Penny STEM

Reading Molly Lou Melon is one of my favorite books to share at the beginning of school. She is spunky, loves her grandma, and uses her strength to her advantage. How many drops of water can you drip drop on the top of a penny? How high can you stack pennies? Have you ever made a penny spinner? All in learning our STEM room procedures for following directions, clean up, and even assigning jobs. It is a great get to know you activity and class building exercise.

Mrs. Stevenson our Teacher of the Year

Our Queen the super Fabulous Mrs. Stevenson is Cypress Creek Elementary's Teacher of the Year.  Our entire school celebrated with our Queen of Ceremonies while she dressed as the Man in the Yellow Hat with Curious George.  Each year our school takes part in the annual Character Parade.  Each year we also celebrate our school Teacher of the Year with their very own special theme filled day.  Just so happens we celebrated Mrs. Stevenson with the Character Parade a little earlier than usual.  Everyone dressed as storybook characters and carried books.  Really doesn't that just make you smile-everyone celebrating books! 

 

Our 1st grade LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Junie B. so we each took a different Junie B. to be and aren't we the cutest bunch you ever did see!

Our basket was movie theme and we hope you enjoy your treats and movie gift card.  Each first grader signed the back of the extra large movie ticket. Fun times!

Our administrators really outdid themselves with a Chick-fil-A and fruit after school party to send Mrs. Stevenson home on to enjoy her day.

Nine years ago I sat on the cadre to open Cypress Creek Elementary to the world.  She constantly amazes me with her talents to see every child int he school, make reading fun, and incorporate the standards K-5.  Our Media Center is a place filled with laughter and talk of the late and greatest books to read or websites to check out.  Reading Counts is buzzing because of her school-wide incentives.  Mrs. Stevenson is a team player and continues to learn from others, share, and collaborate with teaches to better their craft.  She is a motivator and inspires me personally to be a better school-wide teacher.  Thank you Mitzi and congratulations on your achievement.  You deserve it and so much more.  I am in awe of you and try to let you know just how much I appreciate you!

Are you ready for 1st grade?

Meet Your Teacher Day is just about the best day ever! I got to meet 17 of the 18 new Wright's Rippers and boy, oh boy is it going to be a year! Just look at these smiles when I ask them to pose with mom and even grandma.  

 I also got to see families and firsties all grown up.  It makes my heart so happy to steal a hug and a quick "Wow, you sure have grown!" or "Man I feel old."  The hour and a half seems to breeze right by and before you know it it is lunchtime and everyone has to say good-bye until Monday.  I thought I would share a few quick photos to spread the excitement. 

 I can't wait to fill this room with learning and the pure joy of reading! oh and MATH I love math! oh and Science too!

Did you know Ron Clark is my #edhero and so is Hope King!  I can't wait to put these lifeskills into action.

This board is still under construction but if you look closely you will see my #1 my hubby Tim! My #2 & #3 Kaile and Carson the loves of my life, FSU-of course Go NOLES! Even a photo with Bobby Bowden, Phi Mu-love, honor, & truth, and my #edheros Ron Clark, Kim Bearden, Junior from RCA and yes Coach Carter. Love some inspiration right there when I look up from my laptop.

 My brand spankin new SitSpots are ready for where the magic happens.  I can't wait to try these out!

Oh there are going to be some favorites made here...the Pigeon, Pete the Cat, Junie B. Jones, Skippyjon Jones, Dr. Seuss, oh the list goes on and on...

 After spending 8 years in my last room I didn't think I would get it all out and set up by now but low and behold I did and it might still be a work in progress...You will have to check back often to see the amazing adventures of Wright's Rippers and all that they have to show the world.  I hope I can sleep tomorrow night just waiting for Monday morning.

THANK YOU :) Florida Education Association-Retired We are a Grant Winner!

How happy do these children look? They are absolutely loving the new Lakeshore headphones we were able to purchase thanks to Florida Education Association-Retired through a grant we were awarded.

This year my mission was to really integrate technology into our daily routine.  I researched, talked to important people, attended conferences, collaborated with teachers, and used TWITTER like no other year before and it has changed my teaching.

Our district invested in Reading a to z and anyone that has used it knows the power it can be for a young reader.  You can listen to, read, record, and answer comprehension questions.  What do you do when you don't have enough headphones and you can hear others in the background?

Well Florida Education Association-Retired offered a grant for needed classroom materials and I made sure to advocate for my friends.  Who would have know they would have picked our grant out of all the entries.  We were so excited to get the news and order those headphones.  

My friends and I agree they make a world of difference in the classroom.  We are able to listen to information on the internet, record ourselves in apps, and practice our prosody as we get to be better readers.  I can't thank Florida Education Association-Retired (and Charles Moskowitz, District Director)for their efforts and making us a grant winner! #grateful

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Florida-Ronald visited our school!

When I was a kid THE place to have your birthday party was at McDonald's.  It was exciting to see Ronald, the Hamburglar and of course Grimace!  WELL guess who made an appearance?  Ronald McDonald himself.  Yes, that is me with Ronald!  YIPPEEE :):)

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Florida made a visit to talk to the kids about reading and to stand up to bullies!  I have to say it was a FABULOUS show!  We laughed and even learned about optical illusions.  Ronald did a trick using a bullseye and his head grew bigger right before our eyes and then shrunk smaller.  The kids thought is was the coolest thing ever!  Ronald came with a very important message- stand up to bullies and make sure to watch out for those around you.  We need to teach children what to do and say when they encounter a bully so we can arm them with strategies to cope in our world.

Ronald suggested taking a picture of the kids' shoes.  came out cute!  Wonder which ones belong to Ronald?

We wrote thank you notes and I had to take pictures because they are the cutest thing ever!  Make sure to check them out.  The smallest thing to an adult means the most to one of my fisties!  Check out those drawings!

Thank you Ronald McDonald your lesson hit home with these kids!

Week 1 was FABULOUS!

I really cannot believe a week ago I was up late waiting for the 1st day of school. Where does the time go? Where am I now? Trying to catch up the blog and putting those last minute details for this week's lessons. First thing first here is our 1st class picture!

They are a great looking bunch aren't they?!? So let's get a sneak peek into the week. Each year I start their personal journals on day 1 and we write EVERYDAY! I love reading and listening to them. We have lost teeth, lost family members, had brothers/sisters born, contests won, riding our bike without training wheels, and even attendance at the FSU games documented. GO NOLES! This one is extra special, CJ's mom got her first teaching job and CJ wrote about how each person in the house was "iksidid" for mom now how stinkin' cute is that?! We are very excited for you Mrs. Asbill and those 1st graders are lucky to have you.
We read bunches this week and wrote in our reading response journals. We used our face partners to read our writing to and it was too cute to hear them tell each other, "Thank you for sharing."

We learned about scientist tools this week and I think the exploration part can be summed up by this one picture...yes we got to wear the goggles.

I handed out the ActivExpressions and YIPPEE there was excitement that could be felt 6 doors down each hallway. We could share answers and text in number combinations. You should check out our class Instagram and Twitter feed to get the latest updates. Check out our friend texting his number sentence.

Who doesn't love a good book? Well reading Pete the Cat makes for an extra special time singing and joining in the fun because ..."It's all good."

and then before you know it it is time to leave and go home.

This is absolutely the BEST way to spend your days. These new chickens are ready each day for anything and they do so with a smile on their face. It is going to be a fabulous year so check back often and see us along for the journey. What do I have ready for them next week?

decorating our door...

Every year our Media Center sponsors the Character parade where everyone in the whole school is invited to dress up as their favorite characters.  Every class then parades carrying books and excitement along the way.  A favorite is the door decorating contest.  Here is our door "Don't bug us we're reading!"  along with our creative bugs holding books.  Our reading buddies from upstairs helped us research some insects last week.  We made an ebook with our information and pictures that we created on Doodle Buddy.  Our ebook was creative enough to put us at the top but it sure was fun being creative and showing our door off.  Check it out!  Can't wait to send the epub book to the families so they can read all about the different insects.

"Techy" Book reviews

One reading group is working on making book reviews which are then linked to a QR code and then that code is put on the book! Fancy firsties right?  You have got to love those kids right?  Julianna used the Sonic Pic app with pictures and her voiceover.  Jack and Demetrios took the pictures with an iTouch and then used the green screen to put them in the book.  We hope you enjoy our creations! Leave them a comment, they would love to hear what you think.

Little Red Hen reader's theater

Somehow our Little Red Hen reader's theater didn't make it to the blog.  How in the world did I miss that?  They kept reminding me and so here it is... I have to say I just love those firsties! Miss you guys and hope you are having a fabulous summer.  Make sure you are reading a book.  Shouts out to Jaidan. I saw him a few days ago enjoying the day with daddy. Who will I see next?

Update

So let me catch you up on the latest...
I did not win the Ron Clark Academy/Promethean Thank a Teacher contest.  We gave it our all but fell short.  I think last count there were 582 likes between the two pages on Facebook.  Not bad for a 1st grade teacher.  Help me in congratulating Amanda Morris and Donna Porter as the winners.

We did not wing he door contest with our "Don't Let the Pigeon Stop Reading!"  As you can tell from the pictures there were some fabulous door decorations!  The Lonely Firefly and Stripes were recognized for 2nd and 3rd place for the primary classrooms while the Flat Stanley door won 1st place overall for the primary classrooms.  Way to go!

Character Parade

Our 2nd Annual Character Parade took place today.  We dressed up as book characters and then had a parade walk throughout campus.  It was so wonderful to take part in the celebration of reading.  I dressed as Junie B. Jones of course!  I saw many Junie B.s but the most represented book was the Hunger Games.  There were so many I took some group shots.  You have to check out my firsties and just heart them yourself!  An added feature was a door decorating contest.  2 winners primary and intermediate will be announced tomorrow.  I wonder who they will be.  Personally our Don't Let the Pigeon Stop Reading is our favorite but that Math Curse and Jack and the Beanstalk were pretty good.  Make sure to check out the Frindle and BFG door-it was 3D!!  I will have to blog tomorrow and let you know.  Enjoy the movie, it was so much fun to be in school today!

Friendship fruit salad

I love reading Fruit is a Suitcase for Seeds in our reading series.  The kids bring in various fruits and we get to examine the seeds up close. I love it when we get a different fruit and this year we had 2!  Brady brought in a Pomelo.  It was quite large and it peeled fairly easy.  It smelled so good in our classroom.  Clean like citrus!  It turned out to be pretty tasty-sweet which was surprising.  Devyn brought in a melon native to Costa Rica.  It was sweet as well and tasted pretty close to a honeydew.  Check out our slideshow.  The highlight was combining it all and making our friendship salad.  YUMMY!!  Thanks to the parents and friends for such a great, healthy treat!

This free photo slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Using the green screen YIPPEE!!

I am so loving using the movie editing on my MacBook Pro.  What better way to use that and the green screen to help with our weekly reading skills.  Our theme for the week was favorite stories and beginning, middle, and end in stories.  One group read The Lion and the Mouse and created a retell.  We filmed them in front of the green screen reading their retell from the computer.  We learned not to wear green in front of that green screen.  Brady looks almost invisible.  Another group had to write about their favorite book and created and original artwork.  Wasn't this the coolest!  The kids loved it and I do believe there is more green screen in our future.

Another guest reader...

Kasey's big sister wanted to read a book to our class.  She is in 3rd grade and practices her fluency by reading aloud.  She did a FABULOUS job of reading Parts to our class and they really enjoyed hearing Rachel read.  Parts is a Reading Counts book and the kids are really taking off with their points.  I bet Rachel inspired them to read the rest of the Parts series.  Thanks Rachel.

WOW what a reader!

I love buying books, flipping through the pages, looking at the pictures, and sitting down in a comfortable spot to take some time to read. I have to say I love reading! It makes me giddy inside when it happens for a kid, kind of like getting your angel wings.  Jessica was never my student, although I would have been super lucky to have her, but would come in and take Reading Counts tests.  You know my door is always open and she would walk down the halls and ask if I had an open computer. SURE come on in! One day I extended an offer for her to come back and read to my firsties.  Well she did!  She read a super cute book, What are you so Grumpy About?  The kids loved it!  They were a fabulous audience and laughed in all the right places.  Thank you Jessica for sharing and I hope you come back another day and show off your reading.

How do you like to move?

Move was our reading theme this week.  We read about it and found some time outside to get moving.  Can you believe some of the kids hadn't ever jumped in a sack race or played tug-o-war?  Well now they can say they did it!  Make sure to check out the video.  We had a great time and I am getting better at video editing. YIPPEE for all of us.  You will be getting information on Edmodo this week.  Five Senses the sequel is on our class Edmodo so you will have to check it out to see it there.

How can we move?

We talked about all the ways we can move and the class came up with a pretty lengthy list.  Our weekly reading series had a picture of a sack race and I was somewhat surprised as to how many kids had not been in a sack race.  Well, I jumped at that and we enjoyed some time outside racing one another.  It was fun and I am sure when it gets cooler they will want to sack race one another again.

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