We had a great first week! We spent the week learning classroom & school procedures. By the end of the week we had added in several activities that we will be doing daily in our classroom. The students are really bonding quickly. They seem very comfortable in different groupings & are very sweet & respectful to each other. I took these pictures when they were working on their own "unique" Elmers. We hung the Elmer's outside of our classroom for all the Gorillas to see.
I spent the week learning new procedures, techniques, ideas, & celebrations to incorporate into our Great Expectations classroom. Yes boys & girls, the "GE Lady" was there! I learned SO much about brain based learning & ideas. Mrs. Blunt & I will incorporate the new ideas and techniques into our multiage families in the coming school year! I also went to "Lexicons, Literature, & More" where I learned many new and exciting things to add to the classroom lexicons we already do. There were many teachers from Greenwood that trained at GE this summer. Our multiage family KNOWS how great GE is and how it helps challenge our brains while giving us the tools to make positive choices. We will kick off the first day with UMOJO. What is that you ask? You will have to wait and see :)
Hope everyone is having a great summer. I have been busy lately. Mr. J and I totally redid Lauren's room while she was at pom camp. We also had a garage sale. I took this picture of us at Country Fever. It was so fun & the music was great. I saw Jazzy Jade & Youthful Yuliana last week. They are both enjoying their summer. Colossal Brain Cole rode by my house on his bike with his family. Kind Kimberly called me to check in. She is also having a great summer. A little birdy told me that Admirable Alexa is moving into my neighborhood next month. Mrs. Freise had her baby boy. I saw him this week & he is precious!!! I am going to Great Expectations with Mrs. Blunt next week. We are excited to learn new ideas to implement this fall. :)
I received an email from Beautiful Brianne & her sister Erin today. They are visiting their grandparents in Tuscon, Arizona. By the looks of the picture they are having a wonderful time! Loved hearing from them!!! I miss you too Brianne! Mrs. J
Post a comment & share summer news. If you do something fun, or just to say hello! OUR BLOG WILL BE UP & GOING ALL SUMMER, SO KEEP CHECKING IN! POST A COMMENT OR EMAIL MRS. J (jonesd@tahlequah.k12.ok.us) WITH NEWS, INFO, PICTURES, ETC. I WILL POST THE INFO, PICTURES, ETC. ON OUR BLOG FOR YOUR FRIENDS TO SEE!
I am enjoying the summer & hope all of you are too! I finally was able to take a picture of the roadrunner bird that I told you about before school was out. He walks down the sidewalks in my neighborhood & is at least two feet long. I read one book and have started another. I have also been studying for my National Board teacher assessment which is coming up in a week. I have rented several good videos, been planting flowers, & doing a lot of cooking. I love to cook! I started cleaning out all the closets & am still walking two miles everyday. Tomorrow I am going to the movies with Mrs. Blunt, Gillum, & Reed. It should be fun! Lauren & her friends are running in and out of the house playing Guitar Hero 3. Mr. J has been busy painting the outside of the house. I saw Creative Cole having lunch with his grama at Kelly's on Thursday. I heard from Beautiful Brianne's mom and they left to see grama & grampa in Arizona. Admirable Alexa had her recital & did a wonderful job!!! Magnificent Maggie stopped by and visited with Mr. J & I while we were working in the front yard. I am enjoying the break but I'm missing everyone!!!
Our final 5 days will be devoted to FUN! We will be going through our things, painting, drawing, playing educational games, sharing memories, making a memory book, and just enjoy being together!!!! What a busy and wonderful year we’ve had! It just seems like yesterday was the Summer Social and now the year is ending. This week will complete sixteen years of teaching for me. This year been one of my very favorites! Everyone grew leaps and bounds educationally, socially, and physically! This year they talked out their problems & came together during “trying” moments. With summer comes joy and sorrow. Joy for the break and sorrow in the sense of having to say good-bye to some my Multiage students, who will be moving on. I tear up just thinking about them leaving but know they are ready to “fly”: Ana, Braden, Bradyn, Brianne, Hayley, Jade, Jax, Seth, Tate, Taylor, Yuliana. Each one of you are unique & Mrs. Jones loves each one of you so much! It is like we always say, once you are a part of our Multiage Family, you are always a part. Also, Holly’s dad returns from his tour in Iraq this week!!! Her family will be moving to a base in Georgia next month. We want to wish them well! Next year we will add several new faces to the Multiage. I am also excited about our returning members. They are each special children who Mrs. Jones loves too! Have a safe summer everyone, I love you all & will see you in August! Thank You! Deena Jones
*TUESDAY 13TH – GREENWOOD CHILI’S NIGHT
We were so excited to get the Golden Frisbee last Monday during Gorilla Pride!
Yearbooks came in this week. They are currently on sale in the office for $15.00. There are limited quanities, less than 50 left. The children are so excited about having their friends sign their yearbooks!
We won the Dustpan Award during Gorilla Pride on Monday April 7th & April 14th for having the cleanest room on the Green Wing! Once was great but twice was VERY nice!!!
This week we began our ocean life unit. We chose partners for cooperative sea life projects. Each of our groups are currently researching a creature from the sea. We will continue our projects next week. We had a wonderful time on our field trip to the aquarium. We saw so many interesting underwater creatures! We held two different types of shark eggs. We also touched different kinds of starfish, stingrays, & small sharks! The sea horses had new babies that were very tiny. We feed stingrays & turtles then went into the new otter & beaver exhibit. The otters were chasing crawdads & eating them. The beaver was eating carrots & other vegetables. The shark exhibit was also very neat! It is a trip we will never forget!!
Creative Cole & Brainy Bradyn competed with their team in the Cherokee Challenge Bowl for grades K-2, where they placed second. It's a academic buzzer competition where students are tested on their knowledge of Cherokee: history, culture, government, & language. It was sponsored by the Cherokee Nation JOM program. Way to go boys!
BINGO!
Addition, Subtraction, & Money Bingo were a big hit this week! Each table rotated through a different game of bingo during math centers. We took turns being the "caller." It was great way to review our math skills.
The whole family: Sunny, Buttercup, & Daisy
We begin every morning with journal writing. We pick our own topic: what we did last night, what we are doing today, exciting events, etc. By journaling we have learned: every sentence begins with a capital letter, punctuation goes at the end of every sentence, to space our words, & to independently use a dictionary to look up unknown words. We love to bring our journals to our big carpet. We make two standing groups: an inner circle & outer circle. Mrs. J plays music & the inside circle begins to walk around. When she stops the music, we stop & read our journal writing to the closest person in the outer circle. As the game continues the outer circle might walk & share. It is AWESOME & fun to listen to what our friends wrote about.
We were all smiles as we left for 10 days off! Hope the weather is nice! Buddy Bear is headed to Colorado skiing with Sensational Seth & Colossal Brain Cole's families. Hope he doesn't break a leg! He left wearing a ski hat & sweater.
Will a bar magnet attract a paper clip through a plastic cup?
YES IT WILL!
Will a magnet wand attract a paper clip through a piece of paper & a tissue? Yes it will!
Will a magnet wand move a magnet marble through a 1 inch table? Yes it will!
Will a magnet wand move a magnet ball through a chapter book? Yes it will!
Will a magnet want attract a paper clip through a plastic cup & a book? Yes it will!
Will a magnet wand move a magnet ball inside of a plastic cup if the cup is a top a tissue, piece of paper, 2 small books, & one chapter book? Yes it will! What if you then stick the magnet wand under a 1 inch table? YES IT WILL! Wow!
After visiting the Council House at the Cherokee Heritage Center. The students suggested setting up our own Multiage Council House. We did just that & now it is a special place for students to sit down, talk out problems, & establish solutions. Hanging on the front you will see a heart (symbolizing kind words), a hand (symbolizing gentle touches), & a smiley face (symbolizing smiles). The symbols come from our Great Expectations character program. After working out their conflict, the students then have closure by giving each other one of the 5 H's: handshake, high five, hip bump, Hollywood "air kiss", or a hug. The Council House has been very successful! The students are now resolving conflicts & coming up with solutions on their own. A skill they can use for life. When it is not being used as a place to resolve conflict the students use it as a place to read.
Yesterday was career day. Mrs. J talks to us often about having goals for our future. It is important to have and work towards our goals. We dressed for the day. It was fun to see what everyone wanted to be. Mrs. J wants us all to go to college so we will have more opportunities. We read Oh The Places You Will Go by Dr. Seuss. We want to go a lot of places when we grow up.
Our Job & Affirmation chart is located next to our Council House. The students & I use the drop shaped papers to write positive messages or compliments to each other. We have been doing this since school started. Some of the children choose to leave their drops in their clear pocket, while others like to take them home or keep them in their pencil boxes. I occasionally peek at the messages to see what they are saying to each other. I have read many great statements from "Thank you for helping me with my word sort." to "You are such a wonderful friend." I feel it is a great way for the students to let others know how they feel. This idea comes from the book
Mrs. Jones' good friend Melanie Bolding, a retired first grade teacher, came and read 
These are some of the many Dr. Seuss books we have in our library.
We brought a lot of Dr. Seuss books from home to leave in our classroom library for the next two weeks. We have so many and are loving getting to read them all! 
January & February Students of the Month 
