Pi Day Friday

Check out Mrs. Woodard's mathtastic shirt! She is wearing matching Pi earrings, as well!

Mrs. Woodard and I were both disappointed when we realized Pi Day was a day we both happened to be off campus, Monday, March 14. We look forward to this holiday every year and couldn't believe our bad luck. We decided to have a mini Pi Day celebration anyway on Friday. Although we couldn't find any mathematical significance to 3.18, we are sure there is some somewhere.

We had a class discussion about this magical number, talked about that it is a transcendental number and also an irrational number. 

Then, the best part of our Pi Celebration, singing Happy Birthday to Pi and enjoying a piece of fresh apple pi(e)!

Let them eat pi(e)...

Happy Pi Day!

Lunch with the Principal!

What an Honor!

Students have daily opportunities to earn "citizenship cards" during the school day. Cards may be earned for various different activities - cleaning up after lunch, offering to help a teacher, doing something nice for another student, etc. Basically being a good citizen will earn citizenship cards.

Students fill out the card and drop it in a special bucket. Once a month names are pulled for "Lunch With the Principal" and this month we had a winner! 

When a student's name is drawn, he or she is presented with a menu to decide what special lunch will be enjoyed with the principal. I hope we have more winners in the near future. Keep being outstanding citizens, students! 

Greasepaint Theater Presents...The Jungle Book!

The Jungle Book Cast

Our day got off to a hectic start because the bus was late! We waited impatiently by the bus lane as Mrs. Woodard's class entertained us by singing Fifty Nifty United States.

After the bus finally arrived, we were on our way! The theater was kind enough to hold the play for us as long as possible, so we ended up walking in only a couple minutes late.

We really enjoyed the production, which was filled with singing, dancing, colorful costumes and lots of laughs. My students were intrigued that all the actors were also students - some as young as third grade. The cast and crew did a Q & A session with us at the end and were learned about the theater, applying stage make-up, how long the actors have been acting, upcoming performances and even how the actors felt about missing a day of school to perform in a play.

Former Student - Spencer Claus!

Greasepaint Theater is only about 15-20 minutes from the school so we were back in time for lunch. "The Jungle Book" play was an entertaining morning and a fun field trip!

Celebrity Reader - Mathew Blades!

Posing with Mathew Blades from Mix 96.9! What an honor!

During the afternoon of Read Across America Day, we were treated to some live readings of several Dr. Seuss books by Mathew Blades, the morning show host at Mix 96.9. His read alouds were very interactive, and he paused often to ask the students what they thought of an illustration or idea.

Mathew Blades then patiently took endless questions from his audience, explaining what it's like to work for a radio station, telling us about some of his legendary coworkers and giving us a brief geography lesson of the many, many cities and states he has lived in throughout his radio career.

We were very honored that Mathew took time out of his busy day to come read to us. What a fantastic way to finish Dr. Seuss' birthday celebration!

Thanks again, Mathew Blades!

Box Top Winners!

Winnnnnnnners!

My class brought in the most Box Tops For Education for the month of February - a grand total of 169! The amazing Sonoran Sky PTO treated us to an ice-cream party for this outstanding accomplishment. Way to go everyone! Keep saving those Box Tops!

Celebrity Readers - KNIX's Ben & Matt

On Dr. Suess' birthday we were treated to a hilarious rendition of Oh, The Places You'll Go! presented by the morning show at KNIX, Ben & Matt.

The students (and staff!) were wowed by Ben's incredible celebrity impressions. Students eagerly called out requests and Ben patiently read to us as Barack Obama, George Bush, Arnold Schwarznegger, Justin Bieber, Cookie Monster, Morgan Freeman, Elmo and Adam Sandler just to name a few of his incredible voices.

Matt was equally entertaining and had us all in stitches with his one-liners and witty comments. Both of them answered many student questions after their reading and explained their jobs, what it's like to work in the radio industry and gave us a brief history of KNIX.

Students and staff all had a fabulous time at this hilarious presentation! We are pretty lucky that Ben & Matt chose to visit Sonoran Sky on Dr. Seuss' birthday.

Click the video below for a little sample:

Some Q & A:

Thank you Ben & Matt! You made Read Across America Day unforgettable!

Reading Across America - Literally!

From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere. ~Dr. Seuss

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday we participated in a two person reader's theater of Green Eggs and Ham. My class played the role of Sam-I-Am and our pen pal class in Massachusetts played the role of Sam's friend.

We took turns reading our lines in front of an iSight camera and broadcast our buddy class reading their lines using a projector.

It is pretty amazing that we are able to participate in a traditional cooperative learning classroom activity with a classroom nearly 3,000 miles away, in another time zone! Curious to see what a cross-country reader's theater looks like? Click the video links below to see a few snippets.

One more...

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

"Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one." ~Dr. Seuss

We had an amazing time celebrating the 107th birthday of Dr. Seuss! Today was such an absolute whirlwind, I cannot possibly write about it all in one post, so I will take it one event at a time. The day began with a visit from "The Cat In the Hat". The cat also brought along a friend, to read the text of this classic tale.