Saturday, May 24, 2014

Celebrating Reading



It is amazing to me to look back to August and remember the readers that entered our classroom.  We have come so far!  But did you know that when kids don't read over the summer, they are likely to fall behind when they head back to school?  These learning losses are often called the "Summer Slide", and our school has made it a priority to keep our students' skills sharp by encouraging them to read all summer long.

Chets Creek has signed up to participate in the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge, a free online reading program that invites children to log their reading minutes to help set a new world record for summer reading.  the goal this year for schools around the world is to break last year's reading world record of 176,438,473 minutes!

I'm SO excited to share that the theme of this year's program is Reading Under the Stars.  As kids log their reading minutes, they will unlock star constellations and learn interesting facts about them.  Plus, throughout the summer, kids will earn digital rewards and learn about great new books to read.  You'll also find free articles, activity sheets, and book lists for parents on the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge website.  Look for your child's username and password in their planner Tuesday evening.

But that's not all!  In order to celebrate our reading successes this year, I'd like to invite you all to join me at the P.E.P. Rally next weekend, Saturday, May 31st, at the Jaguars' Cabanas/Fan Entertainment Zone at Everbank Field.  Not only will I be there, proudly wearing my purple shirt to support Chets Creek, for the 8 AM "Spirit 5K", but I plan to stay and enjoy the food and fun afterwards.  Please join me for the party and celebrate our amazing year!  If you're not up for running a 5K, consider participating in the free one mile "Reading Is Fun Run" at 9 AM, or just come for the Reading Celebration from 10 AM-2 PM!  Remember to wear your purple! 

I hope to see you all there!


Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Garden Adventures

Wow! What a beautifully sunny and breezy day as we spent time working in our amazing Chets Creek garden. One of our very own incredible parents, Dr. Brenda Zenk (Nicole's mom), led us on a very special adventure which helped us to make many connections about how plants and animals interact in their environment (something we are currently studying in Science). We also made many important connections about how various plants reproduce. We got our thumbs greener by observing a wide variety of flowers blooming in our garden, finding many pollinators at work (bees, butterflies, and ants), collecting seeds (lettuce, arugula, mustard, radish, and bok choi), cross-pollinating lettuces, digging for potatoes and beans, smoothing soil, pulling weeds/nutgrass, trellising tomatoes, and planting new watermelon seeds! Enjoy our slideshow to highlight this incredible experience. Thank you, Dr. Zenk, for helping us to make some special Chets Creek memories and for helping to make our science studies really come to LIFE!!! Your plethora of knowledge is truly inspiring to ALL of us!! Garden Experience on PhotoPeach Students, what was your favorite part of your garden visit? Leave a comment and earn Behavior Bucks!