Lance

The Penultimate Post!

Choni, Lizards and POL's! Now you know how to greet people in Kurdish!

As our amazing year comes to a close, I find it best to express the happenings of our penultimate week in photos...

Our Pool Party!

Thank you very much to Susan and Sarah for allowing us the use of their wonderful home. Your hospitality is much appreciated. We had a blast!

Awards Day!

Congratulations to all of our Lizard winners!

 

Georgia Day!

We could not have had this incredible learning experience without the help of many POL's and other second grade superstar parents. Thank you for all that you do to make Sope Creek a wonderful place to learn and grow!

 

A fabulous thought for a fabulous weekend:

"Why can't we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together?  I guess that wouldn't work.  Someone would leave.  Someone always leaves.  Then we would have to say good-bye.  I hate good-byes.  I know what I need.  I need more hellos."  

~Charles M. Schulz

Salutations Lizards and POL's!

We had a very exciting ending to a great week here at the creek. Field Day was a huge success and the Lizards had a fabulous day! Thank you to our parent volunteers who gave their time and supplies to make our day so fun. Please enjoy some of our beautiful pictures from the day:

PTA News

• Turn in your Health and Nutrition Fruit and Veggie Consumption sheet on Monday!  We hope you had fun tracking all the colorful foods your child consumed during the week.
• Box Top Betty says, “LAST BOX TOPS ARE DUE TUESDAY!  Thank you for making this the best Box Top collection year EVER!  Each Box Top Rewards Coupon is worth 10 cents to the school.  Remember to collect Box Tops all summer for next year’s collection.  Also, sign up for more deals at http://www.boxtops4education.com/AboutBoxTops/News.aspx
• Papa John Pizza Night Tuesday – The Sope Creek Foundation’s last pizza night of the year is Tuesday.  Feed your family and earn money for the Foundation.  Let Papa John know you are from Sope Creek and turn in your receipt on Wednesday to the Sope Creek Foundation.
• This year's Awards Days are slightly different from the dates posted on the PTA Calendar.  If your child is going to receive be recognized on Awards Day, you will receive an invitation from their teacher. To check on Awards Day Dates and Times: http://sopecreeklibrary.typepad.com/blogs/
• If you are a parent of a 4th grader, you know that Pioneer Day is Monday, May 11th.  Volunteers are still needed for full (8:30am - 2:10pm) and half day (8:30am - 11:30am or 11:45am - 2:10pm) shifts.  If you are not able to volunteer your time, food donations (specifics to follow at a later date) for the "Hospitality Room"  are also needed.  If you are able to help in either way, please contact Sarajane Fletcher, sjfletcher@hotmail.com. 
• 2nd Grade Georgia Day is Friday May 15th and volunteers are still needed.  This is a new curriculum enrichment program and we are excited to present all the wonderful history and unique aspects of Georgia to our 2nd Graders.  Please contact Tracy Pickens (tonksy@gmail.com) if you can volunteer.  It will be a great learning opportunity for all involved.

A beautiful thought for a beautiful weekend...

"Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back."

Arthur Rubinstein

HEY LIZARDS! LET'S GO SWIMMING!

Dearest Lizards and POL's,
 
It has been an AWESOME 2nd grade year, so let's celebrate all that our LIZARDS have accomplished!  
 
WHAT?  A SWIMMING PARTY FOR LANCE'S LIZARDS
 
WHEN?  Wednesday, May 13 
 
WHAT TIME? 3:30 - 5:30
 
WHAT IF?  It rains?  We will send out an e-mail and try again the next day, Thursday, May 14th.
 
WHERE?  At Sara's house!  Thank you Susan and Sara for hosting!  The address is:
 
92 Stone Mill -- directions are (from school) take Paper Mill to Woodlawn going toward Johnson Ferry.  Take a left on Woodlawn.  Take the first left on Blackland.  Take a left on Lakeshore (it's a dead end). Take a right on Old Stone Mill.  It's a red brick house.
 
WHAT TO BRING?  Your bathing suit, sunscreen and a towel
 
WHO?  All lizards, lizard moms and dads.  Space is somewhat limited, so please consider making other arrangements for siblings.  If other arrangements cannot be made, siblings may come.  We would love for all lizards to be able to come, so don't stay home if you can't find a sitter!
 
RSVP and QUESTIONS:  Feel free to call Susan or Donna.
 
WHAT IF MY LIZARD GOES TO ASP OR NEEDS A RIDE?  Please let Donna know and we can arrange transportation for your lizard.  We really want them all to come and are happy to give them a ride!
 
WILL WE HAVE A LIFE GUARD?  We are going to arrange a schedule of short shifts where we have 3 Lizard parents watching the pool at all times to keep our lizards safe!  If you are willing to take a shift, please let Donna or Susan know.
 
WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!
 
Donna and Susan
 

Post CRCT News

Dearest POL's,

    What a delightful birthday celebration the Lizards made for me! The flowers have made our room gorgeous this week and we've all enjoyed them greatly. The book written by the kids was very sweet and funny. Plus, I ate so many sweet treats, I literally could not button my slacks yesterday! I really appreciate all that you did to make it such a special 32nd birthday- THANK YOU!!

    Next, thank you very much for your generous (and delicious) food and beverage donations for our CRCT week. It made every day a little less stressful to start off with a nice cup of juice and end with a tasty and nutritious snack. The kids very much enjoyed it as did Ms. Wood and I! I was very impressed with the kids as I watched them doing their personal best each day of the test. I am sure we will all be very happy with their results.

    I will be out for a SEE (Schools Exceeding Expectations) conference in TN with several other SC teachers and administrators next Wed-Fri. I am very excited about this learning opportunity and glad that I was able to find a wonderful and experienced teacher to work with the Lizards. Mrs. Cole, former SC teacher (and the person with whom I did my student teaching!), will be taking my place and is really looking forward to meeting the kids.

    We have planned a really neat mom's day project that is pretty extensive and we could use just a few supplies. Specifically, we are looking for very thin, non-plastic coated paper plates in all colors and designs. I have plenty of white to use, but any other colors would be great. Also, we'll need to borrow 2 glue guns. If it's possible to send these in by Tuesday, that would be helpful as I leave that evening and want to be sure to pick up anything we need. Thank you in advance for your continued generosity!

    Now this is a shout out for our Lizards Dads! We'll need a helper parent or two to work with the glue guns and assembly of our project. Since it's a gift for our marvelous moms, I'd love it if we could get some dads to help out Friday afternoon from 1:00-2:00. As always, just send an email and let me know if you can help!

Thank you for all that you do to make our classroom a wonderful place to learn and do!

Ms. L

 

PTA News: APRIL 27 – MAY 1 EVENTS

Monday-Last day of CRCT’s!

Tuesday

-BOX TOPS DUE 3rd Grade Earth Day Celebration

 – another great program sponsored by the Sope Creek PTA.

-SOPE CREEK FAMILY BRAVES NIGHT! Our Sope Creek Chorus has been selected to sing The National Anthem. .

Wednesday

-LAST BIRTHDAY BOOK CLUB

Thursday

-PTA OFFICER ELECTIONS 8am in the café

-Kindergarten Program 8:10am in the café

Friday

-Career Day

-Presale Packets Due

CALENDAR UPDATES:

As the year has progressed, we have had to make some changes to the published PTA Calendar. Please make the following revisions:

Thursday, May 7th: Kindergarten Sneak-a-Peek

Friday, May 8th: Field Day | Rain Date: Wednesday, May 13th

Tereq Lizards and POL's! Now you know how to greet people in Estonian!

Academic Update

Reader's Workshop: The Lizards have started an author study this week on Tomie dePaola, an amazing author and illustrator with more than 200 books to his name. As a class, we have read some of his realistic fiction and the Lizards are enjoying many of his other titles as they build a reading log. We will wrap up after the break.

Writer's Workshop: Our class completed two great poems this week- a couplet and a piece based on William Carlos William "The Red Wheelbarrow." Our poems will eventually be compiled into a hard cover book for you and the Lizards to treasure!

Math: This week, the Lizards learned all about division and how to separate a larger number into equal groups. We enjoyed making division number story comics! When we return, our focus will turn to 3 digit addition with regrouping.

Science: Our study of plant and mushroom life cycles was so fun this week! We dissected mushrooms, made spore prints, watched celery roots in action using food coloring, observed seeds germinating and planted many seeds. Over the break, we are hoping that some of our seeds- apple, orange, cantaloupe, dandelion, etc.- will germinate and be ready to replant. After the break we will look at animal life cycles.

Updates, Reminders and PTA News

• Tuesday, April 14th is Papa John's Pizza Night. When placing your order, please remember to mention Sope Creek. In addition, please remember to send in the sticker, that shows the amount spent, to school the next day.

• A Lunch and Learn featuring Jeff Dess will be held Thursday, April 16th from 11:30am - 12:30pm in the Media Center.

A relaxing thought for a relaxing Spring Break:

"This is the Zen approach: nothing is there to be done. There is nothing to do. One has just to be. Have a rest and be ordinary and be natural."

~ Osho~

Career Dress Up Day!

Bonjour Lizards and POL's! Now you know how to greet people in French!

Academic Update

Reader's Workshop: The Lizards read one of my very favorite books this week. Love That Dog is a story, written like a journal of poems, of a boy who learns that poetry isn't just for girls and also how to cope with the loss of his beloved dog, Sky. The book introduced the kids to many famous poets such as William Blake, William Carlos Williams and Robert Frost.

Writer's Workshop: The Lizards practiced writing poems inspired by the talented poets we met this week. They enjoyed "breaking the rules" of grammar as poetry allows you to do as well as "taking word risks" by creating new words or changing the pronunciation of a word. We will continue to write poetry until the year's end and intend to create a hard cover book of our work.

Math: The Lizards met the Wubbles this week. Have your Lizard tell you the story of how the Wubbles double and halve! We did more practice with arrays and multiplications strategies. Also, division was introduced as it relates to multiplication. Next week, we will continue division and practice with creating equal groups.

Science: Our class is back to thinking and acting like scientists this week! Our study began with learning about what is alive and what characteristics make it so. After learning about the needs of living things (ask your Lizard about Oh! Deer!), we focused on plants and their life cycle. We dissected seeds to look at the beginning of the life cycle and then planted them so that we may continue to watch them grow and change. Friday we dissected 4 types of flower and procured seeds to plant next week. Check out some pictures from our fun exploration! 

Updates, Reminders and PTA News

• ART DAY WAS INCREDIBLE! Thank you to our Art Day Committee for giving us another incredible day!  What a wonderful way to kick off Spring!
  
  Quack Quack! They’re Back!  Duck Sale Tuesday 3/31 for K, 1 and 2 & Duck Sale Wed 4/1 for 3, 4 and 5
  
  PRESALE/DIRECTORY PACKETS:   Volunteers needed to put together the directory forms and the pre-sale forms on Tuesday, March 31st starting at 9am in the Media Center.
  
  SPIRIT DAY – Friday April 3 – wear your favorite Sope Creek t-shirt!
  
  WWF Presents: Ten Things to Do in the Dark  Wondering what to do when the lights go out for Earth Hour?  There are ten fun ideas to help you, your family and your friends make a change and make a difference on March 28 in the PTA Environmental Education Committee blog:  http://sopecreeklibrary.typepad.com/pta_events/2008/03/environmental-e.html
  
  FOUNDATION SOCIABLES NEWS:
  
  On Tuesday, April 14th Sope Creek will be holding their yearly Football Sociable.  It will be right after school til 4:30 with Walton's own Coach Rocky Hidalgo!  $35 per child 2nd grade thru 5th grades.  Kids will be given a tee shirt, sandwich, snacks and drinks and a few other goodies.  Hosts:  Nancy Garfinkel (garfinks@msn.com), Maureen Lamar(mlamar@na.ko.com), Beth Wiesner  (2m3@bellsouth.net),Lee Oesterling (lee@oesterling.com)
  
  You can email us to sign your child/children up.  Also, send the check with your child/children's name on the check and mark the envelope  Football Sociable.  Their will be a basket in the front office.
  
  Don't miss the chance to sign up for Drama Camp!  Info is on the blog and a flyer will come home with all 2nd - 4th grade students.

A wonderful thought for a wonderful weekend:

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover I had not lived.

Henry David Thoreau (Walden, 1854)

Habitat for Humanity Visit

Art Day- Goghing Green

It's my goal to catch the Lizards and POL's up on some of the beautiful photos I've recently taken, so here's your first installment. ENJOY!!

 

Shalom Lizards and POL's! Now you know how to greet people in Hebrew!

Academic Update

Reader's Workshop: This week, the Lizards studied Aesop's fables. As a class we read The Tortoise and the Hare, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, and The Lion and the Mouse. We performed several fables in Reader's Theater, a fun way to practice fluency and speak in front of an audience.

Writer's Workshop: The Lizards began to look at poetry this week and learned that "Every Word Counts." We enjoyed reading and writing limericks in honor of St. Patrick's day and also practiced writing short poems that make every day things come alive. Our study of poetry will continue next week as well.

Math: Our class started multiplication this week and learned strategies for multiplying including making arrays, repeated addition and creating intersections. We learned about the commutative property of multiplication and practiced our x0 and x1 facts.

Social Studies: Jimmy Carter was the focus of our studies this week. We learned about him as a president, and more importantly as a human rights activist with an amazing history of volunteerism. We were very lucky to have a visit from several people involved with Habitat for Humanity and learn all about this incredible life changing program. The kids got to interact with model homes and get hands on with hammers, nails and other building materials. In an ongoing effort to stay involved with HFH, the children will be saving their change until the year's end to donate to the program. The money they raise is to be their own, and they are to find innovative ways to earn it (hopefully by helping YOU around the house!!). We will tie this activity into our upcoming unit on personal finances and track our saving for the next 8 weeks before making a large class donation.

Updates, Reminders and PTA News

• Monday, March 23rd - The PTA Health and Nutrition Committee is hosting a Lunch and Learn from 11am - 12pm in the Media Center. The topic is "Litterless Lunches". Please come to learn how to create lunches that are nutritious, delicious and eco-friendly. Please contact Natalie Rogers,

  fluffyjune@yahoo.com, with any questions

• Got Milk?  The PTA Health and Nutrition Committee needs volunteers to help with their "Got Milk?" campaign going on all next week (3/23 - 3/27).  They need people during lunch to randomly hand out pencils and stickers to children who are drinking either milk or soy milk.  If you are available to help, or would like more information, please contact Robin Zeldin, rrzeldin@aol.com. 

• Tuesday, March 24th - Box Tops due. This is a fun and easy way to raise money for Sope Creek...one dime at a time!

• Wednesday, March 25th - Birthday Book Club will be held at 7:20am in the Media Center.

• Quack, quack the ducks are back! Mark your calendars. The Kids Care Club will once again be selling those cute rubber ducks. They will be available for purchase on Tuesday, March 31st at 7:20am for grades K through 2, and Wednesday, April 1st at 7:20am for grades 3 through 5.

A marvelous thought for a marvelous weekend:

"It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on earth, and if we can teach our children to honor nature's gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever."
~ Jimmy Carter~