Holiday Party Time

We had a wonderful time celebrating the season and each other.  In the morning we rotated through three multicultural celebrations followed by lunch, crafts, games, and a chocolate fountain for dessert.  The next day we all wore our pajamas to school, played games, watched the recording of our play, and listened to Auntie Claus read a story to us.

Holiday Party on PhotoPeach

Celebrating the Lights of Hanukkah

Hanukkah Celebration on PhotoPeach

Holiday Play

After weeks of learning song and dance moves, hours of stage practice, and loads of fun, our class presented the holiday play, December In Our Town! We hope you enjoy our pictures... December In Our Town holiday play on PhotoPeach

What's the MATTER?

After reading Bartholomew and the Ooblek by Dr. Seuss, our class created our own version of ooblek to investigate. Here are some pictures from our science lab. What's the MATTER? on PhotoPeach

Field Trip to MOSH

MOSH Field Trip on PhotoPeach

Long Lines at the Polls

As election day approached, we discussed what we thought makes a good leader and we researched some of the guidelines to running for President.  We learned some fun facts about the White House and read about previous Presidents.  When the big day arrived, we dressed in our red, white, and blue and held our own class election.  Here are some pictures of us voting and the results from our poll.   

Pumpkin Fun

Today was the last day of October and time for some math fun with pumpkins.  The kids had to estimate and measure the height, diameter, circumference, weight, and how many pumpkin seeds there are in a large pumpkin.  We could not have accomplished this lesson without the help of our wonderful parents!  When we were done with the educational value of our pumpkins we pulled out some creativity and carved them into jack o'lanterns.  Moving into reading and writing skills, we filled in a ven diagram comparing pumpkins and jack o'lanterns and then wrote a how-to paper on carving a pumpkin.  Enjoy some pictures from our day.

Pumpkin Fun! on PhotoPeach

How Does Your Garden Grow?

While studying seeds in science we decided to plant some collards in the Chets Creek backyard garden. Because we are scientists, we planted seeds in the garden outside and in a mini-greenhouse inside our classroom. This way we can observe how they grow and notice any differences. When our inside plants are ready we will transplant them to our plot of land outside in hopes that they will grow big enough for us to harvest and cook! Stay tuned for updates.

How Does Your Garden Grow? on PhotoPeach

Literary Pumpkin Festival

Today in school we painted ordinary pumpkins to resemble the characters in Judy Schachner's Skippyjon Jones book series. Our big pumpkin was Skippyjon himself and the kids all painted smaller pumpkins as his sisters, mama, chimichangos (friends), bumblebeeto, etc. Our students are very creative and ended up with some clever characters! El Skippito Friskito on PhotoPeach

Field Trip Fun

We went to Cici's Pizza today and learned the ins and outs of pizza making!  The best part was eating our creations!

Our Field Trip to Cici's Pizza on PhotoPeach

Our friend the author JUDY SCHACHNER!!!

After reading all of the Skippyjon Jones books in our classroom, we decided to e-mail one of our favorite authors - Judy Shachner.  Here is her reply to us:

Hola Poochitos!!

Receiving your letter this morning  was like taking a gigantic vitamin. I can't even begin to tell you how good it made me feel...well maybe I can. It made me feel like dancing and singing and bouncing and hoping and  spinning and flying and running around in circles chasing my own tail!  Oh wait a minute...I don't even have a tail. Writing is a powerful thing!

Please send me your address so that I may send your entire fabulously fuzzy class s surprise.

Hugs and whiskers, from your friend without a tail,

Judy Schachner

P.S. I was forty years old before I dared to write a book.
        Don't wait that long before you try;)

And here is what came in the mail for us today!!  

She sent us a Skippyjon Jones costume, a class set of bookmarks, a handwritten note with a picture she sketched of Skippyjon, and two preview books!!!!!!! WOW!!!!  She sent us books that don't have the ending so we're on the edge of our seat waiting for it to come out in stores.  

Here one of our students models the costume and brand new book, Cirque de Ole!

Back to Football Friday

Today was the kickoff for "Fuel Up to Play 60" at our school.  Everyone was encouraged to wear their favorite team shirt.  After lunch we went to the track to stretch and take our two laps.  There were PTA volunteers handing out prizes and stickers.  Coach Bailey even had music playing to keep us pumped up!

Play 60 on PhotoPeach

More Interactive Skills Block Fun

Today in skills block we talked about synonyms and how we should use vivid vocabulary in our writing.  After exploring a thesaurus, students brainstormed lists of synonyms for words the teachers put on the board.   In the pictures you can see the students writing their words in categories.  We've also included the finished product - some of the best words that "popped" into our heads.  The kids will be encouraged to use this word wall in their writing.  

Cooking in School

We love our new school theme of cooking!  To learn about reading a recipe and measuring ingredients we made banana pudding.  It was educational and delicious!  

Cooking in School on PhotoPeach

Interactive Skills Block

In our class we start each day with an interactive skills block.  This week we played a relay game to review nouns, verbs, and adjectives.  Our teachers wrote a list of words on the board and we lined up in two teams.  We took turns adding a letter to the line in front of the word to identify it as a Noun, Verb, or Adjective. If we found one that was incorrect, we could correct it on our turn. When all of the words were taken we sat down.  It was more important to have the right answers than it was to be done first.  We had fun and showed off our knowledge of words at the same time!

The first day of school

On our very first day of school this year we had a visit from "The Bug Chef!"  He explained that many countries around the world cook with bugs.  He demonstrated some of his favorite recipes and called some of our students up to help prepare and EAT the food!  He cooked mealy worm "french fries," stir fry scorpions, and skewered and grilled grasshoppers. He was entertaining and informative!

What goes on behind the scenes...

This is what our classroom looked like when we first walked in!

And this is what it looked like the morning of Orientation! We're ready for an exciting new school year with a GREAT bunch of second graders!

Field Day Fun

Second Grade Field Day Fun on PhotoPeach

Great Gardeners

We had an awesome guest speaker talk to us today about caring for a garden and growing our own vegetables.  Ms. Brenda spent some time in our classroom telling us about the different potatoes we can grow. Then she took us out back to the Chets Creek garden and let us dig up some potatoes to take home to our families!  We also took turns weeding the other areas of the garden but then the rain came.  While rain is good for the garden it's not so much fun for the gardeners - especially right before lunch time!  We tied our gardening experience to literacy by reading Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato by our special author, Tomie dePaola!
Great Gardeners on PhotoPeach

Social Studies Guest Speaker

Yesterday during Social Studies City Councilman Robin Lumb stopped by to talk to us about our city government. We learned about the judicial system and how laws protect us.

Spirit Week at the Creek

This week we've been decked out in CRAZY attire! You may see us walking through the halls looking like rock stars, pop stars, in a fashion disaster, dressed like the careers we hope to have when we grow up, or just wearing blue! On Monday we had some fun in the photo booth, Tuesday we went on a field trip to MOSH, Thursday we were inspired by Donovan Darius on what it means to be a HERO, and Friday we supported our third, fourth, and fifth graders as they went to a Pep Rally for the FCAT! Not your ordinary week in our school!Spirit Week on PhotoPeach

MOSH Field Trip

We went on an educational trip to the Museum of Science and History. We learned about the human body, investigated properties of matter, and even saw a show about matter! Since the weather was so nice, we enjoyed our lunch outside at Friendship Fountain.
MOSH field trip on PhotoPeach

Boosterthon Fun Run

For the last week we've been raising money for our school. Friends and family members have been pledging money and today was the day for us to run our laps and earn their respect and money. The most laps allowed: 35. Our time limit: 1 hour. Our teachers and parents encouraged us as we continued to run around the Boosterthon track. At the end of the race we received many cool prizes (waterbottles, sunglasses, balls, watches, bracelets, and even t-shirts and more) and our class raised over $90 per lap!!! Over the last week we enjoyed extra recess, popsicles, free drawing time, hat day, lunch outside, and bubble gum, setting and meeting new goals almost daily! We certainly will miss the daily visits from the Boosterthon team. What a FUN way to raise money for our school!
Boosterthon Fun Run on PhotoPeach

Choosing Independent Reading Books

Each student has an independent reading book bag hanging on the back of his/her chair. Every Friday students return the books that they are finished with and choose 10 new books to read the following week. They try to find some "just right" books and vary the genres. Student favorites include poetry books, books of the month, nonfiction books about animals, Magic School Bus books, and chapter books.

Our Field Trip to the Zoo

Field Trip to the Zoo on PhotoPeach

A classroom visit from a pediatrician

As we continue to talk about community helpers in social studies, some of our parents have stopped by our classroom to tell us about their jobs. This mom brought x-rays to show us, a splint, some medical equipment, and we all got to wear masks to keep the germs away! She really made learning fun!!

Severe Weather Lessons Blowing in from the South

Today we got to visit with a local meteorologist! Mr. Tim Deegan from Channel 12 News came to our class to tell us about clouds, high and low pressure, weather instruments, and what to do in the event of dangerous weather. We learned that lightening only happens when ice crystals are present. We discussed what to do if a tornado warning is issued. We talked about tsunamis and hurricanes. We even learned a little bit about television production and what a green screen is!

Carmen Agra Deedy Visits Chets Creek!

We had an entertaining visit with the awesome author Carmen Agra Deedy this morning! She is a master storyteller and kept the kids hanging on her every word as she told them a tale about a character with more heart than brains.