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!