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!

JW Beanies open for business...

Reading Counts is an extra bonus for us. Not everyone is ready for Reading Counts at the same time. I usually save the last nine weeks for the opening of my store, JW Beanies. Kids read books and then sit down to take a short multiple choice test based on the book. Sometimes it is straight from the book and sometimes they have to really use their reading skills to come up with the correct answer. It is an extra and some kids are in to it while others need some encouragement. Soooo shopping can really get one encouraged... Each point earned becomes a dollar and kids keep track of spending and saving on account sheets (yippee math too!) Drawers range from $.50 to $25 and then I have a stash of stuffed animals for $50. There was MUCH excitement and reading going on! There was something for everyone and it made my heart so happy to see the smiles from spending every dollar to those that saw a stuffed animal and wanted to read over the weekend to earn more. Who doesn't like to hear on Friday, "Can I take some books home to read on Saturday and Sunday?" Of course you can chicken and then some... The top readers so far...Sophia, Juliana, Gianna, and Jack. Wonder who will have the most points read next week?

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.

UPDATE...Reading Counts rocks!

Well, the points have been counted and the final results are in for the 2009-2010 school year Reading Counts program. Our class read over 1 million words and 8 of the 20 earned more than 100 points a piece to reach the goal of a green reading Counts t-shirt! I was so proud of each and every one of the kids. We celebrated this week with a school-wide wearing of the green shirts. It was quite a scene to gather all the students from 1st-5th grade that earned the green shirt. A HUGE thank you to Mrs. Stevenson and Mrs. Blankenship for their words of encouragement, book choices, and support throughout the year to achieve this goal. Mrs. Stevenson extends an even higher achievement for the children of the school by awarding and announcing the top 3 readers per grade level. I am overjoyed to announce our 1st grade class claimed 2 of the top 3! Congratulations to Yash for earning the top place with 437 points and Carson for earning 377 points for this school year. Together these boys read close to a half a million words. I can only imagine how much they will read this summer and can't wait to hear how they do in second grade.

Reading Counts rocks!

Our media specialist Mrs. Stevenson promotes reading a variety of books including Reading Counts books. Each nine weeks, she and Ms. Becky tally the points from the students and organize prizes according to point levels. It is highly anticipated when she announces the names on the morning news show. The votes are in for the end of the 3rd nine weeks and here are the winners! Every child in our class with the exception of the new student has received a prize this school year. Many have set a goal to achieve by the end of the year. I am so proud of all of you! Keep on reading and let's see how many can make it to 100 points by the end of the school year deadline and win a free Reading Counts t-shirt. Maybe I'll take a special photo to share on the blog. Keep reading...