Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays to everyone. I finished my visits with Dry Creek yesterday, December 15, 2009. The week before a two-week break is always an exciting time for children, and I was able to play math games with a couple of second grade students, be a word detective with fourth graders, and watch whales take shape in the second grade classroom. In addition, a mulit-cultural calendar gift for parents was being created in the 5th grade, and Rudolph was coming to life in the Kindergarten. The first graders and I listened to a holiday story about Danny, and in the other kinder room, activity time was in full swing. Since there will be a strings concert this week, the students were preparing by practicing their violins and violas. What a treat to visit with everyone and engage in all of the learning taking place at Dry Creek.
I have visited 141 classrooms and have 126 to go!

I want to wish everyone a relaxing and happy holiday season!

See you in 2010!

Dry Creek

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit eight more classrooms at Dry Creek Elementary School. I was able to watch students measuring shapes, dividing seven brownies equally among four students, estimating answers to math problems, with one class was even taking a Math test. Additionally, I saw students writing their stories about the storms we had a few weeks ago, and the impact on their families. Another group of students were making new words by changing the first or last letter. Additionally, students in a sixth grade class were reading science articles about plants and pollen. It was a fabulous visit and I now have visited 126 classrooms with more visits scheduled next week at Lincoln HS and Dry Creek before the holiday break.
287-126=161 classes to go!

Welcome to the Little House

In November I was invited to have lunch at the Little House on the PAHS campus. It was a delightful experience. I had wonderful food fixed by the students and great discussions on their classes and lives. One young woman created a beautiful stain glass sailboat she graciously agreed to share with the Central Services Building. It is hanging in our Board Room.

Roosevelt Visits

Over the past two weeks I have been able to visit Roosevelt Elementary School. It was fabulous listening to the band play their songs. They played five songs and I recognized each of them. Great Job! In Kindergarten, students were sequencing their pumpkin stories and then coloring them. One little girl exclaimed, "I love patterns, so I am coloring my story in patterns." Additionally, I was able to sing the "Ti Ti Ta" song and have a reading buddy in the first grade. As I moved through the grade levels, lots of Response to Intervention Training going on in the 1st -3rd grades. Fabulous to see students excited about their learning. Onto 4th -6th grades where students were learning math. Students were discussing and explaining how they arrived at a math answer and learning was taking place for our students. Additionally, all of the posters indicating graduating classes all over the school were a welcome sight! Go Roosevelt students! Keep up the great work!

PAHS Homecoming!

Homecoming at PAHS! GO ROUGHRIDERS!

Franklin Visits

It has been a real treat to visit Franklin Elementary School Classrooms, and tomorrow I wrap up my visits. It is inspiring to observe students learning to write , enjoying math and science activities throughout their day, listening to stories being read, and reading during the Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) time. Students also are learning to tumble on the mats in their PE classes and discuss their view points on personal narratives. So far I have been able to visit 18 classes and will visit the last 6 classes tomorrow. 287-88= 199 classes to go! By tomorrow I will have completed the last 6 classes so I will have 193 classes to go! In addition we had our Japanese contingency visiting the Port Angeles School District a few weeks ago. What a fabulous experience for all of us!

Last Class Visits at PAHS/ Japanese Exchange Visit

On Wednesday and Thursday, October 7 and 8, were my last two days of visiting the High School. I was able to visit one class for each teacher over the past month. My visits this week included a couple of the Science 9 classes where observations vs inference discussions were taking place. I also was able to visit the Guidance and Counseling Office where I met a student who was planning his life after he graduates in 2010. Go Class of 2010! It was refreshing to see that when I stopped in one of the Geometry classes the students were not only excited about the subject matter, but their progress in the class as well. The NJROTC class was another opportunity that I was able to experience. Students were making sure they were ready for their inspections, and were at attention when I walked in to their class. I have completed my visits to the HS and will be heading to Franklin Elementary School beginning October 13, 2009.
287-70=217 to go!

After I left the HS, I prepared for the visitors from Japan. They arrived at the HS around 5:00 pm on thursday afternoon, and we met up with all of them at 6:30 at the Bushwacker Restaurant. It was very nice to meet them, and as they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words."