrs. Timmons and Mrs. T will be looping with the class but that means that we need a new teacher to take Mrs. Conte's place. We are so excited to introduce you to Ms. Cathy Daniels who will be our new co-teacher. Here's a letter to our Chets Creek family from Ms. Daniels!My name is Cathy Daniels. I am a native of Jacksonville, Florida. As long as I can remember, I’ve always loved working with children. After graduating from the University of North Florida in Special Education, I added Regular Education to my degree. I began teaching fourth grade at Parkwood Heights Elementary in 1983. I enjoyed teaching fourth grade for 14 years. Then, I took seven years off to raise my daughter, Kayla.

Once Kayla began kindergarten and first grade at Chets Creek, I was able to volunteer in her room and I started substituting in the primary grades. I was thrilled to become part of the Chets Creek family in 2005, as a first grade teacher. This will be my fourth year teaching first grade at Chets.

Teaching is my passion, and I can honestly say, my heart is with the children each and every single day. Words cannot express the excitement I have when students become independent readers, and it’s almost as if little light bulbs are going off throughout the room. I want children to not just love learning and become independent readers, but I try and build their self-confidence, so they know that nothing is impossible.

I am especially excited this year to work with Randi Timmons and dayle timmons (Mrs. T). I am looking forward to meeting each and every one of you, and consider it an honor to be able to teach your child this year.

I hope that you all are having a wonderful summer. Kayla and I are having a great time. We have been staying up late, and sleeping in, and everyday, we ask ourselves, “Is today Saturday?” She and I have been to Melbourne Beach, and Orlando. We had a blast on the fourth of July. We spent it with my family at a lake, and went tubing, and jet skiing, and watched the fireworks from the roof of a dock. Also, Kayla and I went to a farm/ranch and got to feed deer. We’ve been going to the beach every week, and love the water parks, and like to shop 'til we drop at the Town Center.

I can’t wait to meet all of you, my new first grade family. I’ll see you all at Orientation on August 15th.

Yours truly,
Cathy Daniels

A Few of Our Favorite Things

2008-07-11T19:18:00.000-04:00

Try some of these activites this week and then use the comment button at the bottom of this post to tell us what you did!

1. Write the numbers from 1 to 100.

2. Find an object in your house that begins with each letter of the alphabet.

3. Make a card to someone special that doesn't live in your house (could be me!). Ask a parent to help you mail it.

4. Cook something with an adult. Then write the directions and share them as a comment so we can make it too!

Mrs. Conte's 4th of July

2008-07-07T14:03:00.004-04:00

Mrs. Conte, Mr. Conte and Charlie went to Keystone Heights, Florida, for the 4th of July. Charlie got to see his first parade and didn't even cry when the firetruck sirens played, the cars beeped and the cannon boomed! Only in Keystone does the parade start with a cowboy on a bull accompanied by a dog and 2 geese!

After the parade, they went out to the lakehouse to cool off by splashing around in the lake. They loved spending time with their family!

What did you do for the 4th of July? We would love for you to leave a comment and let us know!

Reading on the Internet

2008-07-04T08:56:00.009-04:00

Happy 4th of July! Hope you are having a fireworks kind of weekend!

This week we'd like to share one of our favorite book sources on the Internet. If you can't get to the library this summer (or even if you can), enjoy some of the books from LookyBooks. Here is one of our favorites to get you started.

Summertime FUN!

2008-07-01T01:06:00.003-04:00

What are you doing this summer? Mrs. Timmons is spending the summer in Richmond, Va. Her husband, Coach Timmons, plays for the Atlanta Braves AAA Team that is located in Richmond, so as soon as school was out, she and baby Kallyn headed for the hills of Virginia. However, about a week ago Coach Timmons broke a bone in his foot during a game and had to have surgery. Can you tell he has a "boot" on his left foot and his crutches are nearby? He's doing fine now but he won't be playing baseball for about six weeks! They'll all be staying in Richmond so he can rehab. Mrs. Timmons and Kallyn will be returning to Jacksonville in time for school to start and Coach Timmons will return after Labor Day. What are YOU doing this summer? We'd love to hear from you! Leave us a comment so we can share your summer adventures!

What Are You Reading?

2008-06-27T19:34:00.001-04:00

What are YOU reading this summer? I went to the public library yesterday and found a book I haven't read by one of my favorite authors. I have just started a book called Mercy by Jodie Picoult. I love her books and have read most of her other books. They often have a surprise ending. I think that's what I really like. A couple of her books have even been made into movies. One of her books is a Lifetime movie this month, The Tenth Circle.

Do you have a favorite author that you are reading? One of my favorite things to do is to pick an author and read everything they've written. This is a good thing for you and one of your parents to do together. Go to the public library or to the book store and thumb through some books until you find one that really appeals to you. Then check out as many books as you can find by that author. You did that kind of author study when we read so many of Eric Carle's book in kindergarten. If the book is a little hard for you to read, then ask one of your parents to read it to you. You can understand books that you listen to at a much higher level than you can actually read. Make sure to log them on your summer reading chart (we're going to ask for it when we get back to school!) If you can't find your log sheet, just keep a list of the books that you are reading to turn in. You can put the books that you read all by yourself and also the books that are read to you on the list. All of that counts in reading! mrs. t

Words on the Shirt

2008-06-20T11:11:00.002-04:00

Parents: You may have noticed that when your child's field trip tee-shirt came home for the summer that on the back of the shirt are "100 Sight Words"! They were put there for a reason- so that parents have a list of words at their fingertips for their students to practice over the summer. The first thing to do is to see which of the words your child knows. The standard is that kindergartners should leave the grade level with at least 20 words that they know in a "snap." They know these words so well that they can say them faster than you can snap your fingers. You may find that your child knows more than 20 words! Wooo hoo!

This is a list of the words on the shirt that you can copy:

a about after all an and are as at back be because big but call came can could day did do dog down for from get go going good got I if in is it had have her him his home just like little man me morning mother my night not of off on one onto our out over people play ran saw school see she so some soon started that the their them then there they this three time to too two up us very water we went were what when will with would you

After you see which words your child knows, work with those words adding a couple of new ones when they know all the old ones three times in a row in a snap. One way to do this is to copy the entire list and then just highlight the words as your child masters them. You can make flash cards, of course, and review the words each night when you are reading to your child but it should be more fun than drill. Another way to practice the words is to have a list in the car in front of your child and when you are driving or waiting, play games with the words.

These are some hints that you might give.

Find the word that rhymes with not (got)...

Find a word that ends with -ill (will), -ack (back), -ig (big), -all (call), -ad (had) -an (man)... Say the sounds, not the letters.

Find a word that begins with /sh/ -when the letters have slashes around them, it means to say the sounds- (she)How many words can you find that start with /th/? (that, the, their, them, then, there, they, this, three - 9!)

Find the word that is the opposite of big (little) opposite of front (back), opposite of night (day), opposite of up (down), opposite of he (she), opposite of bad (good)...

After the child gets the "gist" of the game - you can make up any questions that you like - let him/her ask the questions and you find the words. This is a really great car game! The only thing you have to do is make the list of words for the car. Happy summer!

Web sites

2008-06-13T15:24:00.002-04:00

We thought maybe one of the first things we could do together is to take a look at some interesting computer sites that you might enjoy over the summer. Here are some that we recommend. Just click on the underlined game to try it out.

1. Activities include letter sounds to intermediate reading. You may remember this site from school because this is the one that we had set on the computers.
Star Fall

2. At this site you can read Clifford books and fill in words or you can play games. I'm a fan of the big red dog. Try out this site and see if you are too.
Clifford

3. See how well you remember how to make patterns with this game practice with patterning.

Patterns

4. Lots of number games and activities can be found at this interesting site. Let us know which ones you like!
Number Time

If you try any of these games, leave us a comment and let us know if you liked them (or if you didn't) by clicking on the comment button at the bottom of this post.

While these may not be the most educational games, my friend, Carter, from Mrs. Mallon's class, recommends these sites as his favorites: Connect 4 and Sponge Bob games. What are your favorite sites? Can you recommend a favorite for your friends to try this summer? If you have a recommendation just click on the comment button and tell us about the site and why you think your friends might like it. We'll try it and see how we like it!

Parents: Your child will need help finding the comment button and with the process of leaving a comment, but try to let them type and sound out the words for any post that they might be interested in writing. Leave the spelling as your child writes it (I know it's hard not to correct it!), but we want the children to know that they can communicate on their own! Happy Summer!

Summer Fun!

2008-05-04T13:34:00.000-04:00

Dear Timmontes,

I have been thinking about some of things we could do together this summer as we think about living our lives as readers and writers. To encourage you to write,

I want to give you my e-mail address so that you can send me an e-mail. Ask Mom or Dad if it is okay to send a message on the computer. They can show you what to do. You can write the message yourself and just let mom or dad send it for you. Tell me about what you are doing, if you go on vacation, what you are writing and about what you are reading. I'll make sure to e-mail you back.

timmonsd@duvalschool.org

I am going to be posting some suggestions each weekend of activities that you can do over the summer. I hope that you will use the comment button on the bottom of this blog and comment if you do any of the activities.

You should also get a postcard from me in the mail that has my address on it so that you can write me letters, draw me pictures, send me your stories or photographs of what you are doing or anything else you would like for me to see. I promise if I get a letter, comment, or e-mail from you, I will write you back!

All of your comments, e-mails, letters, photos, pictures, etc. will be used for a back-to-school bulletin board. It will be a way for us all to reconnect and see what everyone has been up to all summer! Can't wait to hear from YOU! Mrs. T

The Last Day

2008-04-05T17:27:00.002-04:00

All week we prepared for a play about one of our favorites,"The Three Billy Goats Gruff." Some the children designed the set.Other children designed the costumes, including the fish that swam in the river! Today was the big day - the last day of kindergarten! As as one child acted as the narrator and read the story (Did you hear that? She READ the story!)

the three billy goats and troll said their lines with joy!

What a perfect ending to a perfect year!

Eric Carle Celebration

2008-03-27T17:26:00.004-04:00

Today was a GREAT day as we celebrated our favorite author, Eric Carle. As you enjoy the pictures below from our day, make sure to ask your child about his favorite Eric Carle book and why!

Top o' the mornin' to ya!

2008-03-17T13:52:00.009-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Today the children came dressed in green (even green hair!) with a little skip in their step and gleam in their eye! Each child brought in a leprechaun trap designed with his or her family. As the traps came in this morning the children were a'buzz with excitement. A couple even looked behind doors and under tables to see if they could catch sight of one of those elusive little green men! The children took their traps to their tables and shared with their table group how the trap worked. Enjoy some of our prize designs below!

As the children went to lunch, they set their traps hoping to catch one of the wee little men, because we had word that their had been a leprechaun sighting at Chets Creek! Lo and behold! - when we came back from lunch those pesky little leprechauns had turned over chairs and played tricks all over the room. They had taken all of the gold from our traps and left a gold candy chocolate coin instead, but we didn't catch a single leprechaun! Our wee ones enjoyed the fun and fantasy of the day! Now those little green men are gone for another year!

We're Going to the Zoo!

2008-03-04T19:59:00.003-05:00

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo! How about you, you, you?

Click on the eyes below to view this picture book of animals. See how many animals your child can identify? After our visit to the zoo, ask them how many they saw because... we're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

100 Days Smarter

2008-02-05T21:18:00.001-05:00

On Friday, February 1, 2008, our Timmonte Kindergartners celebrated the 100th Day of School. After a day full of fun learning centers, a special visit to see "Zero the Hero" and a yummy cupcake treat (thanks to Hunter's family), they can now proclaim that they are officially 100 Days Smarter!

Field Trip to See The Jungle Book

2008-02-05T21:06:00.000-05:00

A BIG thank you to all our volunteers who chaperoned our field trip to see The Jungle Book play at the JCA. What a fun time!

Happy Birthday Chets Creek!

2008-02-02T20:38:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Chets Creek Elementary's 10th Birthday with a week full of fun birthday activities. Here are some photos!

Birthday Bash!

2008-01-23T19:27:00.002-05:00

As Chets Creek is celebrating it's 10th birthday, we have had many exciting adventures this week. On Tuesday the class toured the contents of the time capsule and then joined Mrs. Frizzle on the Magic School bus just like the very first classes that came to Chets Creek ten years ago. On the bus our class got to enjoy a videotape looking back at that first day and then we saw photos of students and teachers throughout the years.

On Wednesday we invited some of the teachers and students that have left Chets Creek to return and read some of the previous Books of the Months to the class. We had many of Mrs. Conte and Mrs. Timmons' former students read to the class, but the highlight was having Parker's big sister read! Peyton brought her friend Ashley with her, and they read a favorite Book of the Month, Picky Miss Pickle. Wow - maybe some of the kindergarten students sitting and listening today will come back in ten years to read to another class! thanks to all our readers!

We ended the week at a flag raising where a new time capsule was buried. Maybe some of our students will come back in ten years and open the time capsule!

Welcome Ms. Happ!

2008-01-07T18:50:00.001-05:00

Welcome Ms. Rachael Happ! As you know, Florida has a class size amendment which is meant to lower class size. As a result of Chets Creek growing in the number of children that we have enrolled and student-teacher ratio getting smaller, the school has added 8 additional teachers this year since school started! The only problem is that we are out of classrooms at Chets Creek, so the new teachers have been joining established classes. We are so fortunate to welcome Ms. Rachael Happ to our class today. She is a recent elementary education graduate - a fully certified teacher ready to begin her teaching experience with the BEST class at Chets Creek. Make sure to ask your child about her new exciting smile in our classroom every day!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

2007-12-15T20:24:00.001-05:00

One of the fun things about the holidays is that we get to do all kinds of things that are just plain FUN! Enjoy the photos below of some of the FUN!

The other reason this is so much fun is because all week parents have been in and out to help with centers and treats and gifts. Below is one student’s "MiMi" (grandmother) who dropped by on the last day before the holiday to read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to our students. The children were so excited as they sat thoroughly engaged in this traditional holiday favorite. We love the chance to meet the moms and dads, sisters and brothers, and extended family that the children talk about. We love to share with them all of the joy and excitement that we see every single day.

As we come to the end of 2007 we want to say a special thank you to each family. Thank you, of course, for the thoughtfulness of your holiday gifts, but so much more than that, thank you for sharing your most prized possession, your child, with us. Your children have touched our hearts. They make us so proud. They make our hearts sing! 2007 has been such a memorable year! We can't wait until 2008! See you then...

Standard Snapshot

2007-12-03T22:08:00.000-05:00

You should have received a Standard Snapshot on purple paper at the end of the week. Below is the student work and an explanation of the work in case you missed it! Attached to this piece of standard work should have been a piece of your child's work.

The children have been working on instructions for something that they feel they are experts. Sometimes this is called functional, "how to," or procedural writing. We are delighted that the work that was featured in this Kindergarten Standard Snapshot that went home to the entire grade level was selected from OUR class! This is Madison's work and we are so very proud of her! Madison tells how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! She s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s each word and writes the sounds that she hears and uses spaces between words. She includes a list of materials that she needs and sequences the steps. This is exactly what we expect our kindergartners to do this time of year. Congratulations Madison on representing our class so well!

S-A-N-T-A

2007-11-29T18:17:00.000-05:00

Shared Reading is when we use an enlarged text to read together as a class. Sometimes this is a big book and sometimes it is a song or poem on a chart. One of our favorite shared readings right now is the song above, sung to the tune of Bingo. Make sure to ask your child to sing it for you! While we are singing about Santa, we made sure to complete a Santa craft!

Thanksgiving Vacation

2007-11-25T14:28:00.000-05:00

What did you do for Thanksgiving? Some people travel (like Ishaan who is in Hong Kong!) and some people stay at home. Mrs. Timmons' visited her husband (Coach Timmons') family near Tampa. They enjoyed the traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and dressing on Thursday. Mrs. Timmons brought a pumpkin cake that was Coach Timmons' favorite and she helped her husband's cousin make mashed potatoes. Mrs. T was there, of course, and she brought pumpkin muffins and the "green stuff" which is a special lime gelatin which has been at her family Thanksgiving table for years. They enjoyed time together with aunts, uncles, sisters, parents neices and cousins.

On the way back to Jacksonville, they all stopped at Universal in Orlando. Mrs. Timmons posed at the Curious George exhibit since that's the theme of our blog!

What did you do for Thanksgiving? Did you travel or stay at home? Did you have something favorite to eat for Thanksgiving Day? Did you remember to be thankful for all the special things in your life? Let us know through a comment to this post. We'll also begin posting some of the children's responses on our blog!

Added 11-26-07

Felix wrote this about his Thanksgiving vacation:

I wit to set tmdos for denner.

I ped wat mi frnd Mario and

Tobe. I plad wut futboll

and i wach Spitman 3.

Teks faw mi family and fris.

I went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner.

I played with my friends Mario and

Toby. I played with football

and I watched Spiderman 3.

Thanks for my family and friends.

Maria wrote this about her Thanksgiving holiday:

IHavFuNuNMIHODa

IHavRISandSOLTFORTaNkS

gIVIgDNR

IPLaJUPRO

AYTSID

NFEDtheRaBITS

I have fun on my holiday.

I have rice and salt for Thanks-

giving dinner.

I played jump rope

outside

and fed the rabbits.

We Are Thankful For...

2007-11-19T21:13:00.000-05:00

A very fabulous center at our Powwow last Friday was the Storytelling Center, held inside the large Teepee on our primary playground. At the conclusion of the storytelling, a "talking feather" was passed around and each person holding the talking feather told the group what they were thankful for. Here are the Timmontes' responses:

Emily- my mommy came over to my school

Alexis- the sun

Hunter- the Teepee

Unique- the Teepee

Michael- my teachers

Nathan- the Teepee

Dominic- cowboy

Eleana- the whole world

Matthew- Jesus

John- My dad getting money

Evan- God and everything

Maria- my parents were here

Alyssa- my house

Maya- my family

Crawford- the sky

Ishaan- for the the peoples in this Teepee

Taniyah- God and Jesus

Chloe- God

Natalie- Mary, God and Jesus

Felix- water

Caleb- the earth

Parker- my mommy and daddy

Mikayla- the Iroquois-they help keep us safe

Elissa- my brother

Madison- Jesus

Jaden- my family

Pow Wow - WOW!

2007-11-19T18:10:00.000-05:00

Pow Wow was a magical day. We marched into the Pow Wow arena as the proud Iroquois Nation in our authentic costumes. We did a special dance to honor the harvest of the "The Three Sisters" (corn, beans, squash) with our turtle shell rattles, and then danced and sang to the "Dance of the Skunk" and the "Sunset Song." Chief Chets Creek danced and Chief Jumping Frog told us a special story. After we had pictures made, we spent the rest of the day in Centers hearing about the great outdoors, tasting native foods, making clay medallions and painting with native dyes. We went on a Scavenger Hunt for things Native American boys and girls would have looked for, and SingUm Song helped us keep the beat with drums. We went into the great teepee where Peaceful Waters told us about the great paintings inside the tent and invited us to share something we were thankful for. It was a WONDERFUL day. Below are some of our Pow Wow photos. If you have digital photos that you would like to share with the class, just e-mail them to Mrs. T at timmonsd@dreamsbeginhere.org as an attachment and she will add them to our collage below.

Alex's Lemonade Stand

2007-11-14T22:23:00.000-05:00

Alex was four years old when she was diagnosed with cancer. She asked her parents if she could make lemonade and sell it so she could donate the money to research. Alex held the first Lemonade Stand before she succumbed to the disease. You and your child may be interested in reading more about Alex and her Lemonade Stand at http://www.alexslemonade.org/

Our class has joined with all the kindergarten classes at Chets Creek to host Lemonade Stands this year to help raise money for research for childhood cancer. We were honored to be asked to host the first Lemonade Stand on our first Parent Night at Chets Creek. During class the children learned how to make lemonade. Some of them even wrote the directions so other classes would know how to make it when it is their turn. Some of the students came with their families at night to sell the lemonade and the children kept tally mark of how many glasses they sold. The class even showed their experiences by posting it on this month's bulletin board, When Life give You Lemons...Make Lemonade! Make sure to stop by and check out our board!

It's a Family Affair

2007-11-14T20:34:00.000-05:00

Tonight parents joined us to help celebrate our Native American unit. We have learned so much about our Native American tribe, the mighty Iroquois Nation. We have learned that they ate corn, beans, and squash and that they called these vegetables the "Three Sisters." We have learned that they made music by beating drums and shaking rattles that were sometimes made of turtle shell. In fact, we have made our own rattles to dance with at our Pow Wow on Friday. We have learned that the Iroquois wore feathers in their hair and we have made special head feathers to wear with our Iroquois costumes. In fact some of the moms in our class have been working on making Native American costumes for us that are like the ones that would have been worn by Iroquois boys and girls many years ago. You and your family might enjoy reading more about the Iroquois Nation at http://www.geocities.com/bigorrin/iroquois_kids.htm.

Tonight we enjoyed working with our families on making longhouse which are the houses that the Iroquois lived in. If you would like to see our longhouses, just stop by the lobby in the front office and see our display! Below are some pictures of some of our families as we enjoyed the night together.

We hope to see you at the Pow Wow!

2007-10-30T21:44:00.000-04:00

This is Fire Safety Week and the children were delighted by a simulation of a real house fire in the Dining Room. They watched as a pretend tissue paper fire along with smoke (a fog machine) was piped into the darkened room. Then they watched as fire fighters crept low to the ground in full gear to save the teacher that was sleeping. The children couldn't take their eyes off the fire fighters.

Next the children asked questions and were reminded about calling 911 in case of emergencies, having a family meeting place outside with their family in case of fire and and were even given a homework assignment. They were told to go home and ask their family when they last changed the batteries in their fire alarm(s). There will be prizes for those children that remember to ask!

Finally the children were invited outside to see the big red engine and all of the fire fighter gear. Make sure to ask your child about this life saving assembly!

Fall Traditions

2007-10-25T21:08:00.001-04:00

Today we came dressed as our favorite book characters and then paraded around the halls for all the school to see. Below are some of the characters that walked the parade!

Next we had centers in the classroom. We enjoyed making orange and black necklaces with patterns; playing Number Bingo; making Fall hats with letters, leaves and pumpkins; decorating pumpkin shaped cookies; practicing our color words by coloring a seasonal booklet; and making seasonal shapes with play dough. Thanks to all the parents that joined us for the fun and games!

After our fun day, we asked each child: What was your favorite part of today?

Alexander - making a cookie
Alexis - playing Bingo because we got to eat two candy corns
Alyssa - doing Number bingo... and winning!
Caleb - doing the centers!
Chloe - making crowns and necklaces
Crawford - giving high fives when we marched in the parade
Dominic - being Robin!
Eleana - when I saw our patrols in the parade
Elissa - eating candy corn
Evan - decorating the cookie
Felix - eating my cookie!
Hunter - making cookies and being the Cat in the Hat
Ishaan - I can't wait for the Carnival tonight
Jaden - playing outside with my friends
Joey - when we made the necklaces and the cookies and everything
John - when the kids gave us high fives in the parade
Madison - I like the Bingo and when I decorated my cookie
Maria - being a dancer and eating a cookie
Matthew - playing Bingo
Maya - I liked the bead "thingees"
Michael - I like the sprinkles on the cookies
Mikayla - being the good witch!
Natalie - making a pattern with my necklace
Nathan - giving everybody high fives - including my cousin
Parker - I loved every single thing!
Taniyah - wearing my Princess costume
Unique - doing play dough with those cookie cutters

Will it Sink or Float?

2007-10-24T20:36:00.000-04:00

Thank you for sending in all the pumpkins! We have pumpkins in all shapes and sizes and have been enjoying lots of fun activities. Below is our representation of our favorite read aloud, Goldilocks and the Three Bears - designed with pumpkins! We hope you will stop by and see our presentation in the school lobby!We have been working on lots of pumpkin activities including measuring the circumference of a pumpkin; making pumpkin pudding; singing our favorite poem, Five Little Pumpkins; reading lots of books about pumpkins; and learning lots of pumpkin facts! Today we went up to the Science lab to see if pumpkins sink or float.

First we made predictions about whether we thought the pumpkins would sink or float.

Then we tried some little pumpkins. Some of us were surprised when the little pumpkins floated.

Next we decided to try a great big, heavy pumpkin.

Some of us were very surprised with what happened...

Did the big, heavy pumpkin sink or float? If you want to know, you'll just have to ask your child!

Hooray for Pumpkin Pudding!

2007-10-21T21:30:00.000-04:00

As part of our study of non-fiction text and pumpkins, the Timmontes followed a recipe and made Pumpkin Pudding. Of course, the students were not thrilled that we had to let it "chill" for an hour, but in the end, they gave raving reviews of the delicious treat topped with graham cracker crumbs and cool whip!

Retelling Theater

2007-10-11T20:32:00.000-04:00

Before children learn to read a book, they enjoy acting out the parts of a story as it is retold. In the pictures below you can see the children retell one of their favorite "Star" books, The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The narrator reads. Each child has a part and says his part when it is time. At the end of the story all the characters take a bow as the audience applauds!

Little Miss Muffet

2007-10-06T09:01:00.000-04:00

Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet
Eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider and sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Whether it was Little Miss Muffet or Little Mister Muffet, the spider got them every time! We enjoyed acting out this nursery rhyme this week, but we also worked on rhyming and the sounds we hear in words. As a little review, ask your child to complete these rhyming sentences.

I'm thinking of a food that Miss Muffet might like.
It rhymes with _____ (horn). It must be _____. (corn)

Furnish the first word each time and then invite your child to finish the sentence with a rhyming word. Try these others:
cape-grape
reach-peach
rare-pear
seat-beet
dime-lime
sees-peas

Frightened has also been one of our vocabulary words. Make sure you ask your child to show you his/her frightened face! It's not to be missed!

Wonder Filled Wonderings

2007-10-01T19:16:00.000-04:00

This week's "Wonder Filled Wondering" was submitted by our most amazing and beautiful Chloe M. Chloe was wondering what hermit crabs eat. Well we were completely stumped Chloe, so we decided to do a little research. Here is a bit of information we hope will satisfy that curiosity of yours we love so much.

Hermit crabs can eat all sorts of things like dried fruit,crab apples, bananas, lettuce, cucumbers, popcorn, crackers, peanut butter, carrots and even dandelions right out of your backyard! It is a great idea to provide a calcium source for them as well. . . such as dry egg shells or cuttle bone. The two latter items are available in the bird section at the pet store.

Most pet stores carry "hermit crab food" which is a mixture of powder with ground up shrimp bites in it. Crabs eat very slowly and very little at a time. You always need to make sure your crabs have plenty of drinking water too! And believe it or not you can buy "treats" for your hermit crab like hermit crab cookies and fruit salad for special occasions. Watch out feeding those "hermies" too many treats though or you may find yourself looking for a bigger shell for that little guy.

You all know we can't ever resist a teachable moment so we thought we would throw in this tidbit of extra information. Did you know hermit crabs have mouths just like you and me, except you will probably never see a hermit crab's mouth due to it's small size. They do however have a body part very different from you and me.
Hermit crabs have a "miniature elephant-looking trunk" that scoops up their food. If you look closely, they will pick up food/water in their claws and then their little "trunks" uncurl out from underneath to grab it and put it in their mouths. You will find this body part curled up near their abdomen when they are not eating.Simply extraordinary!!!

Thanks Miss Chloe for wondering about hermit crabs. Do you or any other Timmonte have a "hermie" of your own? If so we would love to learn and share more!!

Retelling

2007-09-28T22:29:00.000-04:00

Students have begun to bring home a "book in a bag" each night. In each bag is a book that the student has taken out of his individual book bin to bring home. For students who are not yet reading conventionally, they choose a good story book from their book bin. Each child is expected to "read" the book by looking at the pictures. When the child brings home the book, an adult should read the book to the child first and then let the child "read" by retelling each page. As your child gets better and better at this you will notice that he uses much of the same language that you use as you read the story. If you use a deep voice for the big bad bear, he will begin to use a deep voice for the bear. Before long your child will sound like he is reading the story even though he doesn't really know how to read the words.

At school the children hear the same good story books over and over. We call these good story books, "Star Books." The children practice reading these books to themselves and to partners during Independent Reading every day. Later they make props and practice retelling these books using the props. In the pictures below you can see students practicing one of the class favorite books, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, with stick puppets of the troll and each of the three billy goats.

Make sure to take out that "book in the bag" every single night. That is the way that children learn to read!