Honoring our Troops

In class today we read the new book of the month, The Impossible Patriotism Project. The story is about one young boys struggle to think of a way to show patriotism for his class project. During the story we noticed how the main character dealt with his problems and frustrations. However, through his continued thinking he finally got an idea and a little inspiration from his heart.

One way to encourage your child to show patriotism is by visiting the website, Lets Say Thanks. Here you can select and send digital postcards that were actually created by students around the United States to show our appreciation for their sacrifices and hard work.

The post below is the website you can visit and give your appreciation! How cool is this?

Let's Say Thanks

Send thanks to our troops

Edgar's New Folder on the Blog

With all the wonderful letters from Edgar I decided to give him his own spot on my blog! This way, it is easier to keep an update on his life. You can now just click and see all of his letters and trips.

If you look on the right side of my blog under Class Updates, you will see his folder. It is called, "Edgar Grams." Once you click on it you can see all the exciting adventures he is having out at sea. Thank you again Mr. Smith for taking the time to show Edgar all around and help him with his typing.

Remember, our class Chet bear is here in the classroom. If you are planning any trips please give a comment on this post or let me know so you can take Chet along with you. He told Mrs. Tsengas and I he needs more excitement in his life.

Valentine's Day Pictures

Valentine's Day Party

We had another amazing party on Friday. This event was not possible without your help and the students and I thank all of you again. The donations were wonderful, as well as the parent help at the party. Parents are the best!

We started our morning off by decorating our bags to collect Valentines in. I read several fiction/non-fiction stories involving Valentine's Day. It was a great way to really compare and contrast the genres and information that is presented.

After we finished decorating our bags it was time to deliver all the Valentines the students worked so hard on. I even got cards too! The students loved delivering their cards to each other.

Next, it was time for some goodies and special snacks. Our buffet had juice, cupcakes, a special trail mix, cookies, fruit, chips and so much more! Of course a Valentine's Day party isn't a party with the candy conversation hearts. They giggled over the mini-messages: "2 cute", "LUV U', "Be Mine", "Call me". My favorite is still, "Fax me". Many of them weren't quite sure what that meant. I guess I am old. :(

Later on I introduced the candy estimation jar. I HAND COUNTED candy hearts into a jelly container. Whoever guessed the closet would win the jar. Students wrote down guesses from 50-1,000,000. Quite a range! Well, the winner will be announced on Tuesday. How many candy hearts were in the jelly container? 150! Were you close?

The last event was BINGO! Mrs. Tsengas lead a fierce battle over bingo. They students made their cards with cut out Valentine's Day pictures. The winners received a NEW CAR! Ok, just kidding. They got the second best prize of their own box of mini-candy hearts.

This was such a fabulous and fun-filled day at Chets Creek. Thank you again to all the parents who came in to help hand out food and clean up. Also, thank you for all the generous donations. Enjoy your long weekend and remember, no school on Monday! Happy Valentine's and President's Day!

Zoo Pictures

Our trip to the Jacksonville Zoo!

What a WILD and WONDERFUL day at the Jacksonville Zoo! Our class had a blast exploring and learning all about the animals many of them used for their report. Seeing these animals up close and personal was such a fabulous experience.

After we hiked around the zoo, we were able to attend an educational class that taught us all about several different animals like a screech owl, red snake, turtle, crocodile, and chinchilla. The baby crocodile was pretty scary! The teacher of the class was very impressed by how much they all knew about animals' habitats and behaviors. She was in awe of the vocabulary words they were using. Way to go class!

This trip was not only wonderful for the students, but for the teachers as well. :) It is so rewarding for the students to be able to apply what they have been learning in class. It was clear to the workers at the zoo, and myself, that they can use their recently acquired knowledge. AWESOME JOB!

Plural Nouns

This week we have been studying the rules for making words plural. We discussed the different ways to make words plural depending on how the word ends. The students were given a "Plural Noun Cheat Sheet" that they put inside their homework folder. This is a great tool for them to use to double check themselves as they do their homework. Just in case you need a refresher course in making words plural, here are the basic rules!

1. For most nouns, add s. Examples: car-cars, horse-horses
2. If a noun ends with ch, sh, s, x, or z, add es. Examples: bus-buses, brush-brushes, wax-waxes
3. If a noun ends with f, or fe, drop the f and add ves. Examples: scarf-scarves, leaf- leaves
4. If a noun ends with a y and the letter BEFORE the y is a vowel, just add s. Examples: boy-boys, monkey- monkeys
5. If a nouns ends with a y and the letter BEFORE is a consonant, drop the y and add ies. Examples: nanny-nannies, penny-pennies
**Some nouns form a plural differently like: man-men, goose-geese, child-children, foot-feet, mouse-mice, tooth-teeth**

Here are some games and activities to practice this new skill!

Plural Nouns

Plural Noun Matching

Who wants to be a plural millionaire?