I have so much to fill you in on and so little time...
Where to begin? I think we should start with some projects that we did before my big D-day (D stands for delivery in case you didn't know. Hehe.) During the month of March we always celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday. One of my all time favorite books of his is called Horton Hatches the Egg. In the story there is a bird, who decides that she is tired of sitting on her egg. She asks an elephant to sit on the egg for her while she runs an errand. The elephant reluctantly agrees under the impression that the bird would quickly return. However, the elephant soon realizes that the bird is not going to return. She has found a lovely place to live on the beach instead. The elephant sits and sits and sits and says, "I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant is faithful 100 percent." And faithful that elephant is. I look up to this surrogate mommy as a new mommy myself! One day, as the elephant is performing in the circus (while still sitting on the egg), the bird happens to fly overhead and decides she'd like to see what all the commotion is about. When she realizes who is performing below her, she soon decides that she would like her egg back. **Side note: It is at this point that I start hearing things like "NO!!" and "That's not fair!" from all those captivated kiddos in my class. They know right from wrong!!** Just as everyone is feeling so sorry for the elephant, the egg begins to hatch. And out pops not a bird, not an elephant, but an elephant bird!! I love the message that this sends to the kids. I think that there are many controversial topics that this book speaks to. However, on a more lighthearted note, I think the kids learn that hard work does not go unrecognized. Afterwards the kids love the activity that we do. They choose 2 animals to mix together. They write if you mix a ____ with a ____ you get a _____. Their creations are always so creative. This year I decided to take it a step further with technology. We used the app called Superimpose. The kids took their two animals and meshed them together into one. Obviously, this took a little time and planning. They had to figure out sizing, placement, background images, etc. After they created their animal mix up, they sent their image to their Google drive and wrote about it in Google Docs. The whole process took about 3 weeks. I was so proud of all their hard work! Thanks to Mrs. Civiok, Mrs. Clark, and Mrs. Vilics for your help too! Take a look at some of the finished products!
Wheew! That was a long one... I promise the rest won't be as long!
Another topic that was covered before I left was sequencing. One of our fun Friday projects was sequencing the steps of blowing a bubble. But first, we had to actually try to blow the bubble. So we broke out the bubblelicious gum and started chewing... and flattening... and pressing... and blowing... and popping!! Us teachers were into it too. Especially Mrs. Olsen! Notice the special visitor we had that day... The one and only Cameron Olsen, first grader, son of Mrs. Olsen. We really enjoyed his company. He liked writing all about blowing bubbles. :)
Mrs. Olsen and Mrs. Clark worked on the final project with the kids and they came out so cute!! If I find the pictures I will share with you all. :)
After the most amazing SURPRISE shower at school, I was so excited to take home my gifts and put them in the nursery. I loved the decorated piggy bank and the signed quilt. And the gift cards were definitely welcomed as well! Mrs. Clark spent her entire February break working on the quilt and her hard work paid off! I will always remember her hard work and my first and second grade class because of this beautiful quilt. Thank you so much to Mrs. Olsen, Mrs. Clark, and all the kids and parents for making the shower so wonderful and making me feel so special! I thought I'd introduce baby Clark to all of you by showing you a picture of him looking at his new quilt. He just loves it!
Now you know I can't stay away forever. I just love everyone at Pashley way too much. That is why I came in to be mystery reader! And what better book to read to the class than Clark the Shark?!?! The reunion was amazing and it was so great to give hugs to all my little ones. Of course, I absolutely loved seeing all my teacher friends as well... and we had to take pictures to document!
It was also great to see some of you at the Pashley Walk About. I promised the kiddos that I would return before the year was over... and I will keep my promise, just like that elephant from Horton Hatches the Egg. Until then, I leave you with one last picture of my Clarkie. Notice how he is wearing a Where the Wild Things Are shirt; Another one of my favorite books! It says "I'll eat you up I love you so." And that is how I feel about all of you! Ta-ta for now!
