I'm equally proud of second grade teacher Kalene Guenther and her selection to attend June's Arts Integration Training, to be held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. It was a first rate experience for those of us who attended last year and I know she and the other teachers selected will bring back solid strategies to use in their classrooms and to share with their schools. Way to go Kalene and all other attendees!
Third grade language arts teacher Marcie Golliher hosted a Parent Visiting Day this week, I hate to say I missed it, but I was able to see the final product her students produced. She decided to connect her Process and Product Display to the unit's novel The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary, with individual students creating a mouse house, mouse poetry, mouse research papers using internet tools, letter writing and more. Very cool Mrs. Golliher.
Mrs. Leibick's fourth grade LA students were doing the same thing this week, hosting parents as part of their annual Survival and Interdependence Unit. The work can speak for itself, but those of us who visited were impressed as always with the connectedness of the varied projects. Noah explained to me that students were given ten independent project choices, narrowing to one or more. He also explained and showed me, along with some other students, that all students completed poetry connected to an Arctic Animal, created Ocean Creature fact flip books based on research, wrote essays connected to a Maya Angelou poem and the theme of "being alone", created Karana/Shackleton Venn Diagrams - even a field visit to an archeolgoical dig is slated for the near future as a further extension to the learning. I was truly impressed with Paco's independent journal entries, including a couple of very realistic blood stained and aged pages, as well as his inclusion of an original folk tale he decided was the final journal touch needed. Good stuff.
Poem in Your Pocket Day went very well on Thursday. In fact, we had so much fun sharing in the halls and classrooms that we decided to have an impromptu slam during lunch on Thursday and Friday, just so kids had more opportunities to share. Even some adults got involved in the action as they dropped their kids off in the cafeteria. I have to say, it was lots of fun!
Of course, it was a celebration of Earth Day all week long. There were displays on boards, spots for recycling drop-offs, and the annual Walk to School Day. Held this morning, our numbers were not as large as in years' past, but it was still cool to be outside, meeting and greeting kids and parents as they arrived from their neighborhoods. The group of boys to the left were particularly happy as their parents let them walk on their own to school in honor of the occasion (they did quite well parents!). I must say however, one of my favorite images of the event had to be of the Murphy clan walking to school, with their youngest, beginning in a stroller, then walking into school on his own with big brother and sister on each side of him. Sweet and cool to see one of our littlest Scotties heading down the hall, ready to start his day. Not to mention, a great way to start my day as well.
