Field Trip to the Science Center

On Friday, May 7th, we will be joining Mrs. Cameron's class on a field trip to the Science Center of Pinellas County. Explorations include plants and matter, which link with topics we have been studying in our second grade science program this year. We can't wait!

More Earth Day Poems

Here are some more poems written by the students on Earth Day.

RECYCLE by Noah and Asher

Recycle
Recycle
It's good to recycle
Recycle
Recycle
You can reuse paper
When you recycle
Recycle
Recycle
Be kind to Mother Earth
Recycle
Recycle
It helps our Earth
That we love to share
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HELPING THE EARTH By Emery and Lindsey

Helping the Earth is lots of fun.
It is for everyone
You can reduce, reuse, recycle
You can help the trees and the plants
You can help mother nature by picking up trash
Recycle and stop pollution!

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EVERYDAY IS EARTH DAY by Renata

Everyday is Earth Day, making our planet clean
We like to pick up trash every time it is seen
April 22nd, my favorite day to pick up trash in parks,
till the grass blades sparkle.
We need to help mother earth!
Little babies are born, seeds are peeking up from the soil,
It's fun to clean up our mother earth

Earth Day Poems

Last Thursday, April 22, was Earth Day and the students were engaged in various activities to help promote an understanding about how important it is to look after this beautiful planet and what they could do to make a difference (e.g. recycle, reuse, reduce). They did an awesome job bringing eco-friendly snack and lunches and agreed that Earth Day should be everyday. I was also impressed by a group of students who gave up their recess to pick up trash (student initiated of course). At one point of the day the students got a chance to write their own Earth Day poems/songs. I have published some of these below. As you can see, I have a class of very talented poets.

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POEMS WRITTEN BY ELLIE

E verything we need,
A very important thing,
R eally what we need to help,
T he home of many creatures,
H elp it!

*********************

We need to help our planet.
We need to help it NOW!
We need to help our planet though
But some people don't know how.
So, will you please help me look after it?

***********************

Endangered Animals,
killed, try to survive,
few roaming, scarce,
Siberian tiger, manatee, panda, whooping crane,
gone dead, never, seen,
aren't coming back, gone forever,
Extinct Animals

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MOTHER EARTH by John and Samuel

Earth is a planet
Small, but strong
Big and green
Helping us all.
She has helped us through
all these years.
Now we should help her
as she helped us.

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WORKING ON THE RAILROAD (to the tune of We've been Working on the Railroad)
by Chloe and Emerson

We've been working on the Ear---th
Every, single day.
We've tried to o-bey
Every single time of the day.
By turning off the wa--ter
and turning off the ligh--ts.
We are going to do this
to help our Earth every day.
We will see the Earth the next day
because every day is Ear--th Da--y!

Spirit Day Tomorrow

Don't forget that tomorrow is the last Wednesday of the month and Spirit Day. Dress in green or gold (or both) and celebrate Shorecrest.

CHALLENGE - PACKING AN ECO-FRIENDLY LUNCH BOX ON EARTH DAY

Tomorrow is Earth Day and I want to challenge all of my students to pack an eco-friendly snack/lunch box. Today we talked about how this could be done by using reusable containers, and by packing fruits, which are healthful, waste-free snackables that come with their own compostable wrapping.

Celebrate the Arts

What an amazing week planned to Celebrate the Arts. Each day will have an arts event or experience.

Tuesday - African Kuumba Dancers and Drummers
Wednesday - TBA
Thursday - Chamber Music and Tour of Students, Faculty and Visiting Art Exhibition
Friday - Visiting Artists (workshops), Student Performance, Picnic

For the performance on Friday, the students will need to wear jeans or jean skirt with a white t-shirt (with little or no design).

I hope to see you at the picnic on Friday.

Yo Leonardo

Please join us to Celebrate the Arts with The Early Childhood Center and Lower division on April 23. "Yo Leonardo" - a musical program, will be performed by the children at 11:00am followed by a Picnic Lunch. Bring your own picnic lunch or order a box lunch (roast turkey wrap, chips, cookie, fruit, bottled spring water) from Flik. Orders must be placed by this Friday, April 16th. Please note, pizza lunch will not be served that day.

Week of April 12th

Here is our week at a glance. Enjoy this beautiful spring weather.

Parent Reader - Mrs. Happle
Library Helpers - Mrs. Schnitt
Current Events - Tuesday - Reilly, Devin; Wednesday - Chloe, Noah, Thursday - Emerson, Turner; Friday - John, Erin

Language Arts
Spelling - quack, quick, quarter, quill, quarterback, quit, queen, quite, question, quiz
High Frequency Word - books, should, took, stood, crook, would, look, could, good, shook, cookout, understand, bookstore, cookies, couldn't
Robust Vocabulary - belongings, fleeing, gently, smothered, replied, pleaded, fragrant, grunted, crave, correspond
Reading - Where on Earth is my Bagel? by Frances Park and Ginger Bark
Fluency - Punctuation
Comprehension - Cause and Effect; Antonyms
Grammar - Irregular Verbs
Writing - Poetry

Mathematics - Unit 9
* Fractional units of length
* Perimeter
* Measuring Longer Distances
* Exploring Capacity, Area and Measures

Social Studies
* Asia - India
* Research project

Science
* Simple Machines

We are also finishing off our cursive handwriting workbook and then will begin writing in cursive for the remainder of the school year.

The Dominican Republic Project

Once again, the Upper Division Spanish Club is collecting items for a group of Hispanic people who are in need of our help.

On June 5, a mission group made up of doctors, nurses, and teenagers from St. Petersburg will make their way to the Dominican Republic. They will be providing medical care and also assisting with the construction of a hospital.

In an effort to contribute to this important cause, the Upper Division Spanish Club has paired with the Lower Division to collect certain items that the group has requested including: toothbrushes, toothpaste, bars of soap, new children's underwear, and vitamins (children's chewable vitamins and adult multivitamins). Collection boxes will be available in the Lower and Upper Division Offices until April 30.

Your donations are greatly appreciated!

Raymond James Field Trip

This Thursday, the students will go to Raymond James to view the amazing collection of art work.
We will be leaving school at about 9:15 and starting our tour at around about 9:30am. We will return to school in time for lunch. Thanks to Mrs. Happle and members of the Celebrate the Arts Committee for organizing this tour for us. We can't wait!

Under the Lights Duathlon

Friday night, April 16

It's time for the annual Under the Lights Duathlon. This is the fourth year our school has held this great race.

The Duathlon is a race for children in Alpha through eighth grade where participants run, then bike, then run again. We do all our running and biking right on campus on a safe, closed course. Participants MUST have a bicycle and helmet, and wear sneakers, but training wheels are allowed. It's a great way to get your children active and outdoors.

All participating students will receive race t-shirts, race goodie bags filled with "stuff," medals, and a pizza dinner just for doing the race. Please plan on joining us for a great evening of Shorecrest fun!

Fun Math Game

Check out the following link for some fun math games.

http://www.funbrain.com/math/index.html

Teacher Appreciation Thanks

What a lovely surprise opening my door this morning. What creative, thoughtful parents and students. I thank you all for making my day special....the flowers, the notes, the smiles. I say this every year, but it is a pleasure teaching your children and I hope I do make a difference. They certainly make me a better person and teacher.

Rays Day - April 6

Opening Day for the Rays is Tuesday, April 6. Students and teachers are encouraged to wear their Rays shirt on that day. Students may wear their shirts with their uniform pants.