Friday in Ellen's Room

• Smokey Bear and his friends visited Hillcrest today. They talked about staying safe when camping or starting a fire outdoors.


• Kindergarten through second grades attended this assembly. Each of them received a bag of fire safety reminders.


• Children practiced googling "stebbinzoo" in order to find this website.


• Students used the "retell" cards today. During the week groups read and study a story. At the end of the week, the teacher puts books away and students use large picture cards to remember and retell what they learned. This is good vocabulary practice.


• As students talk about their cards, they practice speaking as if giving a speech. Listeners practice being a good audience.


• I was impressed with how many details speakers and listeners remembered!


• Magic words: Smokey Bear.

In Ellen's Room

• New magnetic letters appeared in Ellen's Room this morning.
• Each child who stepped in the door wanted to make his or her own name with the letters.
• Mrs. Stebbins needs to find more magnetized letters!
• We have two fish named Prince and Azul. Azul is blue and Prince is purple. Sometimes the students feed them, taking care not to bump the table because that scares the fish. Fish won't eat if they are scared.
• The kindergartners are reading about a vet. The cat in the story has a hurt leg. A girl named Pat helps the cat. She takes him to the vet.
• Reggie read the whole story about the space visitors. As he read aloud, Edward and Maria put the space visitor pictures in the right order.
• Cody says that he loves the stuff that we learn in class.
• Elvia says that the songs Ms. Stebbins taught us are great.
• The magic word today is sing!

In Ellen's Room

• As we study about native Americans, the kindergartners look at books in class, point out and name forest animals, and talk over what the animals in the picture are doing. The older students actually listen to, read and discuss the text.


• Today the book was Brother Eagle, Sister Sky, by Susan Jeffers.


• Many of the words in this book were spoken to the United States government by Chief Seattle, a famous native American leader near the end of the Indian Wars.


• Chief Seattle was a brave and noble leader.


• One of his most poetic lines was "You must keep...a place where one can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow flowers."


• I asked, "Did you ever go outside and open your mouth and taste the wind?" Alex said she did once. "But it tasted kind of weird. And then a bug flew into my mouth and got in my throat."


• The first through third graders are reading about space.


• One space story is imaginary, about space people who visit a family.


• Another space story tells about a planetarium people can visit.


• There is a planetarium at OMSI, in Portland, which is very kid-friendly. They have a good website, too: http://www.omsi.edu/kids


• The magic word for today is Chief.

• At Hillcrest, students enrolled as English language learners are often referred to as "ELLs." It is a quick and easy "nickname," not an official name. I am so proud of them!


• This week all students at school are being "Dibbled." That word is a shortened form af a type of test we use to help us learn more about a students reading skills. The actual name of the test is "Dynamic Indicaters of Basic Early Literacy Skills" (D.I.B.E.L.S)," or "Dibels" for short.


• In this test, each child performs quick reading tasks one-on-one with a teacher. This gives teachers a better idea of how to best serve the needs of individual students.


• Most ELL students learned how to find this blog today. I have a magic word. If a student opens this blog and knows the magic word of the day, he or she will get a Hillbill.


• The magic word for today is Read.


• English Language Learners are asked to check in at Ellen's Room (our ELL room) in the morning to get their homework checked by Mrs. Ocana or Mrs. Stebbins. If homework is finished, they earn a star on their homework charts. If they get five stars, they get a treat. If they earn a block full of stars (thirty), they may choose a special prize.


• Even if homework is not completed, students are urged to stop by Ellen's Room. They will at least get a dot on their charts, which counts as part of a star, a warm greeting, a chance to chat with their friends, and a maybe a little pep-talk from the teachers. It's a happy time of day.
• Remember the magic word! Its only good for Wednesday!

• Gaby visited the middle school today!
• Everybody is learning to sing Kumbayah, a traditional song. Students add their own words to the song and act them out if they can. The favorite line so far seems to be "Someone's running, Lord, kumbayah..."
• Each grade level has learned about how to grow a seed this year. Kids should be able to tell their families how to plant and raise a bean, a tree, or a pumpkin.
• Classes are learning about different native Americans. Each tribe has some shared customs and living patterns. However, tribes can be quite different from each other. For example, some live in longhouses, others live in wigwams, tipis or pueblos.
• The kindergarten children had many new things to show off today. We took time to admire everybody's new things. Azul had a new Tinkerbell lunchbox, Lupita showed off her sparkly pink top, both Angels not only have similar names, they have the exact same kind of shoes, too!

In Ellen's Room, May 23, 2010

Last year, Mrs. Stebbins taught reading and second grade. This year she is teaching Reading, and English as a Second language and is am enjoying the change.

I have one big problem, however, and that is the number of students I must keep shooing off my "rollie chair." Only people who have graduated from college may sit in it. It seems like whenever I want to sit down, someone who is still in elementary school is sitting in it. This is annoying. I have promised the ELL students that when I get a personal invitation to each of their college graduations, I will give them a rollie chair as a graduation gift. AND NOT UNTIL THEN! SO STAY OFF OF MY CHAIR! ( I hope I get to spend my retirement traveling to graduations and buying rollie chairs for former ELL students.)

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.

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.

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!

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!!!