Poetry & Chrysalis

Students celebrated poetry by reading poems, writing poems, performing poems, and carrying poems in their pockets for National Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 30, 2009.

First grade students are raising at least three monarch butterflies that I shared with them from my own family's butterfly rescue project. We harvested the eggs from a field in Jackson. You can read more about it here. As of Thursday, they had one chrysalis, one large caterpillar, and one smaller caterpillar that still has some eating and growing to do. When I poked my head in the classroom on Thursday, students were reading Eric Carle's classic book The Very Hungry Caterpillar (which turned 40 years old this year) to their tiny friends. I love this.

At our last Reader's Theater Club meeting for 2009, students shared their "pocket poems," and divided into small groups to read, analyze, and perform sets of poems from This is Just To Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness by Joyce Sidman. This is one of my favorite recent books of poetry for children, and Sidman is one of my favorite poets.

The students in the Reader's Theater Club have been a joy! This was our last meeting for the year. We have had lots of fun, laughed, experimented, dramatized, tongue-twisted, pantomimed, read, discussed, read with expression, read some more, and acted a little silly from time to time! What could be better?

Wonder for Small Things

On Monday, I took Winslow to the library to share with all of my students from 4 years old through 6th grade. My family and I are raising 5 monarch caterpillars that we rescued as tiny eggs.

I pulled a few books about butterflies before the classes came downstairs. Mondays are primarily days to return old books and find new books, so there is not much time for a lesson. However, all classes were fascinated to observe Winslow eating his milkweed leaves and leaving his frass (caterpillar poop) around the container. In the photo above, 5th grade students read Winslow a book by Lois Ehlert titled Waiting for Wings. Apparently, he needs to know what next steps he might take as a caterpillar.

I am moved by seeing how much Winslow grows each day. I am equally moved by watching others of all ages encounter Winslow.

Happy Earth Day!

Book Fair Rewards

Thanks to everyone who purchased books and school supplies from the book fair! We were able to sell almost $2000.00. From this profit, St. Therese received:

• $340.00 of books from the fair for the library and teachers
• $200.00 of books for students as Reading Counts rewards, Book-It rewards, and special prizes
• 15 free posters for teachers to distribute in their classrooms as incentives or rewards
• $500.00 cash back for the library to purchase new books and materials

This equals a grand total for St. Therese of $1,107.50!

Way to go St. Therese students, teachers, families, and friends!

Book Fair Days

St. Therese had a special guest for the opening day of our book fair. Clifford greeted students and families in the afternoon carpool line. All students were able to visit the book fair today during library time. It was a celebration of books and reading!

Lights, Camera, Book Fair!

See all book fair details on the St. Therese Book Fair Homepage:

http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/sainttherese

It starts next Monday, March 30, and runs through Friday, April 3, at the Fish Fry.

If you would like to volunteer to help set up, pack up, or help during the fair, please contact me by e-mail nolteowen@yahoo.com or phone 601-952-0643.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Computers and Quilts

We tied up all loose ends end and put the binding on our exploration into the underground railroad, quilts, and Black History. Yesterday, Mrs. T. and I used the computer lab to teach searching and computer navigation skills by using a website about the Gee's Bend quilters from Alabama. We learned about archives and archival sources by clicking through photographs of the Gee's Bend community taken by Arthur Rothstein in the 1930's and 1940's. Their lives were very different from ours!

Then, we pretended to be curators of our own museum through an interactive portion of the website that allows the user to create a virtual exhibit. Finally, we designed our own symmetrical and asymmetrical quilt blocks with another interactive feature on the website.

All over St. Therese, "learning quilts" adorn the hallways. Have you seen them?

Underground Railroad Quilt

The literature connection project that third through sixth graders have been working on for several weeks will be on display on Friday, February 27th, at St. Therese's Black History Month Exhibition. We worked hard today to finish our quilt blocks incorporating symbols of our knowledge about the underground railroad. I hope our parents and other teachers will appreciate how each block is unique and offers the viewer a different window into history.

I found out today that students at St. Therese have a name for Mrs. Tarleton and me to describe our "team-teaching." We are "Mrs. Towen." I love it!

Also, I was honored to accompany Mrs. Misenar, the "art club," and St. Therese parents on a field trip to Brown's Fine Art and Framing in Fondren today. Here are my photos from the exciting, intimate, and engaging learning experience: