Earth Day Everyday!

Our class is playing host to some beautiful and unique guests. Our fluttering friends are painted lady butterflies and they are living in a butterfly house on the back counter right now. One made a fast get-a-way today when Olivia opened up the home to put in some fresh cut strawberries. He didn't know how good he had it in room 16! We will be releasing them in the next couple of days.




Also, if you haven't seen the new Sun Chips bag look for the next time you are at the store. It is the first 100% compostable chip bag. What a great advancement in packaging. With each American throwing away an average of 1,200 pounds of waste and year, I say Kudos to Sun Chips for helping reduce this staggering number. I feel a little less guilty when I eat chips now!

America's Best Inventions

Here is a glimpse of some of the innovative inventions that our class came up with in this year's Invention Convention!

Let the Games Begin!

Make your own free photobook design

Mining for Chocolate???

In recent weeks we have been reminded of how dangerous the profession of mining can be. This week in language arts we are reading about the gold rush of the mid 1800s. Today, we did a little mining ourselves. Safer and definitely tastier! Students had the task of mining for chocolate chips from a cookie. They were challenged to extract the "gold" without causing major disruption to the earth around the mineral. Some succeeded! We extended the lesson to discuss the reclamation of land, an important subject especially with Earth Day right around the corner! To learn more about land reclamation after mining, click here.

Go Bermuda!

We represented Bermuda today in my students' final Gilchrist Olympics. The opening ceremonies went off without a hitch, but not without a rain drop or two. We didn't melt, and even got to watch all the children dance to some great music! Tomorrow we will head to the fields to compete!

Our Field Trip to the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory

Customize your own picture collage

Oh the weather outside is DELIGHTFUL!

We've suffered through a long and drawn out winter (I realize this is no comparison to what most of the country has endured), but for Floridians we barely survived. I sometimes wish I could knock down the wall between my classroom and the outside.

***Disclaimer: I want it to stay between 72 and 84 degrees, sunny, and preferably low humidity (my father is laughing right now because I gave up on any hopes of playing golf past high school because of being too hot!).

See pictures below of us basking (Christian's favorite vocab word) in the sunshine...




We also just added a greenhouse to our science spot. Currently our class and our science buddies from Ms. McKnight's class are growing veggies!




But good things happen in our classroom too! Today we made Earth friendly spring baskets. Students stuffed their recycled Easter baskets with shredded paper from the office, and then started packing in all the energy saving treats! Thank you again to Mr. Byrne (Henry's Dad) and the City of Tallahassee for their donations!





What a great day it was! Our morning science discussion has us pondering if the Internet is the best thing to happen to society or the worst. What do you think? Let us warn you...there are A LOT of pros and cons. To cap off this wonderful Wednesday, I was the guest of Emilee at her church tonight for a Teacher Appreciation dinner. The food was delicious, but her manners were even more delightful!

Sleep tight and see you in the morning!

Hope you had a great spring break

We are finishing up our spring break, and what a much needed break it was! I hope that my students and their families enjoyed the time off and are ready to head back in the morning. My family had a great week and capped off with a joyous Easter. I am looking forward to the month ahead, because we have A LOT going on! Make sure to check back with us soon!

Here are some of the little rug rats that I got to play with over the break...

My nephews Kaden and Kole (one is dressed as a pirate and the other has been munching on strawberries!)



Miss Pearce at the Tallahassee Museum



And our newest niece addition Ellison "Ellie" Anne