Crazy Hat & Hair Day!

Every year on October 31st, Cherry Park celebrates Crazy Hat and Hair Day! It's always fun to see the creativity of our students and staff members on this day! Here are some pictures from this year's Crazy Hat and Hair Day...

Maddi, Nedel, Nayanna and McKenna (from left to right)

 Kyra, Tim, Alyssia and Leilani (from left to right)

 Lily, Taverick and Andrea  (from left to right)

 From Mrs. Zurcher's class...Tre, Daeton, Malena and Maddie (from left to right)

 From Mr. Soule's class...Elaine, Bella, Matilda, Amellia and Erick (from left to right)

 And...our awesome second grade team...Ms. Senthirajah, Mr. Soule and Mrs. Zurcher

Our monthly spirit days are always so much fun! We're already looking forward to our November spirit day!

Students of the Month Recognized!

We've basically reached the end of October which means it's time for Students of the Month to be recognized! Today we had our monthly spirit assembly where two students from each class were recognized after being chosen by their teacher. Parents were notified ahead of time so they could be at the assembly. Students, however, were not told who had been chosen for each class. Our character trait for October was Cooperative.

Congratulations to Tim and Maddi who were chosen as our class's October Students of the Month! They received certificates during our assembly this morning.

Following the presentation of certificates, the 3rd grade teachers put on a skit to demonstrate the November character trait: Helpful.

Our class watches as the third grade teachers demonstrate November's character trait, which is Helpful.

After the assembly, Tim and Maddi had their pictures taken for the Students of the Month bulletin board which is in the main hallway between halls 1 and 2. Their pictures will be up all month until our November Students of the Month are recognized.

And because a spirit assembly means it's spirit day at Cherry Park...

Kyra, Zainab and Andrea showing off their school spirit with their matching Cherry Park shirts!

Our next spirit assembly will be Friday, November 22nd. In addition to November Students of the Month being recognized, the 2nd grade team will be in charge of teaching the rest of the school about our December character trait. More info to come on that soon!

An Awesome Reading Site!

We are lucky enough to have access to a wonderful website where students can work on reading skills.The site is called RazKids and, with internet access, our students can use it at home as well as at school.

Every student has their own login and password. Those were sent home earlier this week. You can log in to the website at www.raz-kids.com/login/senth2. Then use the information on the login card.

I have set up every student at their current reading level. For each book, students listen to the story and then read it on their own. After that, there is a comprehension quiz.

Students earn stars for every book they read and listen to as well as for the quizzes they pass. Stars can be used to "buy" items in the Raz Rocket section so that students can personalize their rocket. It's a fun "incentive" for students as they move their Raz Kids stories.

Below are some pictures of our students in the computer lab this week.

Clockwise from top left: Nedel, Kyra, Taverick, Lily, McKenna and Alyssia

They love Raz Kids! I strongly encourage your child to use this website at home! This can even be used for our weekly homework reading log up to twice a week. Please let me know if you have any questions or need your child's login information again.

It's Fire Safety Month

Last week we had our first fire drill of the school year. We reviewed in class what to do in case of a fire, which was then followed by our fire drill.

It was good timing because the fire drill came right before the start of October which is Fire Safety Month. We spent a week discussing different aspects of fire safety. We learned about the importance of working smoke detectors and of having an exit plan as well as a meeting place. Everyone was encouraged to go home and talk to their families to make sure an exit plan is in place in case of a fire.

We ended our fire safety time by creating a book that contains different fire safety rules. Our finished product looked like a book of matches with the safety rules written inside on matches.

Clockwise from top left: Joelle writing rules on the matches, Tim cutting out his matches, and Kyra gluing her matches into the matchbook.

 The final products were taken home to share with families and keep as a reminder of fire safety rules.

I hope that every family was able to discuss what to do in case of a fire and have a plan set and in place in case of an emergency.

Comparing Similar Stories

Today we spent our reading block comparing two very similar stories. First we read "The Three Little Pigs" and then we read another version of the story called "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig." It was a new story for everyone and we really enjoyed the different version!

I inherited a large venn diagram pocket chart from a teacher at our school who retired last year...and I love it! We used it for the first time today as we looked at similarities and differences in the two books.

 While we created the large venn diagram, students made their own at their seats.

We had fun reading different versions of essentially the same story. This might be an activity we'll have to repeat later in the year with different stories!