School is Almost Here!!

Well, tomorrow is the first day of school for teachers. We will be working hard to get ready for the upcoming school year. I received my class list today. I am very excited to meet all of my new students and put faces with the names. I am definitely excited about all the kids I already know. Many of you are siblings of past students. It is always fun to work with families that I know and like so much!! Parents, I will see you soon at open house on August 31st. I look forward to talking to you and answering any questions you may have!!

My Classroom Website

Here is a link to our classroom website! I will be updating it as the school year begins!!!

http://www.wasd.org/511870105215629/site/default.asp

A New School Year

Hello Everyone!! I just got back from a wonderful weekend in NYC and am now in total back to school mode!! I have made it a goal of mine to post updates of my classroom at least every other day to our blog! I am going to post the updates with my students so that they are a part of this too. Stay tuned for a fun-filled school year!!

Back from Spring Break

We are back from Spring Break! I need to catch everyone up on what we have been doing! We spent a lot of time before break talking about community helpers. In fact, we visited the James V. Brown Library. I will need to post some pictures of that trip later. We also wrapped up our unit on Eric Carle. The kids loved his books! This week we are beginning our unit on plants and animals. We will focus mainly on plants/ponds/meadows this week! Happy Spring!

Our Book Came!!!

The book we published finally came today! It is called "The ABC's of Cochran Elementary School!" We were the authors AND the illustrators! It was hard work. Here is a picture of our cover....

3-D Shapes

We made 3-D shapes with toothpicks and marshmallows! It was so fun! We especially LOVED eating the extra marshmallows when we were done!

Community Helper Wikispace

Check out my wikispace on community helpers! It is a work in progress, but will show you some of the topics we have been working on!

Community of Helpers

Eric Carle

Our class has pretty much wrapped up our community helper unit! Tomorrow we will begin a week long author study. We will dive into the books of Eric Carle. This author study will help introduce some new themes:

Time: The Grouchy Ladybug
Spring: The Tiny Seed
Insects: The Very Quiet Cricket, The Lonely Firely, The Very Busy Spider, and The Very Clumsy Click Beetle

We will also read many other popular titles such as:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do you See?
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?
Rooster's Off to See the World
The Mixed-Up Chameleon
...and many more!

You can get on Eric Carle's website at home. We will do the same during computer lab! There are some very great videos for you to watch!

Eric Carle's Website

Scrubby Bear

Scrubby Bear from the American Red Cross came to our classroom yesterday. We learned about healthy habits. Maggie said, "Scrubby Bear taught me to cover my mouth when I sneeze with a tissue or my elbow." Tasha learned that you should always wash your hands before you eat. Ethan said, "Wash your hands all the time." Selena and Tony said, "Don't forget to brush your teeth." Cate said, "Wash your hands at certain times."

It sounds like we will be the healthiest kindergarten class at Cochran now that we know these healthy tips.


Happy Birthday to Tyler!!! He is 6 years old today!! He has a twin brother Gavin! His birthday is today too! We can't wait to eat his birthday treat!

Community Helpers

We are learning about community helpers this week and next week. We had a visit today from Firefighter Charlie from Station 18. He told us all about fire safety and his job. The children loved it! They learned a lot! They especially LOVED the goodie bag he gave each of them! Thank you Firefighter Charlie! Come back any time!

Our Pen Pals

We have friends in Mrs. McChesney's kindergarten class at Round Hills Elementary. We are sending them a note today. It tells them all about our book celebration. We hope we get some mail back from them. We told them to look at our pictures on this blog. We hope they do! We are learning about community helpers now. So far we have learned about the dentist, a firefighter, a police officer, a baker and a teacher!

Click below to link to our debut in the Sun-Gazette!

Book Celebration

ABCs of Cochran Book

We did it!! The ABCs of Cochran book that we wrote and illustrated is complete! It is in the mail and on its way to be published! I can't wait until the books arrive and we all get one of our very own to take home! You worked very hard on it! You are now officially authors and illustrators! Congratulations! I guess I will need all of your autographs on my copy!

Pictures at Book Celebration!

Here are pictures of us at the book celebration! We loved giving away books....and we loved the ice cream too!! A special thanks to all of our guests! We are so happy that you came!

Pictures Before Book Celebration!

Here are pictures of us sorting the books for the book celebration! That was hard work...sorting 500 books!

Sun-Gazette

We were in the Sun-Gazette today! There was a wonderful article about our book donation! Make sure you check it out!

Book Celebration!

Yesterday was our book celebration! The students and I spent the morning sorting the books into seven bins and making signs to decorate the cafeteria. At 2pm, we met our guests in the cafeteria and began the celebration. We donated our 500 books between 7 places: The American Red Cross, The American Rescue Workers, The Center, The Salvation Army, The YMCA, The YWCA Liberty House, and Child Guidance. In addition, we donated 5 books to our school library in memory of Mr. David Saar! The kids enjoyed visiting with the ladies from each organization. They also enjoyed the ice cream we served! I am very proud of them. They worked so hard on this project!

Next up: we are working on the book we will be publishing through Student Treasures!

Scholastic's Classroom Cares

We won 500 books through Scholastic's Classroom Cares Program. The students and I are planning our book distribution for March 4th! Stay tuned for an update after the event!