Solar Eclipse Info

Posted on August 19, 2017 by Mrs. Petuya

We have been busy learning about the sun, the moon, and the solar eclipse all week. We acted out the eclipse, read books and did an online lesson at mysteryscience.com. We also practiced using a pinhole projector with our sixth grade buddies. We even found out why we should NEVER look at the sun, even for a moment. The dramatic demonstration got everyone’s attention!

We will be observing the changes before, during, and after the eclipse on Monday morning. We will have our big buddies from Mrs. Groom’s sixth grade class with us, but parents are welcome, too. I only have enough eclipse glasses for the students, so bring your own if you will be participating with us. Make and bring a pinhole projector or you can use one of ours.

If you won’t be able to join us at school, I hope you get outside to observe this rare event for yourself. Here is a link to a website with some ways to safely view the solar eclipse on Monday, August 21st. You just need a couple of items that are probably in your house right now. http://eclipse.illinois.edu/pinhole.html

Happy Vacation!

Posted on September 30, 2016 by Mrs. Petuya

Congratulations on a productive first trimester! We have all earned a well-deserved break. I hope you enjoy many relaxed days with family and friends. Many scientific studies clearly show how important play time is for children and adults, too! We learn best and grow most during the time we have for joyful explorations. I encourage you to check out our Twitter feed for more information.

The October Activity Calendar was sent home on Thursday. It is also linked under the TK Homework tab. As always, the most important ways to become a great student is to read and be read to daily and DO SOME CHORES!

This vacation time would also be a great opportunity to workout those small finger muscles. Most of the students are finding it very tiring to write and draw and cut. That’s because their finger muscles are still developing and need some time in the “Finger Gym”. Click HERE to find a list of fun ways to exercise those muscles.

If your child spends some time online, check out the tabs above for links to some good sites. You can also try these free, high quality websites:
starfall.com
abcya.com
pbskids.org

Several of you have asked for a list of exceptional apps. I will work on that and post it soon. So check back here.

I’ll be starting my vacation with a technology conference and then jury duty. Later, I’ll fly to Atlanta to spoil my grandchildren and both of my sons. At the end of the month, I get to enjoy time with my daughter. It looks to be a very lucky month for me. What will you be doing?

See you back at school on Wednesday, October 26th at 11:04 AM – 2:35 PM.
Joyfully,
Mrs. P

Seesaw Overload

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Mrs. Petuya

If you haven’t checked your child’s Seesaw folder lately, you are in for a bit of a shock. I finally had a few moments to upload the photos I have been taking over the last several weeks. As you can see there has been a great deal of learning going on! When you come to Open House tomorrow, I will be showing you how to access and capture these special moments forever online. Welcome to the future of learning!

Finding Our Butterflies

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Mrs. Petuya

Last fall we created butterflies with our third grade buddies and sent them to journeynorth.org to participate in a symbolic migration to Mexico. The butterflies have finally arrived! Follow this link to look for the butterflies we sent. Find Our Butterflies Enter the name Carroll and you will see the two schools that received our butterflies. Can you find those schools on a map of Mexico? Click through the photos. Can you see our butterflies? Compare their schools with ours. How are they the same and how are they different?

Why Learn to Code?

Posted on January 31, 2016 by Mrs. Petuya

Code.org put together this five minute video to help explain what computer programmers do and what coding is. The more I learn about coding, the more I appreciate how it teaches perseverance and problem solving. If my students never become a programmer, they can all use those skills!

Migrating Monarchs

Posted on October 4, 2015 by Mrs. Petuya

We have been learning about the life cycle of a butterfly and the amazing migration of monarch butterflies. The monarch butterflies travel from all over North America to spend the winter in a very small area of Mexico. Read about it on JourneyNorth.org.

Our buddy class (Mrs. Washington’s Third Graders) have helped us participate in the Symbolic Migration. We are sending a cluster of decorated butterflies and friendly notes to school children in Mexico as a tokens of goodwill between our two countries. We are ambassadors and building understanding between people of other nations. We are also citizen scientists sharing observations of our environment as we post on journeynorth.org. You, too, can follow the migration of the butterflies or post your nature observations on the website via their app on your smartphone.

Shutterfly Links

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Mrs. Petuya

Check out the tabs above marked Photoblog and Volunteers. Both tabs will take you to a link to our class Shutterfly site. I have updated my Shutterfly account to cover activities and volunteer needs for the first trimester, including dates on the Shutterfly calendar. I know I had spoken at Orientation of using a different website for various needs, but I decided to keep it all in one place. I hope you find it simple and efficient to use. Please let me know how it goes for you.

Welcome Back!

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Mrs. Petuya

Oh my goodness! How wonderful to see you all back at school. I really missed my 24 hugs a day while we were off-track. It seems that all my students were also happy to be back, too.

This past week we met our Third Grade Buddies from Mrs. Ghilain’s class. They helped us put together our own books. Then each student read the book with their buddy and got some tips on learning sight words. We had a little extra time so we enjoyed some “GoNoodle” silliness, too. (GoNoodle is a fun website for music and pe activities)

Mrs. P 😀

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