Who will be my vacation partner?

I am very lucky to be attending the Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute this summer. While I'm in the vicinity, I plan to stay a few extra days to visit Washington, D.C. I will be taking a children's book character stuffed animal with me to help document the trip for my students. This week and next week, students will get the opportunity to vote for their favorite by putting their change in a bucket. All money will be donated to our One For Books campaign running through our Scholastic Book Fair  to purchase new books for our school library. The characters students will be voting on are:

If you'd like to vote online, please comment on this blog entry to let me know which character should go on my trip this summer!

American Girl Seamstresses

Our American Girl club met today to learn how to do some simple sewing. Only two of the dozen or so students who came had ever sewn on a button or done any sewing at all. It was a learning experience to be sure!

I taught them how to sew a button onto a piece of felt, tie knots at the end of thread, and how to do a simple running stitch. Luckily, Mrs. Tinney was there to help us all out!

The kids were so happy with their results and wanted to know if they could take needles and thread and extra fabric home to make another pillow or sachet.

We discussed the American Girls in the books they have read that had to sew their own clothes. They all agreed that it was so much easier to buy clothes at the store rather than to make them!

We can't wait until next month to have our American Girl Tea Party!

National DEAR Day

We had an awesome DEAR Day here at Central Oak! In the library, students were encouraged to read silently while they were waiting for testing opportunities, listened to Ms. Sloggett read stories, and even got to lay on the floor and read their new books. Here are some fun pictures of our kids!

Babymouse books are some favorites!

Ahhhh, how comfortable you look!

Pete Lovers Unite!

I'm sharing Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes with my second and third graders this week, and they are LOVING IT!

We watch the video so we "catch" the tune, then I read the book to the kids and we all sing the chorus. They leave the library singing and driving their teachers crazy with the Pete song! I can't wait to share it with the rest of the 2nd and 3rd graders this week!