Mr. Bob's Physics of Flight Show

Each year we LOVE Mr. Bob coming to our school.

He has the BEST animals to show us - even if there is a snake at times!

This year was NO exception (and it was even better because there was no snake!).

Here are some of the animals he brought to show us.

Flying or house gecko

Straw-colored fruit bat

Yellow-naped green African parrot

Harris hawk

Eurasian Eagle owl

My kids had a lot to say about the assembly here.

We are ready for Mr. Bob to come back!

FREEBIE: Junkyard Wonders

As part of our first few weeks of school, we put aside math and reading to concentrate on character education.  Each third grade teacher (there are 6 of us) chooses a book to read and do an activity that correlates with the book.  Then, each third grade class rotates over 6 days to each class to hear their story and do their activity.  This is wonderful in a lot of ways and we really enjoy getting to know all the third graders in the school.  The books that were chosen this year were;

The Giving Tree

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

How to Fill a Bucket

You are Special

Owen and Mzee

The Junkyard Wonders

I read The Junkyard Wonders and love reading it for so many reasons.  The kids are amazed it is a true story and have a ton of questions after reading it.  However, I love the lesson it teaches.  Many of my students feel like they are junk for different reasons.  As I read this to them, I see the light come on in their eyes as if they have never seen themselves as a wonder before.  It also teaches them to FIND the wonder in each person they meet in their lives.  I made this quick little activity for us to do after we had read the book.  It was very sad to see that most of them could not come up with a reason as to why they were wonderful. However, once we got started and friends shared with them why they were wonderful, some filled up every line and would have done more! Now my kids have been introduced to a fabulous author and know what makes them the great kid they are! I can't ask for anything better!  Next year, I want to have a whole unit made for this book because there are so many wonderful things about it! What do you do to instill character and self-worth in your students?

We Are Going to SOAR This Year

For the past 4 years, our school has held a SOAR assembly after we have been in school for 2 weeks.

This assembly is a motivation for the students to SOAR in academics as well as being good citizens in the new year.

It has become a favorite of the teachers because we do it for the kids.

We get to dress all crazy (I have been a cowboy, a rock star and a vampire) and the kids love it.

Since we ALL have been studying the book The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon, our SOAR assembly again this year was centered around that theme.

Palmer led our class in our bus to the assembly.

The whole school was there and a TON of parents and grandparents.

 The assembly starts off with The Harlem Shake and all the teachers break it down as they go to the risers.

Our assistant principal, Mrs. Spring, and Mrs. Norma (the stand-in for Mrs. Kim who was called to a meeting) start the Shake off for us.

Joy is the driver of the Energy Bus and she made a special appearance at our assembly as she talked to us about the 5 rules we must have if we ride the Energy Bus.

Since the third graders are the leaders at our school, they played a very important part in the assembly. They talked about rules.

Led the school in different songs we had learned...

The third grade teachers (with the exception of Mrs. Belinda who played Joy) get the great honor of being the energy vampires.

Yes... we have actually scared little kids.

Yes... kindergartners ask us all year long why we were vampires.

It is exhausting but a wonderful start to the new year!

I love it, but am so glad we only do it once a year!

How do you get your students motivated to SOAR at the beginning of the year?