Introducing The New 3rd Grade Self-Contained Teacher!

In case you have not heard the news, please let me announce the hiring of Mrs. Meenu Kakkar! She is currently the gifted specialist at Sonoran Sky Elementary and has experience teaching gifted students at Desert Springs Elementary, as well. She has extensive training in gifted education and is very excited about the opportunity to work with our 3rd grade self-contained gifted students and their families.
I have known Mrs. Kakkar for several years and have always found her to be a fantastic teacher and exceptionally professional. I was on the interview committee which made the decision for the 3rd grade s-c position and she is top notch! She has a wealth of experience and truly enjoys working with gifted learners. I am really looking forward to having Mrs. Kakkar be part of the Sonoran Sky self-contained team!

Teacher Appreciation Week - THANK YOU!

If the students had a "razzle dazzle year" I certainly had a razzle dazzle week! It started off by finding this adorable bulletin board decorated with personal sentiments from each student hanging outside the classroom. Tuesday I was treated to a delicious lunch from Pei Wei which contained so much food I managed to get three meals out of it! I dug in too quickly to remember to snap a picture. Whoops!

This is a photo of the lovely flowers from the class and...

...the thoughtful gift basket loaded with all my favorite candies - jelly beans, licorice and chocolate. Oh my! I loved reading all the personal thank you notes from each student as well. 

On Thursday I received an incredibly generous gift card to the Apple store and a promise for a Part II of my blog in a book. I have already been drooling over the Apple website trying to decide what to purchase.
Of course Sonoran Sky's fabulous PTO also took care of all the teachers as well with treats from Starbucks, an unbelievable homemade lunch and a really professional looking new staff shirt, which I am eager to wear!
This has been an incredible year and I am already feeling a little sad at the thought of it ending. Every single student has been special and important to the class, and I think this year was the most supportive group of parents yet! So thank YOU for all your support of me, the school and your student all year! Please don't forget next Friday, May 20 is the Volunteer Appreciation breakfast. All parent (and grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc.) volunteers are invited to the media center at 8:00am for breakfast. Childcare for current Sonoran Sky students will be provided on the Kindergarten playground during this event. I hope to see you there!

Funny Outtakes:

When I was trying to take a nice picture of this lovely gift, some of my dogs just would not get out of the way! The pictures made me chuckle. :)

Look Who Showed Up At School Last Week...

Who is that man holding Microsoft Windows with cash bursting from his shirt pocket?

Wow, an amazing artist complete with a palette of paints!

Hmmmm.... a kite with a key attached and $100 bills... 

We had  lot of fun presenting our biography book reports last week, and most of the students really got into character. Watch the slideshow below to see exactly who we had in our classroom!

Cinco de Mayo Fiesta

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Last week we teamed up with Mrs. Woodard's class and Mrs. Flores' class (the 1st -3rd self-contained class at Desert Cove Elementary) for our annual Cinco de Mayo fiesta! After learning some Mexican History earlier in the week and completing a Cinco de Mayo webquest, we celebrated with lots of fun hands on activities and games. The two girls above are holding tissue paper flowers, which was one of our crafts for the day. We also had a Spanish speaking station with Spanish flash-cards, a Spanish word writing challenge and a Spanish memory game. Fortunately, we have a student fluent in Spanish who was able to help us with pronunciation.

Students also created paper bag pinatas, which were stuffed with candy and sent home to be smashed. 

Another fun activity was making maracas out of paper plates and dry beans. The classroom got pretty noisy when every student was shaking their handmade maracas at the same time!

Creating an Ojo de Dios is always the most popular activity of the day, although 

the students usually need help tying the yarn together. 

Towards the end of the fiesta we played Cinco de Mayo Bingo. Students had a choice of candy or a word game book if they won. Throughout the day we enjoyed a salsa tasting, listened to Mexican music, tried Mexican candy and wore sombreros. Watch the slideshow below for a pictorial recap. 

Noetic Math Contest

Congratulations to all the students who participated in the Noetic Math Contest! They did very well! We had a student place first in the 2nd grade contest...

...and two others place first in the 3rd grade contest. Congratulations! We also had four second place winners. Results can be viewed here.
Please note that the Noetic Math Contest is an accelerated math contest, which requires critical and creative thinking skills. Although we competed in the 2nd and 3rd grade contests, the test consists of advanced math problems not in alignment with grade level standards. This competition is specifically suggested for gifted students. Students are allowed to compete in higher grade levels, but not lower. For example, a 2nd grade student may compete in the 3rd grade competition, but a 3rd grade student may not compete in the 2nd grade competition.

Weekly Update

Happy Birthday, Mrs. Arola! We can't wait for the Art Walk!

We have a busy, busy week planned! As most of you probably know, tomorrow is the 2nd annual Sonoran Sky Art Walk! This event will be held at the school from 6:00pm - 8:00pm. Lots of student art work will be on display, there will be poetry readings in the library from poetry contest winners, a performance by the school band will be held in Thunderbird Hall, a dramatic bucket unveiling will occur  and lots more! Last year the Art Walk was tons of fun and I am sure this year will be even better! 

Every single student in the class played a role in creating this "cake".

The Scholastic Book Fair is at the school this week and will be open tomorrow evening during the Art Walk. We visited the Book Fair today as a class and students created wish lists to take home. We will be stopping by again on Wednesday afternoon. 

Speaking of Wednesday, it's Primary Fun Day! Students should dress for outdoor games and activities. Sneakers and hats are a must and everyone should come to school with a water bottle. Please apply sunblock prior to arrival at school.

My class along with Mrs. Woodard's class have been working on a top secret project for Mrs. Arola (our fabulous art teacher) the past few weeks and were very excited to surprise her with it at the end of the day today - her birthday! Mrs. Arola does a tremendous job coordinating the Art Walk and we were excited to present her with this special symbol of our appreciation (and wish her a happy birthday, of course!) Our special "cake" will be on display so be sure to check it out tomorrow evening.

She was surprised! 

Thank you to everyone who donated old magazines and catalogs!

Force and Motion

In Science this week we learned about force and motion. Yesterday we got some hands on experience by spinning tops and creating "Zoomers".

After creating a Zoomer we learned that there are different ways to initiate rotational motion and compared a spinning top to a spinning Zoomer. Key vocabulary in this unit includes vibration, rotate, rhythm, taut, tension and momentum. We will wrap up this fun Science Unit next week and will also learn about balance and gravity.