The First Day of School!

What a terrific first day. Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Meissner welcomed a terrific group of kindergartners. We spent some time in the classroom establishing some of the class routines. We then went to the Media Center for an assembly where we learned a new song. After lunch the students went outside for a Wow experience. The students visited a petting zoo filled with sheep, a pig, bunnies, chickens a pony and more. The children were able to see an enclosed bee hive up close and taste fresh honey. Each child was also able to plant a seed. They were able to choose between broccoli, cabbage and collard greens. Wow what a first day and this is just the beginning! We are all looking forward to 179 more exciting and learning filled days.

Welcome to Kindergarten

We would like to welcome our new class of Kindergartners. We were so pleased to see such a great turnout at Orientation. Please remember to fill out all of the forms that you received at Orientation. We are looking forward to an exciting year filled with a great deal of learning, growing and fun. We will see you Monday morning for the first day of school. Be prepared for a Wow experience!

African Storytellers

Thursday was another day of wonder and excitement as we entered the dining room for another wonderful performance to celebrate Cultural Arts week at Chets Creek. We were greeted by two wonderful performers, with a variety of African Musical instruments. They sang beautiful songs, told wonderful African Folk tales and spoke to the children about respect and character. There were many children invited to the stage with some very lucky teachers to perform and play the many instruments. Wow it has been an exciting week so far with many lessons learned and great exposure to a variety of performing art forms. Who knows this may be the week that one of our very own students becomes inspired to create beauty as an adult and become an artist.

Mrs. Poetry

We had a poet come to us. She started with a cool poem about hats. That certainly got our attention. She did lots of voices and movement as she recited the poetry. She asked teachers to come up and act out her poems with her and she invited Mrs. Brown to participate. Mrs. Brown had to talk and act like a monster. Alexis says that Mrs. Brown was very silly. Nolan declared that Mrs. Brown was "very funny". Kiersten liked the part when Mrs. Brown was acting like she was stirring the pudding. When asked what they thought of the poetry lady the students comments were, Nidhi says, "She was funny." Nino says "She was silly." Daphinie says "She was funny because she acted like a beetle coming out of a box." Gabby says, "She did a Beach poem that was funny." The last thing we did was recite altogether one of Mrs. Poetry's poems that she wrote. It was called NERDS RULE! Mrs. Poetry said herself, "I don't just write poetry, I don't just read poetry I LOVE poetry" and so do we!

Posted and written together by Mrs. Brown's students

Two Drummer's Drumming

We had two gentlemen from the Percussion Section of the Jacksonville Symphony with us on Tuesday. They were terrific! They introduced us to many different instruments. Some of these were, Bongos, glockenspiel, tambourine, xylophones,cymbals and the cow bell. They played a few pieces of music. One of the pieces of music was like how they used to communicate in the army before there were radios and walkie talkies. We clapped with them and they told us about different genres of music.

Posted by the students in Mrs. Brown's class

IT"S ARTS EXTRAVAGANZA WEEK!!!!

This week is Arts Extravaganza week at Chets Creek. This is an annual tradition. This week is for experiencing and appreciating a variety of Art Forms. Each day the children will be able to go to an assembly to enjoy and learn. Monday's assembly was a Puppet Troupe with lots of silliness, music and a great message at the end. "Don't judge someone by their outside but it is what is inside that counts." Stay tuned for what new experience Tuesday's assembly brings.

Pamela Duncan Edwards and Henry Cole

Chets Creek had the great pleasure to have a visiting author and illustrator with us.Pamela Duncan Edwards and Henry Cole were at the Creek. They are the author and Illustrator of our new Book of the Month, Princess Pigtoria and the Pea. Our class had the great fortune to go and listen to Mrs. Edwards read the book Livingstone Mouse. We also enjoyed directing Mr. Cole as he drew a new character based on the directions of the children. They were very entertaining for the children as well as a wealth of information for the budding authors and illustrators in First Grade.