Saying Good-by

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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.