Last of the year!

We're almost there! Not much to report this week. I feel like I've spent a lot of time with your students this week doing all kind of activities: breakouts with kindergarten and buttons, hot chocolate, and circuit cards with all. 

The hammock forest was popular the first part of the week. If you'd like to utilize the forest (and I'm sure we'll have many unseasonable days this winter), review the schedule to see if it's available: Hammock Forest Master Schedule. Then email me with the time you'd like. If you are scheduling in advance, Ms. Hickcox's class will be happy to set the hammocks up in the morning for you. If it's an impulse event, the hammocks are housed in room 322. You can grab them on the way down and put them back when you're done. 

Kindergarten completed a gingerbread man breakout activity. Unfortunately, they all broke out and I wasn't able to eat their cookies. And apparently I offended at least one student to the point where she didn't deliver a cookie to me like her teacher told her too. She's definitely been added to my naughty list. Let me know if you're interested in trying out a breakout when we return. I tailor them to your students' needs. 

Festivus is near!
Don't pack a lunch on Tuesday! We'll have an array of delicious soups, salads, breadsticks, desserts, and school appropriate drinks in the media center for your enjoyment. There will be prize drawings for gift cards and merch. There might also be a selection of Villasana Designs woodcraft in case you're looking for some classy gifts (cash, check, Venmo). Be sure to fill out your Airing of the Grievances form by Monday. Those will be on display for almost everyone to enjoy. And for the record, the grievances can be about staff other than me. 

Have a great weekend!

Darren is awesome!

First off, congratulations to Darren for an amazing performance last night. Your passion for music is definitely rubbing off on the students. You surely deserved a day off today!!

It's been a huge week. The Fishbowl was buzzing with circuits, buttons were created, and hot chocolate was poured. And there was a bit of construction happening on the grounds. Shoutout to Kara and her wonderful selection of lotions that are keeping my hands supple! 

Hammock Forest
The hammock forest is scheduled to be open on Monday. The weather is looking pretty great the first part of next week. Email me if you'd like to take your kids out there. I'm still thinking through logistics but the idea is that student helpers will set up the hammocks in the morning and take down in the afternoon on days where it's scheduled to be used. Our families have dumped a good amount of money into this project, so we need to teach students how to use it. When you are using the area, please review the expectations with students:

• The forest is a relaxation area
• The hammocks are for sitting and laying in only
• Gentle swaying is encouraged; they are not swings
• You should only be touching your hammock; if you need to move, duck under your neighbor alongside the post

Document Cameras

I was ambushed by third grade today over document cameras. If you currently have a document camera and find you aren't using it much, or for only a part of the day, please let me know. It would be great to share the love and then perhaps Taryn will buy more for all to use. 

Festivus
Our celebration of Festivus will be on December 21 during your lunch time. We have parents signed up to bring in delicious soups and cold school appropriate beverages. FTO is giving desserts and Taryn is supplying OG (apparently that's the abbreviation for Olive Garden) salads and breadsticks. To prepare for the Festivus "Airing of the Grievances", start thinking about all the ways your coworkers have disappointed you this past year. I'm using a spreadsheet because I realized I needed more space for Jen and Lori. 

Have a great weekend!

Happy Festivus!

I hope you are enjoying the treats in the fridge. We'll try to keep it stocked as much as
possible to keep you energized for this holiday season! To clear any confusion, the spreadsheet and Christmas Movie Bingo cards were intended for your personal use, not with students. 

December Activities
Thanks for the interest in the three December activities! I'm now fully booked for the rest of the month. I have 63 events scheduled the next 12 days. Should be fun!

Hammock Forest Update
The hammock forest project is heating up. We have raised the necessary funds to purchase all the building materials and we nearly have all 30 hammocks donated as well. Tomorrow, a parent will digging our post holes. Installing the posts will take some time and will be weather dependent. I will likely reach out to 4th and 5th grade teachers to coordinate student groups to install posts. With any luck we'll have it ready to go just in time for winter. 

Festivus is back!
Mark your calendars for December 21 at lunch time. Come to the media center to enjoy a meal, watch a traditional Festivus show, air your grievances, and participate in feats of strength. Families will be providing soups or chili, Taryn will be providing Olive Garden salad and breadsticks, and FTO is giving dessert. There might even be attendance prizes...

Library Checkout Request
Please have students leave water bottles, toys, or other distractions in the classroom.

Have a great weekend!

It's that time of year again!

It's Christmas movie season again! This week's post contains my most famous contribution to society: the definitive list and ratings of Christmas movies and "Christmas Movie Bingo" (trademark pending). Scroll down to access these treasures.

Updates
I know it's been super busy, but here are a couple of things we've done through the media center:

• 
  More Mystery Zooms are taking place. I met with Ms. Ziegler and Ms. Long's class to get started on the process. Ms. Kunkel met with classes in Massachusetts and California this week. Ms. Hickcox also connected with a class in Massachusetts. Next week, Ms. Tierney and Ms. Hickcox have sessions scheduled. 
• Balloons were floating through the Fishbowl this week. Ms. Tierney and Ms. Maude visited to hear "Balloons Over Broadway" and then created their own balloons to showcase on our very own street with stores named after our very own staff. Really fun!

Sora Updates
Our circulation numbers are climbing quickly. We now have over 230 checkouts which is double the number we had just two weeks ago! Thank you for promoting this resource in your class. And extra great news: my grant money has arrived! So when students return from break, there will be another $2000 worth of eBooks and audiobooks waiting for them. Sweet!

Teacher Appreciation Committee
We have new FTO committee focused on Teacher Appreciation. Joining me on the committee is Abbey Upton, Nikki Kunkel, and Rachel Burlison (she doesn't know yet. I love surprises!). If you have suggestions for activities, please let one of us know. Our first order of business is to plan and implement an ongoing beverage and snack station in the lounge. Please fill out this Teacher Appreciation Lounge Survey to let us know what you like! I'm also planning a return of the Festivus luncheon this year on December 21. Stay tuned for details!

Kiss the Pig Link
Monday will be the Kiss the Pig event. Students will be able to watch the event through Zoom in your classrooms. FTO has arranged for some snacks and drinks to be delivered for the viewing. Here is the link we'll use on Monday: Kiss the Pig Zoom Link

Alright, here's the content you're really here for. I hope you enjoy!

Christmas Movie List
-2021 movies are highlighted in green
-Netflix movies are highlighted in red
-if you have issues with the ratings, make your own list!

Christmas Movie Bingo

Have a great weekend!

You did it!

It's been a long week! Congratulations on making through the first trimester of another
crazy year. I only have one thing for you in this edition. 

"Matt Grants" are back!
Are you wanting something for your classroom that will enrich the education of young minds? Books, technology, seating, etc? Look no farther because "Matt Grants" are back. Running a book fair again has added a significant number of Benjamins to my Scholastic Dollar account. There's no real criteria or limit to what you can ask for. There's really no submission form either. Just tell me what you want (Scholastic Catalog). Enter 68863 as our account number and then your info. Sounds like you can make wishlists too. So look around and tell me what you want. The worst I can say is "no"! 

Ok, one more thing. We've had half as many Sora checkouts in the last two weeks as we did from August through the end of October! That's good. Please, please, please give your kids time to view the Sora app. It would also be great to include it as an activity to do when students finish their work. I have titles that suit grades 2-5 with more coming once my Links to Learning grant money arrives. 

Have a great weekend!

Your Definitive Book Fair Guide

What a great week! I'm sure you noticed that my usually cheery personality has

been in overdrive this week. In case you didn't know, the Braves are World Series Champions! 

Book Fair Information
All the info for next week's book fair:

• Your class will be completing digital wishlists during library time next week. Have them bring their iPads. They will be taking pictures of desired books and can post them to Seesaw.
• Sales will take place after school each day from 3:45 to 7:00.
• There will be no sales during the day. However, if you have a student who brings in money and you know their parents won't show up for conferences, let me know and we'll make it work.
• Come in after school today to pick out your classroom wish list books. Please don't clean us out. And don't take the last copy. If you'd like the a title that only has one copy left, let me know so I can order more first. You are welcome to come in during next week and add books to your stack. Or you can be like Jen and disregard all my directions and pick out 47 books. 

What's been happening...
It's been a busy week. Here are some of the highlights...

• 
  All of second grade visited the Fishbowl to create seed dispersal machines. We
  loved seeing so many unique designs to evenly spread seeds over our test area. Some worked well, and some failed miserably. But that's how it goes!
  
  
• Several kindergarten students visited my secret workshop to paint their new picnic tables. We'll have those out on their playground next week.
  
  
• 
  Ms. McIntyre and Ms. Wilson's classes came to the Fishbowl to take on the fall STEM challenge. They used apple chunks and toothpicks to build their names.
  
  
• Ms. Hickcox's class started working on Mystery Zooms. We introduced how it works and ran through a practice session with me. Their first real Mystery Zoom is scheduled for November 22 with a class somewhere in the world.
  
  
• Kindergarten had a special visitor this morning. Daisy, a therapy dog, had lots of books read to her this morning. 

Get all the rest this weekend! Thanks to YouTube TV, I'll be watching replays of World Series except during the three hours when Georgia is slaughtering the Tigers. 

Midweek edition

I wanted to send a midweek update to cover the rest of the time before Halloween Break. 

What's been happening?

• 
  Fourth grade is continuing their Mystery Zooms. Maybe you've seen our progress on the board outside the library. This week, Mr. Akkerman's class connected with a class in Ottawa, Ms. Kunkel's class connected with a class in Minnesota, and Ms. Tierney has one scheduled for Friday.
• Ms. McIntyre continued her work with Mystery Words. This afternoon, her class connected with a Locust kindergarten class to share and guess mystery words. She saw what fourth grade was doing and we put together this cool activity!
• I worked with Ms. Tierney's and Ms. Kunkel's classes on using the Clips app. Students are using Clips to share the information they've gathered about Native Americans. After a quick tutorial and about 30 minutes work time, the students had some pretty cool videos made.
• 
  Ms. Hickcox's class is working on book recommendations. I visited for a quick minilesson about recommendations and the Clips app. Now her students are creating recommendations using Clips and they will be posted to a Flipgrid to share via QR codes with other students. Look for their display to continue "growing" in the hallway.
• Ms. Kunkel's class used the Fishbowl for an egg drop activity. They have been studying how to keep their brains safe. We set out materials for student groups to build a protective vessel for an egg from the Cardinal flock. After getting rained out on Friday, I ventured to the roof on Monday (nah, that probably wouldn't be allowed) and dropped the contraptions. The results were fun to discuss!
• I've continued with my five Mark Twain nominee groups. It's been fun discussing the stories with the kids. Today, one group was served tea to go along with the book and you might see us learning how to play cricket outside very soon...

Fall STEM activities
Being gone the first week of October really through things off for me. So my October STEM challenge will become the Fall challenge. This time I'm giving you a choice of activities centered around apples:

1. Apple Letters/Names - students will create letters/words/their name using apple chunks and toothpicks. Creations will be shared via Seesaw
2. Apple Shapes - we'll use apple cubes and toothpicks to create 3D shapes such as cubes, cylinders, or spheres. Creations will be shared via Seesaw
3. Apple Boats - students will create apple boats using apple chunks and other materials available to them. We will test the boats' strength by adding coins until they sink. Creations will be shared via Seesaw

When you decide what you'd like to do, email me in the form of a fast food order. I can start taking orders for days in November.

Bookroom Accommodation
Thanks to a recommendation from Ms. Jeffries, I have added a couple of desks to the center of the book. If you are lacking the height to see the bins on the top shelf, you can now bring the tub to the desk to sort through.

Halloween/Thanksgiving Buttons
If you'd like to schedule a time for students to make buttons for Halloween or Thanksgiving, contact me. My schedule is pretty stacked up before Halloween, so that might be tricky at this point. 

Email on iPads
Students in grades 3-5 have access to email. Mandy can teach them how to set up their email, create a signature, and discuss digital citizenship guidelines for usage. In the past, we have left it up to teachers to make the call about whether or not they learn how to set it up. Let me know if you are interested.

Book Fair
There will be an in person book fair this November. It should arrive on November 5th and be set up for conferences the week after. We will have students preview the fair and create wishlists during their library time that week. Sales for the fair will only take place after school. I'll send out the times to you and families when I get it figured out. 

That's it.