Sustainability is Responsible

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We are continuing to learn about responsibility this month in Swooper Citizens.  Today, we had a special visitor!  Kindergarten parent, Dr. Douglas McCauley, joined us to share about how we can be responsible for our environment.  Dr. McCauley is a marine biologist, so his focus is on protecting our oceans and ocean life.

Dr. McCauley shared that our oceans already have over 5 trillion pieces of plastic in them, and that plastic hangs around for 500 years.  Plastic has even been found in the Mariana Trench, which contains the deepest natural point in the world.  He explained that plastic hurts marine life in many ways, including being mistaken for food, as this plastic bag may be mistaken for a jelly by a predator.

After sharing about his job and gathering ideas about why we should be responsible for our oceans, Dr. McCauley told us the story of Flora, a young girl who moves to a new island.

The students picked up right away on why and how we should be responsible for our environment.

Dr. McCauley also left the students with some gifts to help us all be more sustainable.  Each student received a toy sea bass, a sticker, a reusable canvas bag, a reusable metal straw, reusable sandwich bags, a reusable beeswax food wrap, a guide to choosing seafood wisely, and a pencil that, when used up, has a top containing seeds and can be planted!

BOO!

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This morning, we walked into the classroom to discover that we’d been booed! Our furniture was creatively rearranged, there were spiderwebs everywhere, and erasers and fangs were found on each student’s desk.

 

There were posters hanging from the smart board explaining the game. It started yesterday when the Kindergarten and EK classrooms were booed.  They were instructed to boo 2 other classrooms, and we were chosen!

 

   

Several students spent time today hunting down clues to try to figure out who booed us.  Top suspects were Dr. Surber, Mrs. McDavid, and Mrs. Delwiche.  The mystery was even dubbed “The Case of the Chaotic Classroom” by one first grader. (I think it sounds like a Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys mystery!)

Now we will pass the boo along.  Who’s next?

Michael Katz

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Famous storyteller Michael Katz visited today!  We look forward to his visit every year because of his animated and interactive storytelling style.  Here’s a description from his website: Michael tells stories which weave together both the comic and the profound using his own highly energetic, animated and interactive style of storytelling. Michael’s stories include multicultural folktales, myths, original stories and personal narratives. Michael has performed at theatres, concert halls, festivals, school assemblies, and libraries throughout the U.S. Because of Michael’s extensive research of stories, his repertoire is so vast he can find the right story for almost any event.

He opened by using a “singing bowl” to focus the audience’s attention.

Then, he shared a story about a man who learns to be happy with the way things are:

Next, he told the story of an old woman who figures out how to keep local trouble-makers out of her pear tree.  He told this story, which comes from Mexico, partially in English and partially in Spanish.

Finally, he finished with a story in which he played the characters of a monkey, a bull, and a garden fairy using minimalistic costume pieces, which he attached to a belt when he wasn’t using them.

A big thank you goes to Mrs. Brace for arranging this opportunity for us, and to Michael Katz for sharing his talents!

Rapt students enjoy hearing stories.

Blanketeers!

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We have completed our very first service learning project for the year!  Since we have been discussing kindness in our Swooper Citizens lessons, we decided that we would take the opportunity to work together to perform an act of kindness.  A few years ago, Mrs. Delwiche and I learned about Project Linus, which is an organization with local chapters all over the United States.  This group collects homemade blankets and delivers them to children in need. “Blankets are collected locally and distributed to children in hospitals, shelters, social service agencies, or anywhere that a child might be in need of a big hug,” their website states.

The wonderful Kindergarten and first grade room parents prepared large pieces of cozy fleece for us, and the students got to work completing the fringed edges.

 

We had a great time becoming “blanketers” and working together to make someone else happy!

Visit From an Author

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Our wonderful librarian, Mrs. Brace, arranged for a special visit yesterday from local author, Lee Wardlaw. Ms. Wardlaw has written almost 30 children’s books, and she visited our school yesterday to share the story behind one of them.  She uses her real-life experiences as inspiration for her books.  One of the inspirations behind her books is her family cat, Won Ton.  Below, watch as she has students help tell the story of how her family found their cat.

Ms. Wardlaw was also on hand at the book fair to sign copies of her books yesterday.  The book fair continues this afternoon only, so be sure to stop by if you haven’t!  A big “thank you” to Ms. Wardlaw for sharing with us and to Mrs. Brace for arranging for this visit and running the book fair!