Wednesday, June 10, 2009

June 10 in Room 11

  • Today was a mixture of joy, relief and sadness. Children and teachers alike feel relieved to have a break from the hard work of the school year. Many are sad to say good-bye to each other. Then again, summer adventures await...such joy!
  • Students lugged home bags of belongings from their desks and the walls of their classrooms. Also included are notes from the library specifying hours and activities being offered by the children's department. Most of them also have booklets of activities they can complete in their spare time over the summer. Except Ryan! He's finished. He'll just have to read...
  • Because the day was hot and sunny, some of the staff filled spray bottles with water to cool students off at lunch recess time. Samantha and Meagan really appreciated the mini-dousing.
  • Students at Hillcrest watched The Tale of Despereaux this afternoon.
  • Second graders switched classes as usual for Walk to Read this morning, but instead of reading, they played games!
  • A parting piece of advice: Have fun and read, read, read! As Mrs. Bryant encourages her students--For every day that you eat, you should read.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

June 9 in Room 11

  • The class began the morning by cleaning desks.
  • Some desks need more work.
  • The class hiked down the hill to the library where Mrs. Simpkins read several books and explained the summer reading program.
  • From her office, Spencer's mom saw everyone walk by, so she come out to give Spencer a hug.
  • Trinity's dad drove his truck by the walking class. He tooted his horn.
  • Next, second graders crossed the street to visit the fire department where Mr. Cooper reviewed fire safety rules.
  • It was fun to see Samantha's dad at the fire station.
  • The ladder truck was parked outside and a fire fighter went all the way up to the top of the ladder. It was really high!
  • Most of the second graders were treated to a ride on the old fire truck.
  • All the second grade classes ate their lunches at the park, then played and played and played!
  • There were many tired children returning to the classroom just before the buses arrived.
  • They lugged "debris" and good stuff from their cleaned-out desks home in plastic bags.

Monday, June 8, 2009

June 8 in Room 11

  • First thing: bellwork
  • Then P.E. to practice bowling in the gym.
  • Next, music.
  • After that, a trek down to The Back Alley for some genuine bowling.
  • Wow! Glow in the Dark bowling! Loud music! Dancing in glowing blue socks! Spinning on bottoms on smooth, wood floors! Thank you to Mr. Mark Mattecheck for the terrific time.
  • The hike back up the hill was arduous!
  • Yayy! Lunch! Then Lunch Recess!
  • Tough day so far...
  • In the afternoon everyone practiced adding money.
  • They read the Weekly Reader and took a test on the Senteo computer program about the Tropical Rain Forest.
  • Queen Shelby Moody, beautiful queen of the Coos County Fair and Rodeo, visited the second grade. She talked about what she does as queen, what rodeos are all about, and how to get involved in 4-H. She wore green trimmed, custom-made chaps, a stunning western belt, a tall cowgirl hat and showed off her finely tooled saddle.
  • Time to go home!

Friday, June 5, 2009

June 5 in Room 11

  • Although the title for today says "in Room 11," it should more aptly read "out and about from Room 11."
  • The teacher finished reading The Adventures of the Backyard Sleep-out."
  • The teacher then checked and re-checked which children had ordered lunches and which brought their own. Sure enough there was a mistake. Then she checked to see if everyone had paid their $2.00 to pay for the swimming pool and took care of that. Next she checked to see which parents were indeed accompanying everyone to the swimming pool. Whew. That was a lot of checking!
  • The class walked down the Chicken Walk to the swimming pool.
  • The second-graders-soon-to-be-third-graders swam, jumped, leaped, swung, splashed, dunked, paddled, teased, floated and laughed with their friends in the North Bend Swim Pool. Thank-you to the pool staff for their vigilance. No one was lost.
  • Walking back up the Chicken Walk was an challenge and I am sad to say there were whiners every step of the way. I am proud to say that the whiners were not the teachers.
  • Spelling test...not yet corrected.
  • Senteo test on Weekly Reader about women's accomplishments. Students are getting the hang of using the "clickers" (remotes).
  • This is the schedule for the rest of the year: Monday--Bowling 10:00-11:00; Tuesday, Library, Fire Department, Park for lunch and back to school; Field day and a movie in the afternoon.
  • Marathon Stand-outs received medals.
  • Tawnie won the Student Camp Learned-a-Lot Bubble Gum Bubble Blowing Contest at campfire. Yayyyy, Tawnie! Mrs. Bryant won the teachers' contest. Yayy, Mrs. Bryant!!!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

June 4 in Room 11

  • Gum-chewers for the week were not reported yesterday, so here they are: Meagan, Zoe, Riley and Dylan.
  • In P.E. yesterday, students played hula-hoop tag.
  • Students continued their work on camp-themed subjects as they did their camp word books.
  • In the computer lab, the second graders had a choice of Paint Shop, Bite-Size, or Math Magician sites.
  • Mrs. Craig read from the Adventures of the Backyard Sleep-out this morning.
  • Students created maps of their backyards using symbols from a given map key.
  • After lunch students had more choices. They needed to finish several projects in this order: 1.) Beach Writing 2.) Bug Drawing 3.) Bird Drawing 4.) Thousands Book
  • Many children cashed in their Good Camper coupons for a chance to read in the tent.
  • Our class cheered boisterously for our teams in the three-legged race during campfire time. Our runners were Kelsey and Megan; and Teron and Logan. They did great!
  • The top marathon runners, Devin, Logan and Ryan were treated to pizza for lunch today. Way to go, guys!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

June 3 in Room 11

  • Teacher read-aloud The Adventures of the Backyard Sleep-out
  • Students did more camp projects. "Canoe" was the topic of the day.
  • Many of the students are still working on their beach writing.
  • Megan finished her ABCDirections book today. Wow!
  • The class worked on a Senteo test after reading The Weekly Reader. It was about summer safety.
  • Everybody joined in singing at the campfire at the end of the day. Mrs. Nelson led "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain."Teacher." Two students' names were picked out of a hat. One of the students was to get dressed using clothes from a bag of the teacher's clothes. The other student was to pull the clothes out of the bag and help ther dresser don the duds.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

June 2 in Room 11

  • The day began with rousing camp songs in music class.
  • Students made camp-name necklaces.
  • Teacher read-aloud The Adventure of the Backyard Sleep-Out.
  • There was no math today because students needed to work on their final writing about their beach trip.
  • The class divided into five different teams to play M.A.R.E. Jeopardy with Mr. Dunn this afternoon. They were asked questions about science topics from throughout the year. Congratulations to the Back Group, who won with 150 points!
  • Mr. Dunn was very pleased that all the groups earned over 110 points because it showed that everyone learned and remembered a lot of what he taught this year. Everyone clapped for Mr. Dunn, agreeing that he is a really great teacher.
  • Because science class ran so late, Room 11-ers did not get to go to "campfire" this afternoon. However, when science was over, the class brushed up on the words to "Do your Ears Hang Low?" especially the second verse, which begins, "Do your ears flip-flop, can you use 'em like a mop?" Then they sang it faster and faster until they were out of breath.
  • There were five Mystery Scrap winners this afternoon.

Monday, June 1, 2009

June1 in Room 11

  • The second-graders arrived at school today to find that they are not students this week, but campers at Camp-Learned-A-Lot.
  • They cut out happy camper tents, cutting the tent flaps open and gluing their photos inside. Backgrounds were added using oil pastels.
  • During P.E. students rotated from station to station. They tried pogo balls, hula-hoops, jump ropes and basketball.
  • The new read-aloud book is The Adventures of the Back Yard Sleep-Out by Nancy McArthur.
  • It's review time in math this week. Today everyone counted money.
  • Students could collect good camper coupons to earn reading time in the tent, which is set up in the front of the classroom.
  • At "campfire," campers cheered for their cabin's team. Today the challenge was wrapping a student with paper towels. LoJo's Lucky 13 team won with Hailey wrapping Tony from head to toe in the shortest amount of time! Yayyy LoJo's Lucky 13 team!
  • The day ended with singing around the campfire.