Literacy Week

We had so much fun celebrating our love of reading this week! Our two favorite activities were our buddy readers and the character parade. The 3rd grade buddy readers came to our class on Wednesday and brought their favorite books to read to us. Then they helped each of my students design some pretty awesome bookmarks showcasing some of their favorite things, like the adventures of Spiderman, beautiful ocean mermaids, colorful rainbows, hundreds of hearts, and imaginary worlds where ice cream truck-boats float around the ocean and give sweet treats to all the colorful fish! What imaginations we have in room 123 :-)
Today was the school wide character parade. Hundreds of students dressed up as their favorite book characters and showcased their outfits by marching around the bus loop while the rest of the students and staff cheered them on. We saw characters like the Cat in the Hat, Harry Potter, Elsa, Snow White, Batman, Farmer Brown, and many, many more! My little band of princesses and mermaids joined the procession and happily waved to all their friends as we marched around the loop. Reading is just so magical!

Feelin' the Love!

To each of my wonderful students, parents, and families,

Thank you SO much for all the things you have done over this past week for Teacher Appreciation. I have been bombarded with love and I feel so blessed to have had the privilege of teaching these students during kindergarten! The flowers, balloons, chocolates, Starbucks gift cards, candles, popcorn, Bundt cakes, pictures, bath goodies, thank you cards, and hand-written letters, have overflowed on my desk and I am so, very grateful for the many ways in which I have been remembered and appreciated.

It will be a bittersweet moment to watch these lovely students as they finish up their kindergarten year in just a few weeks. I am so proud of the gains that each of them has made and I look forward to seeing them flourish and continue to grow as they move onto the next chapter of their schooling.

Your support at home has been vital to their education and I thank you for all you have done and all you continue to do to support your child’s learning, both in the classroom and at home. You guys rock!

~Ms. Callejas~

SPLAT!

We are always learning in room 123 and these past few weeks were extra fun! We have been learning about onomatopoeia (sound words) and found a great source of supporting literature in the Splat the Cat series by Rob Scotton. During our author study, we not only learned interesting facts about Mr. Scotton, but also had the chance to read many of his stories in class. We discovered a fun website where we could learn more about him and the books he writes (www.robscotton.com) and stumbled upon his email address. The students were excited to write a class email to Mr. Scotton and even more excited when he wrote us back (you can read the full email at the bottom of this post). One of his responses prompted us to come up with our own ideas for new Splat books and the students drew cover pages for our imaginary books. Titles like "Splat and the Bad Hair Day", "Splat Meets Batman", "Splat the Ballerina", and "Splat Stays Home" were just a few of their brilliant story ideas.

We also celebrated Earth Day all week by learning about ways we can help protect the earth and participating in fun art projects to show our love for our planet. We wrapped things up on Friday by making an edible earth activity complete with 'dirt' and 'worms'. Sometimes learning can be so tasty!

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to our UNF intern, Ms. Fridkis, on Friday. She did a great job learning how to balance the many roles of the teacher and the students and I were sad to see her go. Thank you to all the parents who sent in items for her first year survival kit. She was very surprised and grateful. Ms. Fridkis won't be far as she will be taking on a long term substitute position in 3rd grade for the remainder of the year. So our goodbye was more like a see-ya-later! :-)

Click here to see more pictures of our adventures last week.

As we countdown the last 29 days of school, please continue to practice with your child daily. There will be quite a few assessments that test their knowledge of sight words, math facts, reading, writing, etc... for information they've learned throughout the year. Your support is so important and greatly appreciated.

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Dear Heather and the wonderfully curious students at New Berlin Elementary, it's very good of you to write to me and thank you for all your clever and  thoughtful questions and comments. I've replied below in CAPITAL LETTERS. 

Ps, this doesn't mean I'm shouting :)

PPS. Don't ever stop being curious. 

Ok everyone. shout out after three; 1...2...3...reading rocks! Yay!

Rob Scotton

 

On 21 Apr 2015, at 15:33, Callejas, Heather A. <callejash@duvalschools.org> wrote:

Dear Rob Scotton,

Our kindergarten class is doing an author study on YOU!! :-)

THAT IS SO COOL!

My students have some things they want to ask you and tell you. If you have time to write us back, we would really, really appreciate it. 

I'LL DO MY BEST...

 

Jayden says she likes that you write funny stories.

THANKS JAYDEN, I'M GLAD YOU THINK THE STORIES ARE FUNNY.

ITS ALWAYS GOOD TO LAUGH...DO YOU HAVE A JOKE YOU CAN SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS?

Corbyn likes that you write fiction stories that are not real.

THANKS CORBYN, WRITING STORIES ABOUT TALKING ANIMALS AND IMAGINED WORLDS IS THE BEST. WHAT STORIES DO YOU LIKE TO WRITE?

Keith woud like to know, "How do you make Splat the Cat books?"

HI KEITH, I WRITE A STORY ABOUT SPLAT AND THEN PAINT MANY PICTURES OF SPLAT AND THEN ASK MY WONDERFUL PUBLISHER TO DO THE HARD PART AND MAKE THE BOOK. AND THEY DO! BRILLIANT! DO YOU HAVE MANY BOOKS AT HOME?

Samantha says that she really likes your pictures.

THANKS SAMANTHA. I ENJOY PAINTING THEM. HAVE YOU PAINTED ANY PICTURES OF SPLAT?

Lea would like to know, "How old are you?"

UH-HO...OVER 21...I HAD A PET DINOSAUR WHEN I WAS GROWING UP. 

William would like to know, "Why do you write all your books silly and stuff?"

Hmm, WILLIAM...BECAUSE SILLY AND STUFF MAKES ME SMILE. DOES SILLY AND STUFF MAKE YOU SMILE ALSO? 😃

Ian says that he likes to read your books.

THANKS IAN, BE SURE TO TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS! OH, AND DO YOU HAVE AN IDEA FOR A NEW CLASSMATE FOR SPLAT? 

Zayne would like to know, "How do you write your name?"

THATS A TOUGH QUESTION. AND I USUALLY GET IT WRONG. BUT LETS SEE...WITH AN 'R' AND AN 'O' AND A 'B' AND A S-C-O-T-T-O-N. MY SPELLING'S GETTING BETTER, BUT IT TAKES LOTS OF PRACTICE.   CAN YOU SPELL YOUR NAME BACKWARDS?

Sadie would like to know, "How do you write your stuff so neatly?"

HI SADIE, I'M AFRAID I DON'T WRITE NEATLY. I BET YOUR HANDWRITING IS REALLY NEAT THOUGH...IS IT?

Zariah likes how you do your funny pictures.

THANKS ZARIAH, DRAWING AND PAINTING FUNNY THINGS IS HUGE FUN...WHATS THE FUNNIEST THING YOUVE EVER PAINTED...OR WRITTEN ABOUT?

Mason likes your books.

THANKS MASON. WHICH BOOK IS YOUR FAVORITE? AND WHICH OF SPLATS FRIEND'S ARE YOU MOST LIKE?

Eva would like to know, "How do you make your books?"

HELLO EVA. I WRITE THE STORIES AND PAINT THE PICTURES AND THEN HARPER COLLINS, MY PUBLISHER, MAKES THE BOOK. I THINK ITS MAGIC!

Josiah would like to know, "Why do you make so many crazy books?"

HI JOSIAH. BECAUSE CRAZY BOOKS ARE GOOD FUN AND THEY MAKE ME LAUGH. AND I DONT THINK I'D ENJOY WRITING ABOUT SPLAT IF THE STORIES DIDNT MAKE ME LAUGH. HAVE YOU GOT A GOOD IDEA FOR A STORY?

 Brooks says that his favorite book you wrote is "Fishy Tales". 

I LOVE THAT STORY TOO, BROOKE...AND AQUARIUMS! HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO AN AQUARIUM AND SEEN A SEA HORSE? A SHARK? AN OCTOPUS? A CLOWN FISH?

Hollie says that she loves your funny books.

THANKS HOLLY...I'M HAPPY THAT YOU ENJOY MY BOOKS. DO YOU THINK YOU COULD DRAW A REALLY PRETTY DRESS FOR KITTEN?

We have more students in our classroom but we are running out of time. 

TO ALL MY FRIENDS AT NEW BERLIN ELEMENTARY...

A BIG HI FROM SPLAT AND SEYMOUR AND OF COURSE ME, ROB. 

HAPPY READING EVERYONE!

Thank you for reading our email. Thank you for writing such wonderful books.

A PLEASURE TALKING WITH YOU ALL AND SHARING SOME SPLAT CHIT CHAT. 

Have a great day!

 

HAVE A GREAT DAY ALSO! ;-)

Rob

 

 

Heather Callejas

Kindergarten Teacher

New Berlin Elementary

http://callejas123.blogspot.com

      

 

 

Egg-cellent!

Yesterday the students found themselves immersed in the wonderful world of Dr. Seuss as we watched his stories come to life during our field trip to JCA. From pants with no one inside them to a speck of dust on a clover that contained a world that only Horton the elephant could hear, the students experienced a taste of some of Dr. Suess' most wonderful tales!
As if that wasn't already enough fun, we then headed over to Sheffield Park for an egg-cellent time hunting eggs with our friends and playing on the elaborate playground. It was a beautiful, sunny day but quite hot and we arrived back in the classroom exhausted and ready for some down time.
"Horton Hears a Who" was the perfect remedy and we finished our day with snacks and a wonderful retelling of the classic Dr. Seuss tale.
Click here to take a look at some of the fun we had!

I DO Like Green Eggs and Ham!

"I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them Sam-I-Am!"

In memory of a fabulous author, we celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday with an unforgettable experience of Green Eggs and Ham.
After we read the story, the students talked with each other about whether or not they thought green eggs and ham would be something they would like to eat. Most of the students thought that they would end up liking it, since the characters in the book liked it so much. They were surprised to find out they would get the chance to see if their predictions about eating green eggs and ham were true!
Check out these pictures, I think you will see that this class can say, "I DO like green eggs and ham! I do like them Sam-I-Am!".

Dr. Seuss 14-15

**The 'ham' used in our eggs was a vegetarian product and contained no actual meat.

MOSH

Last week the students enjoyed a new field trip to MOSH, the Museum of Science and History in downtown Jacksonville. Though our trip started off with some complications with the buses and lunch, we were able to get things back in order and enjoy the new things at the museum. The students learned how their bodies work, explored treasures from sunken ships, experienced hurricane wind forces, traveled through time to see how Jacksonville has changed over the years, participated in an exhibit about the five senses, and more!
One of their favorite parts of the trip was the scientist who showed us a homemade rocket and made jet like sounds in a bottle. Check it out!

Click here to see some pictures from our fun trip!

100th Day & Math Facts

Our class has been very busy these past few weeks as we finished up the 2nd quarter and made our way into the 3rd quarter and the second half of the school year.

We celebrated our 100th day of school this past Monday, the highlight of which was making our snack bags of 100 treats. The students used their math skills to practice counting by 10's as they filled their bags up with 10 different treats. Of course the day wouldn't have been complete if we didn't get to eat some of our snack when we were done!

The students have also been getting to know our newest classroom addition, Ms. Fridkis, an intern from the University of North Florida. She will be with us for the next few months as she completes her last step before graduation and a move into a classroom of her own.

The next few weeks will be just as busy as the last few. So be sure to keep up to date with our classroom events and practice, practice, practice at home with your child! Don't forget to click on the kindergarten website link at the top of the page to access weekly homework, monthly newsletters, math facts flash cards, sight word lists, and more!

Click here to see what we've been up to in room 123!