Kindergarteners and Eric Carle

The kindergarten classes at Highcroft have been introduced to the world of Eric Carle. Students have enjoyed singing, learning fingerplays, and of course listening to stories written by Eric Carle. So far (depending on the track your child(ren) are on) we have read The very busy spider, The very quiet cricket, and The very lonely firefly. We also learned through reading his books that only boy crickets can make the chirping sounds and fireflies are not flies, but soft bellied beetles! Other skills we are working on include choosing books from the shelving area, proper care for books, turning the pages gently and correctly, and remembering to return books on time. Stay tuned for more information about our kindergarten classes.

Have you filled a bucket today?

Each class in grades 1 - 5 has had the opportunity to enjoy the book titled, "Have you filled a bucket today?" by Carol McCloud. Through simple words and illustrations students learn how to be happy, treat others kindly, and to be a bucket filler. By being a bucket filler (showing kindness to others through our comments and actions) we are actually spreading good cheer. However, we can also be bucket dippers...by saying mean words and through teasing and ignoring others which causes us to feel sad and lonely. We discussed in each class how we can all be bucket fillers and how others have filled our buckets through their kind thoughts and deeds. Why not be a bucket filler today by showing kindess and appreciation toward others! (Check out our bulletin board outside the media center)

Celebration Book Club!

Highcroft has a Celebration Book Program where you can leave your child's legacy by donating money to cover a book to be placed in the media center. This is a great opportunity to commemorate your child's school experience at Highcroft while also sharing the gift of reading with other students. If you are interested in participating, please go to the PTA website, my school website, or by contacting me at school...9194603527 or twetherell@wcpss.net

Thank you for your support and interest in promoting reading!

Kindergartener's First Week in the Media Center!

This week Tracks 1, 2, and 3 kindergarteners visited the school library for the very first time. All were very respectful, listened attentively and had a great time. We enjoyed the book written by Amy Hest titled, Off to School, Baby Duck! We learned about the rules and policies of the library and how to take care of books. We viewed a few select books that were ruined because of specific accidents such as water bottle spills, eating while looking at your book, leaving books out for pets and babies to ruin, turning the pages roughly, as well as writing in books. Each student was allowed to select a book from the tables to check out. This will allow each class to learn our procedures. Each book was placed in a book bag with a bookmark and a letter to parents. (I am hopeful each family read the letter:) Students were asked to bring back their book so they can select another book. I can't wait to see the kinders again!

Volunteer Registration is NOW taking place!

Hey parents! Are you planning on voluteering in your child's classroom(s)? ...going on a field trip?...helping with center time? Then you need to register in the media center and become a registered volunteer for the 2009-10 school year. Many times parents rush in to sign up to go on a field trip only to find it takes about 2 - 3 weeks to be cleared as a green star volunteer. So don't wait....do it now! You can sign up in the media center from 8:45 - 9:05 each morning. Please bring (or know) your driver's license number, social security number, and addresses for the past seven years. Oh yeah...thanks for volunteering and making a difference for all our students at Highcroft:)

Week of May 29, 2009

This will be my last post of the school year 2008-09. We will be conducting a full inventory and completing a state report about media and technology. Students will continue to come to media special where plans will continue and a special day of gaming will be played in the library. Old fashion board games, skipbo, uno, scrabble, boggle, parcheesi, mancala, checkers, chess, sorry, and mouse trap will be available. Students will have to choose their own groups, read for directions, and work out any issues on their own....imagine that...just like a regular workplace.

See you next year! (That would be July 7th)

Week of May 22, 2009

Each grade will begin a video which corresponds to the the Information Skills Standard Course of Study.
The kindergarten will continue to read books about dogs and view episode one of The Ugly Duckling. This is not the fairy tale. It is about bullying and takes place in a farmyard.
Second Grade will begin The Pagemaster, based on the book about a timid boy who is afraid of everything....until he ends up in a library and explores Adventure, Horror and Fantasy. Through experiencing these three genrea, he becomes brave and overcomes many of his fears. His library card allows him to experience and explore life through the pages of a book...hence the term "pagemaster."
Third grade will be shown the movie based on Louis Sachar's Wayside School is Falling Down. This animated film reinforces the chapters the students find so funny through his play on words and wacky school architecture.
Fourth grade will be watching Pippi Longstocking. This is also a musical about an adventurous girl and the antics she encounters as she is orphaned through a shipwreck. However, this movie has a happy ending.
Fifth grade will watch a biography about Sterling North when he was a boy in the early 1900's. It ties in the states, historical fiction, a biography, and life during the "good ole days." The movie is titled, Rascal. After Sterling's last day of school, his father takes him to the countryside where he encounters a racoon who is left behind by it's mother. Sterling adopts the racoon and learns the responsiblity and heartache of owning a wild animal