Dr. Seuss Day!

Yeah for Dr. Seuss Day!  There aren't many more fun days in an elementary school than a day dedicated to celebrating the birthday of Dr. Seuss!  Theodore Seuss Giesel was born on March 2, 1904 and we had fun celebrating Dr. Seuss and his contribution to children's literature. 

Mrs. Steen has been hard at work decorating and preparing for this day!  Dr. Seuss and his birthday were celebrated and helped launch our upcoming spring book fair, which will have a Dr. Seuss theme!  

Today, Mrs. Steen saw EVERY student in our school!  She shared various books written by Dr. Seuss, helped students create a fun edible craft, and provided fun photo opportunities!  

What a great day! 

 

 

 

 

I love these Dr. Seuss hats made out of Oreos and candy!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing Catch Up!

I'm sort of funny about my blogging.  I like to keep things nice and chronological.  So, I'm going to do a quick "catch up" blog.  Life happens so fast around here that I can't possibly share EVERYTHING with you, but how I want too! 

My goal is to be in classrooms as OFTEN as possible.  Why?  Sure, classroom supervision is part of my "job description," but it is so much deeper.  Just ask our PCA North administrative assistant, Anslie Dysart.  When I come back from the classrooms, I'm almost skipping and whistling!  Again, why?  Because our teachers are AMAZING and no matter where I look - at any day or any time - I see FANTASTIC student learning. 

The above being said, I'm going to share a variety of things - just to "catch up!" 

First Grade Literature Centers

One of the most important things first graders learn is to become fluent readers.  As students rotate through literature centers, Mrs. Fuller has opportunity to listen to individual students read to guide and challenge them appropriately.

 

Music

Walking by our music classroom draws me in every time!  It's such a happy place.  Enjoy some pictures of our first and second graders in music.  Mrs. Arredondo does a great job of varying the activities and keeping students actively engaged.

Kindergarten Math Time and Centers

The first picture shows Mrs. Zarycki and students in a hands-on math activity.  Students understand numbers and place value so much more when they can actually touch and manipulate the objects. 

 

Centers are a big part of the kindergarten curriculum.  Each learning station (or center) has a specific purpose.  

 

I love the series of pictures to follow.  Who knew 100 cups could be so much fun!?

Third Grade Technology Integration

When speaking of technology integration, I never want to lose sight of the learning objective.  Sure, technology is a great tool, but is most beneficial if enhancing the learning objective.  Recently, Mrs. Troster and her students explored the reading skill of cause and effect.  After learning the objective, students used technology to demonstrate mastery.  One group made an iMovie while another used augmented reality.  I would explain augmented reality - except it BLOWS MY MIND!  Google it!  Or - come and watch some third graders demonstrate! 

These creative students used props found around the classroom to act out a "cop and robber" movie.  The production was videoed and in no time was ready to show to classmates.

 

Mrs. Noel

Our staff had time to say a prayer, give a small give, and say a huge 'THANK YOU' to Jennifer Noel.  North's very first art teacher has left her imprint on our school and we are going to miss her tremendously.  However, we are excited for the doors God has opened for her family and look forward to seeing what is ahead for her as she moves to Tulsa.  Each staff member wrote a favorite verse on a paint brush. 

Our North campus is blessed with a great group of enrichment teachers who offer students great experiences in PE, library, technology, art, music, Spanish, and Learning Lab! 

 

We are gearing up for World Impact Day - coming up this week on March 5th.  Students at PCA North are adopting/supporting/praying for the high school students who will travel to Uganda over their mini-mester.  On Thursday, we will meet up with them for a special chapel, time of prayer and lots of other activities (more in a later blog).

To support those going on the trip, we have put feet to our prayers by collecting school supplies, personal hygiene products, and first aid supplies.  Our students and parents VERY GENEROUSLY give from their hearts.  As an additional challenge, we asked our students to bring soccer balls. One of the places our high school students will visit is a boy's home where soccer is a BIG DEAL!  To challenge our students, I said that if they brought 30 soccer balls, we would have a faculty and student soccer game.  Well...GAME ON!  At last count, we have 32 soccer balls and eight air pumps! 

Our North students truly understand the blessing of blessing others!

 

Transportation Day

Transportation Day is a big deal in kindergarten!  Students spend time designing and decorating their vehicle and the day culminates with students driving to various business, purchasing lunch with "money" and driving around "town," often getting citations from the police officer on duty!

Our kindergarteners were looking forward to joining our friends at PCA Plano for this big day.  The Plano campus has been doing Transportation Day for a long time and they have faux buildings and a great little set up.  Well...Remember the unexpected snow day in the previous post!?  Fortunately, the snow started falling heavily before our kindergarten students left our North campus.  Everyone agreed that the conditions were not safe to travel.  Not to worry!  Mrs. Zarycki and her parent volunteers quickly pulled together a great Transportation Day for our students!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, Mrs. Z and parents for helping with Plan B so our students could participate in Transportation Day!

What a week - SNOW!

I have to admit - this native Texan has missed the snow I experienced during the last nine years in the Oklahoma City area.  You wouldn't think 200 miles north would make THAT big of a difference in the weather, but it really does.  I grew up on the Texas "black ice" and even feel fairly comfortable driving during icy weather.  However, SNOW and ice are not the same thing and I've missed a good snowfall!

We were expecting a beautiful snowfall on Wednesday, and that didn't exactly pan out.  We had a little dusting and our third graders built a five inch tall snowman.  Still - snow is so rare around here I wanted our students to have the chance to go out and play so several teachers took an early recess and played in the snow before it faded into the grass.

Here are some pictures from Wednesday, February 25th. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When all else fails, find a little icy spot and practice sliding!  You know - Northern Lights and the ice rink will be back at our North campus before we know it and we need to stay in practice! 

Well - THEN - when we least expected it - just two days later...SNOW!  After we were dismissed from chapel, a white surprise was waiting outside.  Now - I don't have as many fun pictures of this snow because I was so busy doing and administrator stuff and not the school photographer stuff!  Deciding whether or not to dismiss school early is not for the faint of heart!  I wold have rather been taking pictures and playing with the students, but duty called and both PCA campuses had an early dismissal. 

Here are pictures from Friday, February 27th.  

This picture was taken around 10:00 am.  Little did we know that the snow would keep falling and falling!  By that night, we had several inches of great snow!  I know many students enjoyed sledding and building snowmen over the weekend. 

 

101st Day of School!

I hope you saw the post about our 100th day of school celebration!  If not - check it out here:

http://pcanorthcampus.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-100th-day-of-school.html

It was a GREAT day - full of fun, learning, and praying for the future students of PCA North.  As much fun as the day was - students worked HARD!  There were so many learning activities centered around the numeral 100.  

As we were all recuperating from a really great day, I walked by Mrs. Zarycki and saw she was dressed as a dalmatian.  Now, if you know Mrs. Z, you never know what surprises she has up her sleeve.  I didn't have the opportunity to ask why she was dressed as a dalmatian, so I came back to the office to ask my trusty assistant, Anslie Dysart.  She knows everything, and even Mrs. Dysart had no idea why Mrs. Zarycki was dressed as a dalmatian!

Finally, I just had to go and find out for myself.  Well - wasn't the answer obvious? On the 101st day of school, Mrs. Zarycki decided her class should celebrate with a "101 Dalmations Day."  

The class had some learning centered around dalmatians and had fun with a black and white snack (popcorn with chocolate chips) while watching a clip of the 101 Dalmatians movie.  What a fun surprise for our kindergarten students!

Texas History with 4th Grade

Fourth graders learn about the history of Texas as part of their social studies curriculum.  
The class enjoyed a very special visitor - the grandfather of one of our PCA North students.  
Mr. John Matthews talked with students about Texas history and also the history of his family.  He now has the certificate and documentation to prove his family was one of the original 300 families to settle Texas! This sweet grandfather also brought LOTS of artifacts to share with students including a family Bible over 150 years old.   

 

 

 

Mr. Matthews, thanks for helping history come alive for our students!