Crocodile Research

One of the Golden Sower books this year is "My Crocodile Does Not Bite" by Joe Kulka.  After reading this clever book, our first graders read some non-fiction (both books and online) about crocodiles. We then wrote a crocodile fact on a small square and then put all the facts together to form a factual reptile.  Both 2nd and 3rd graders enjoyed reading the various facts about crocodiles that 1st graders had written.  Some facts that I found interesting were: 

• They drag their food to the bottom of the river to eat it.  
• Crocodiles teeth are the same shape and they swallow their food whole.  
• Crocodiles can hear their babies inside their eggs.

Peace, Love, Books

Every February the Scholastic book fair comes to Crete Elementary.  This year the theme of the book fair was Peace, Love, Books. 

We started to advertise out in the front case with some tie dye background.  All students were given the Scholastic book fair flyer to share with their family and we all watched the book fair commercials the week before the fair.  As always the book fair raises lots of excitement here at the Elementary.

I have to thank Michelle and Gloria for all their help in making the book fair a success. They really got into it with their costumes.  In getting in the mood, we wore tie dye shirts 2 days, watched the lava lamp and listened to 60's music.  Get your groove on and keep reading!

MLK Day of Service

For the past few years our school has participated in Martin Luther King's Day of Service.  In January we spend an afternoon tying blankets (with the help of the Doane Track and Field Team) and then donate the blankets.  This year the People's City Mission of Lincoln, Blue River Family Center, Saline County Sheriff's Dept. and many other groups were the recipients of the blankets.  The blankets will be given to needy families in our community.  CCLC was intrigual in organizing this event, as well as the canned food drive that was happening this same week.  Around 2000 food items were donated along with 250 blankets.  My favorite part of the assembly was seeing all 650 students sitting together in the gym in their MLK t-shirts and singing our school song "Proud".  This makes me proud to be part of such a giving school.

Finding Winnie

I think I may have found my new favorite book.  In December I bought the book "Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear" written by Lindsay Mattick.  I was so intrigued by the factual information in the book, I went online to find more information on the real Winnie.  There were many websites that shared facts from Winnie's life at the White River Train station, to Canada, to overseas and finally the London zoo.
Our fourth grade students need to practice their typing skills, so I thought this was a perfect chance for them to type up a paragraph sharing what they learned about Winnie.  The first day we read the book then wrote out facts that we wanted to include in our paper, the second day we spent the whole classtime typing.  Then the fourth graders found a picture to go with their paper, and on the final day they created a yellow portfolio with their work inside.  I was proud of what they were able to share, yet I wish we would have spent more time editing to make it more reader friendly.

Polka Dot Pants Dance Contest

All students at our school enjoy reading the "Pete the Cat" books, he is one of our favorite characters.  A fellow teacher Linsay Wach met Eric Litwin, the author of "Pete the Cat" just a few weeks ago and she shared with me one of his new books "Sing and Dance in your Polka-Dot Pants." Eric is hosting a contest, if you upload a video of your students dancing, you might win a author visit at your school.  So of course our school had to enter the contest, even if we don't win, we sure had a wonderful time reading, singing and of course dancing!

Here is the link to the website with all the information on it:The Nut Family

So this week Mrs. Lenertz (the music teacher) and I had a blast dancing with our students by doing the Polka-Dot Pants Dance.  Funny thing is that Mrs. Lenertz actually had polka-dot pants.  Here is the video of our students doing the dance

Get your game on @ the library

National Puzzle and Game week is coming up in November.  I am actually ahead of the game and decorating the library with games.  I have quite a collection going on the library shelf and the case.  My goal is to work with our students on turn taking and having patience.  Next week I am going to attempt to teach the 4th graders the correct way to play checkers.  I am planning on using the smartboard to introduce the game, then split students into small groups to let them play.  As the month goes on we will have a chance to work on others games such as mancala, connect four, memory and maybe even chess.

First Grade Reads the Classics

In November, the Crete Elementary First Graders read many classics in the library.  We read "Goldilocks and the Three Bears", "The Three Billy Goats Gruff",  "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Hansel and Gretel", and many more.  Every spring the 7th graders at Crete Middle School come down to the Elementary and perform these classics with a little twist. So we always try to make sure the students are aware of the original story.  This year our students made finger puppets to go along with "The Three Little Pigs" and joined up in small groups to act out the story.  There was lots of huffing and puffing going on.