Learning Journey

The Popcorn Book by Tomie dePaola

2011-05-20T10:30:00.003-04:00

Did you know that archeologists found some popped corn in a bat cave in New Mexico that 5,600 years old? Wow, that is OLD!! Today we read The Popcorn Book by Tomie dePaola and learned all about popcorn. We were amazed to find out the different ways the Indian people of America popped popcorn. One way they popped popcorn was by throwing the kernals right into the fire by the handful. This would cause the popcorn to pop all over the place! Popping popcorn has come a long way since then. After reading the book, we completed our own Popcorn Book and enjoyed some yummy popcrn.

EggDrop Fun

2011-04-21T08:26:00.002-04:00

This EGGciting EGGperiment involved dropping a raw egg from the second story of Chets Creek in a student-made EGGproof container. Our students created and made their containers out of any materials they chose. The goal was that the container holding the raw egg kept it from ending up like Humpty Dumpty even when dropped from the second floor of Chets Creek. Our principal even came to drop a few eggs for us! Our students were very creative and we had a lot of fun with this experiment. The final results were that 13 eggs broke or cracked while 10 survived. Way to go!!

FCAT Spirit Week

2011-04-11T12:14:00.002-04:00

Our second graders had so much fun showing our support for the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders during FCAT spirit week. We know that they will Rock the FCAT!

Butterflies are Here!!

2011-03-21T12:08:00.002-04:00

In Science, our students have been learing about the life cycle of the butterfly. We observed how the catepillars changed into butterflies. We even watched them emerge from their chrysallis. Our students shared what they learned with a kindergarten class as we released the butterflies into the world.

Read Aloud by Mrs. Philips

2011-03-04T12:22:00.003-05:00

Today we were very lucky to have a special visitor come to our classroom for a read aloud. Mrs. Philips read to our class an old Book of the Month called Apple Batter by Deborah Zagwyn. This is a great story of perseverance. Mrs. Philips challenged our students with higher level questioning and encouraged them to keep working hard on their reading goals. Thank you Mrs. Philips for taking time out of your busy day to come share a great book with us.

Together Tuesdays

2011-03-04T07:44:00.009-05:00

As we continue our study on Nonfiction, students are reading their Weekly Readers with a partner on Tuesday of each week. Students are looking at the text features of Nonfiction while they take turns reading.

Polished Poetry

2011-02-16T13:14:00.003-05:00

Check out some of the fabulous poetry coming from room 204.

Weather

2011-02-01T08:19:00.002-05:00

Untitled from Jessica Shaffer on Vimeo.

For the month of January, our students have been observing the weather at the same time each day and recording their observations in their weather journals. Our class has included the four major elements: temperature, wind speed, cloud coverage and precipitation. Our students used this data to make accurate weather predicitions. Students worked in cooperative groups to complete their weather maps. There were four main jobs in each group: meteorologist, camera person, script writer and producer. After watching examples of weather forecasts, our students were ready to write their own weather forecast scripts and present their forecasts to the class.

Idioms

2011-01-14T08:53:00.007-05:00

Students learned about idioms through our Book of the Month for January, Butterflies in My Stomach and Other School Hazards by Serge Bloch. Students came up with idioms they had heard before and illustrated them to show the literal and figurative meanings.

Persuasive Writing

2011-01-12T08:37:00.006-05:00

In Writers' Workshop, we have been working on Persuasive Writing. Students wrote letters and/or papers to try and encourage or persuade someone to do something. Students brainstormed ideas that they were passionate about in their seed journals and then chose one to write about. They learned how important it was to add facts to support thier opinion. Did they convince their audience?? You decide. Here are a few examples of our persuasive writing.

Holiday Fun 2010

2011-01-02T15:23:00.000-05:00

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Elf Yourself

2010-12-17T08:41:00.001-05:00

Purple Cow Award

2010-11-08T15:12:00.005-05:00

"Stop trying to be perfect and start being REMARKABLE"! On the first day of school Mrs. Phillips challenged the teachers to DARE to be a PURPLE cow in a brown cow world. We then challenged our students to do the same by standing out and being "REMARKABLE". For the 1st 9 weeks of school, every time we caught a student doing something REMARKABLE they put their name on a purple cow and placed it in a bucket for a drawing at the end of the 9 weeks. What did they win if their name was chosen? They got to witness our principal being REMARKABLE by willingly taking a purple pie in the face for the student whose name was drawn that dared to be a purple cow in a brown cow world. In case you didn't recognize her, that is Mrs. Phillips with the trash bag over her clothes and a shower cap over her head. Assisting was her secretary, Mrs. Morgan.

Untitled from Jessica Shaffer on Vimeo.

Procedural Writing

2010-11-03T08:23:00.003-04:00

To introduce our Procedural Writing Unit, students were asked to write "how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich" for an alien who would have never made one before. Students thought they were experts at this until we tried this on one of our teachers. As you can see, she was unsuccessful at doing this properly. Students learned how important it is to include specific details and step by step directions to make the outcome successful. Tomorrow we will be revising our pb&j procedural pieces to make sure that an alien could follow our directions clearly.

Untitled from Jessica Shaffer on Vimeo.

Literary Pumpkin

2010-10-27T07:42:00.007-04:00

This year our class chose the book The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano for our literary pumpkin. In this book, Spookley (the main character) is an unusual pumpkin because he is square and all the others are round. The other pumpkins tease Spookley until one day the weather turns stormy and the wind tosses all the pumpkins around except Spookley. Spookley ends up saving the day because he is square. A great story that teaches us that being different can be good!

Literary Text

2010-10-15T15:17:00.008-04:00

This week in Readers' Workshop we have been learning about different types of literary text. We have been reading and discussing Fables, Folk Tales and Legends. Below is a link to a great website that will read them aloud for you. Enjoy!

http://www.speakaboos.com/

Open House Video

2010-10-08T15:41:00.001-04:00

Thank you for a wonderful turn out for our Open House. Here is the video for your viewing pleasure :).

Untitled from Jessica Shaffer on Vimeo.

Whopper Strategy

2010-10-01T15:19:00.003-04:00

This week in Readers' Workshop we have been learning about the Reading Concept, Main Idea. The Main Idea is what the passage or story is mostly (or mainly) about. Some stories have many important ideas, but there is only one most important idea. Our Reading Strategy is the Whopper. We can compare stories to a Whopper Hamburger. The supporting details of the story are the condiments on the hamburger and the meat of the hamburger is the most important idea (the main idea) of our story.

Sight Word Sundaes

2010-10-01T15:11:00.004-04:00

Our students have been working hard on their sight words. Congratulations to our 5 students who have recited all 1,000 sight words and earned their Ice-Cream Sundae.

"How Many Pockets?"

2010-09-20T19:25:00.007-04:00

In math workshop, we are finding efficient strategies for counting a set of objects. Today, we counted the number of pockets that our class was wearing. First we estimated how many pockets we thought would be in our class. Then we represented the number of pockets with interlocking cubes. After each student counted the number of pockets that they were wearing, they placed that number of cubes in a jar. Next, we dumped all of the cubes on the floor and talked about efficient ways that we can count the cubes. The students stated that they could count by 2's, 5's or even 10's. Then a few students began to organize the cubes and then count the cubes. Our class was wearing 105 pockets.

"Edible Dirt"

2010-09-20T19:12:00.006-04:00

In science workshop, our students are learning about soil, the different types of soil and where soil comes from. Oh and lets don't forget..."Edible Dirt". "Don't eat the dirt!" is something that our parents told us not to do when we were kids but today we told the student that they were going to EAT DIRT! Some students were very excited about eating dirt while others were a little hesitant until they realized that the dirt was really pudding. Each student made their own soil sample and learned that soil has three layers: bedrock, subsoil and topsoil. In our edible dirt, we used graham crackers to represent the bedrock, chocolate pudding to represent the subsoil, and Oreos to represent the topsoil. Oh, and lets not forget the worms. Yes, worms too! This activity really engaged the students and was only the beginning of our soil study.

Good Readers "Take a Picture" (Visualize) What They are Reading

2010-09-20T09:47:00.004-04:00

When I say "pink elephant" did you see the words "pink elephant" or did you see a mental image (picture) in your mind of a pink elephant. Hopefully you created a mental image of a pink elephant. Good readers constantly create mental images when they are reading and connecting with text. Mental images help the reader form unique interpretations, clarify thinking, draw conclusions, and enhance comprehension (understanding) of the words in print. Like the mental image of a "pink elephant", mental images are created based on the readers' schema (prior knowledge) and words from the text. Today we had a student leave the classroom. The class then gave a description of that student based on the mental images they created in their minds. They were sure they could accurately describe the relevant details that make that student unique in her appearance and what she was wearing. Then we had the student return to discover that some of the details were accurate (she wore glasses), some of the details were inaccurate (she was wearing an orange skirt rather than the pink shorts she was actually wearing), some very imortant details were left out (freckles, the way she was wearing her hair, her plaid tennis shoes). Finally, readers' adapt or change their mental images to incorporate new information as they read. For example, our students changed and added new details when our volunter re-entered the room based on what we saw. When reading with your child, ask them what they "picture in their mind" when the setting is described, when details are given about the character/s, when important events occur, etc. to see if they are accurately creating mental images when reading.

Football Fun

2010-09-14T08:34:00.002-04:00

To kick off the start of football season, students had a chance to support their favorite sports team by wearing their team colors and/or jerseys. As you can see we have many sports fans in our class!!

Picky Mrs. Pickle

2010-08-26T15:37:00.003-04:00

Picky Mrs. Pickle by Christine M. Schneider is a story about a lady, Mrs. Pickle, who is very particular about her tastes. She loves pickles and pickle-pigmented things. From her minty green shoes to her emerald green eyelids, this lady is all pickle. But does she have a fear of trying new things? Her stubborn neice, little Sophie Claire, thinks so and challenges her aunt to try new things. So after reading the book with our class we challenged each child to try something new. They each got a pickle to taste if they liked. Our class had 16 students who liked it, 8 students who didn't like it and 6 that didn't try one. From the pictures we are sure you can tell who liked it and who didn't :).

First Week of School

2010-08-26T15:12:00.002-04:00

Wow! What a great 1st week our little farmers have had. Our theme this year is Cultivating a Community of Excellence. Our students were welcomed back with a variety of exciting and interactive activities such as a petting zoo, watermelon wagon, a beekeeper and real farmers and their tractors. We are so excited about our great "crop of kids" this year.to

Readers' Workshop

2010-05-12T19:23:00.003-04:00

In Readers' Workshop we are reading books by Tomie dePaola and learning about him as an author. We have been enjoying all of his stories. We decided to take advantage of this beautiful weather and read one of his books outside.

Friends Always!

2010-05-12T19:15:00.002-04:00

Poetry

2010-03-15T07:41:00.002-04:00

In Writers' Workshop our class is studying Poetry Writing. After reading a poem about losing a tooth, we decided to write one together. Hope you enjoy it!

My Tooth
I've been wiggling and waggling
this tooth for days.

I have to chew my food in many
different ways.

Oh, what do I do?

I chew and I chew but it just
won't fall out.

Oh, what do I do? I shout.

I go to lunch and the next thing I know,
I hear a big crunch!

Oh, what do I do?

My tooth just flew into my shoe!

by: our second grade class
Mrs. Shaffer, Mrs. Nelson and Mrs. Rossignol

2nd Quarter Awards Ceremony

2010-02-05T07:54:00.002-05:00

We are very proud of all our students and the goals they have accomplished for the second quarter of second grade. We are also extremely proud of our three Soaring Eagles! Way to Go!

Procedural Writing

2009-11-30T15:16:00.003-05:00

Today in Writers' Workshop, students wrote to an alien about how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. After watching this they realized that there were many specific details left out of their directions. Tomorrow we will be revising our pb&j procedural pieces so that an alien could follow the directions clearly. Check out the video below of Mrs. Ruark (Mrs. Rossignol is her hands) trying to follow the directions of one student's writing.

PB & J from Jessica Shaffer on Vimeo.

Soaring Eagles 1st 9 weeks

2009-11-06T07:55:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to our Soaring Eagles for the first 9 weeks. We are so proud of these students.

Literary Pumpkin

2009-10-26T17:04:00.004-04:00

Our class chose to display Woolbur as our class pumpkin.

Plug-It-In, Plug-It-In, Does it make "scents"?

2009-10-12T08:53:00.003-04:00

This week in Readers' Workshop our students learned the test taking strategy Plug-It-In, Plug-It-In, Does it make "scents". Watch our video to see how the students modeled the test taking strategy.

Untitled from Jessica Shaffer on Vimeo.

Game Day

2009-10-03T06:10:00.004-04:00

Our class earns beads as an incentive for their good behavior as a whole group. Once they fill up our jar with beads, they get to choose a reward. This week our class chose to have game day. Look how much fun we had! Way to go guys!

Vocabulary

2009-10-01T08:09:00.006-04:00

This year our second graders are learning new vocabulary words through our text talk books. This week we read Picnic at Mudsock Meadow by Patricia Polacco and learned 6 new vocabulary words. We are reviewing these words everyday. We are quite impressed on how well the students are learning their vocabulary words and even incorporating them into their writing :). The link below is a great way for your child to practice their vocabulary words.

Picnic at Mudsock Meadow

Inference

2009-09-28T13:03:00.002-04:00

This week in Readers' Workshop we are learning how to make an INFERENCE. We learned that writers don't always tell us everything they are thinking so we have to use the CLUES from the text and our PRIOR KNOWLEDGE to "CONNECT" or understand the implied meaning.

Open House Video

2009-09-23T07:38:00.001-04:00

Untitled from Jessica Shaffer on Vimeo.

Big Chickens

2009-03-26T11:53:00.006-04:00

After reading the book of the month, Big Chickens by Leslie Helakoski, our class decided to do a Reader's Theater with this book. Check out or video to see how creaive our students are!

Releasing our Goals/Fears of the FCAT

2009-03-11T07:54:00.000-04:00

Each student wrote his or her goal or fear they had going into the FCAT on a sheet of paper. We then attached the note to the child's balloon. We all gathered outside to release our balloons as a class. We watched as our goals/fears of the FCAT flew away into the sky.

Untitled from Jessica Shaffer on Vimeo.

FCAT Fun Week

2009-03-08T16:58:00.000-04:00

STAND BACK!!!!...Chemical Changes/Energy

2009-03-08T16:22:00.005-04:00

In science workshop, we have been learning about States of Matter and Changes in Matter. During our outdoor instruction day, our class conducted an experiment using Diet Coke and Mentos mint candies. When we combined the Mentos in the Diet Coke a chemical change occured. Our students constructed an hypothesis (an educated guess) as to what they thought would happen when the Mentos were added to the Diet Coke. They also recorded what they observed and drew a diagram and labled the parts. After the experiment, the students discussed whether their hypothesis was correct.

"Pep you up" pep rally

2009-03-03T14:06:00.002-05:00

Today we enjoyed tailgating out at the pavilion to get us pumped up for the FCAT. We are ready! Bring on the FCAT!

2009-03-02T08:56:00.000-05:00

Is 50th Good Enough for Your Child?
“The right action of all of us is made up of the right action of each one of us. Unless each of us is determined to meet the duty that comes to us, we can have no right to expect that others will meet the duties that come to them.”

~ Calvin Coolidge

No one can deny that we are living in trying times. All around the country, our friends, relatives and acquaintances are suffering. On Monday, your friend was laid off. Last Friday, you heard about your relatives living without power and water as their homes are buried in ice. Two weeks ago, your neighbor left with his unit for a tour in Iraq. Your spouse is worried about their job security. Discount stores are advertising entire store clearance sales. We are all hurting in some way. If we are not yet hurting, we are just waiting for it to trickle down to our house, our job, our bank account. We know it is coming.

Your child’s school is not immune.

Duval County expects to suffer from a $150 million budget deficit for the 2009-2010 academic year. All the facts tell us there is NO WAY to “trim the fat” and balance this budget crisis without affecting the classroom. In short, your child's school will suffer.

Guidance and Media services could be reduced!
Valuable resources like Art, Music and PE may be cut!
Essential supplies and materials could disappear altogether!

It is important to understand that this problem, this CRISIS, is not limited to Duval County alone. This fiscal crisis is statewide. The state of Florida was ranked 47th out of 50 states in tax revenue prior to the passing of Amendment One, which served to further reduce our state taxes. Regarding the total amount of funds allocated and spent on education, the state of Florida is ranked 50th in the nation. I ask you, does this represent your priorities? I doubt it.

Article IX, Section I of the Florida Constitution guarantees that:

"The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida."

"It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for … a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools that allows students to obtain a high quality education …."

Are our legislators upholding the requirements of our state constitution?

As voters, we share a heavy burden. It is our responsibility to educate ourselves with accurate facts. It is our responsibility to make our voices heard. It is our responsibility to act.
It is our responsibility to advocate for our children. It is our responsibility to fight for their rights, for today and for their future. If not us, then who? If we do not meet our duties, we cannot expect others to meet theirs.

I urge you. Educate yourselves. Research the facts. Go to the source. Ask questions. Speak out. Make demands. Do not accept it as fact because others believe it to be true.

Ask yourself, is 50th good enough for your child?

If the answer is NO - contact our state's legislative delegation and ask for immediate help from one of these short term solutions:

1. One cent increase to the sales tax of Florida for just 3 years. It generates ten billion dollars over 3 years to plug the education funding cuts!

2. Please give flexibility to the school districts in the areas of categoricals, (SAI, Class Size, Instruction Materials, Reading, Safe Schools).

3. Please suspend unfunded mandates on the districts. (Examples: Transportation, Testing & Curriculum Requirements, Safety Nets, and Staffing Requirements.)

4. Please give flexibility of capital funds—so they can be used for General Revenue.

Ask them to find long term solutions to the critical funding situation in Florida and urge them to make public education a priority so that even our children's children can benefit from a right guaranteed them by our state constitution!

Risk...Care...Dream...Expect...

Special thanks to coauthor Jenny Nash

Recognizing our Troops

2009-02-17T08:24:00.004-05:00

After reading the book of the month, The Impossible Patriotism Project, our class visited the website and sent a virtual postcard from our class http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1280.html to our troops to thank them for their contributions. We encourage each student to visit this website at home and send a postcard from their family to show support.

No Talking by Andrew Clements

2009-02-09T08:03:00.003-05:00

Our class just started reading another one of our Battle of the Books, NO Talking by Andrew Clements, and we are already hooked! This book is about a group of 5th grade boys and girls who have a competition to see who can talk less. We will keep reading to find out who wins-the boys or girls.

Holiday Celebration

2008-12-23T09:54:00.001-05:00

They've Got the Whole World In Their Precious Little Hands

2008-11-25T10:51:00.001-05:00

We had a special holiday treat when the TD class came for a visit to share a strategy they use to learn all the continents.

Adventures with Jonsey

2008-11-17T15:09:00.005-05:00

I have been a very busy little guy this year. I have traveled all around Florida. My first destination was going to D.'s football game. I loved watching D. play because he was such an awesome football player. The next trip I took was camping with A. I enjoyed being outdoors and roasting marshmallows on a tree branch. They were delicious! After camping, I went home with T. to celebrate her little sister's birthday. We had so much fun. We ate Sloppy Joes and Jello Cake. The food was YUMMY! After the big birthday party, S. took me to Disney World. I was so excited because I had never been to Disney World before. We stayed in a very big condo with a pirate ship outside of it. We went on Splash Mountain. I was scared, but had so much fun. Next, A. took me to North Carolina. I got to meet two other Chet bears on our trip. We went to the Haunted Horn. It was super scary. My next trip was with E. to the Florida Caverns. E. read me Goldilocks and the Three Bears on our way there. I love listening to stories. M. took me to church where I learned all about Trust. It was very interesting. Then J. took me camping. I got to go fishing and we saw a raccoon unzipping our cooler. It was funny. I love to travel so if you are going somewhere SPECTACULAR please feel free to take me with you!!!

Class Goal Reward

2008-11-09T13:52:00.003-05:00

Our classes earn beads for good behavior each day. When each class fills their bead jar they get to decide on a class reward. Mrs. Nelson's homeroom chose to dress like twins and Mrs. Shaffer's homeroom chose to to watch a movie and eat popcorn during Fun Friday. Way to go guys! Keep up the good behavior! :)

Planting Pumpkin Seeds

2008-11-01T07:11:00.003-04:00

Hallo-Weiner

2008-10-31T11:40:00.003-04:00

Next month, Chets Creek will campaign against bullying or making fun of others. Today in celebration of Halloween, we read the book Hallo-Wiener by Dav Pilkey. In the story, Oscar,(named after Oscar Meyer)was a little dog with a big problem--the other dogs teased him all the time. To be "frank", he wasn't like the other dogs. Oscar was different because he was half-a-dog-tall and one-and-one-half dogs long. What made matters worse, was when his mother bought him a giant hot-dog bun costume, complete with mustard, for Halloween. Guess who was suppose to fit in the middle? Read this humorous account of how this little wiener proved to be a real winner.

PB & J

2008-10-28T16:18:00.003-04:00

We wanted to welcome our new paraprofessional, Mrs. Durkin, who will be in our classroom for two hours each day. What better way to inaugurate her into our classroom then by making her a guinea pig in our lesson on procedural writing in relation to the sequence of events. Students were asked to write down steps of how to make a PB & J using enough details that even an alien (who had never made a PB & J) could perform. Although students proclaimed this would be an easy task, they discovered how unsuccessful the outcome would be if important details were left out. Mrs. Rossignol was "Mrs.Durkin's hands" as Mrs. Shaffer read the unedited procedural as written by a student. See the video to find out what went wrong.

Open House Video

2008-10-28T15:27:00.002-04:00

Bear with us brand new bloggers as we are branching out with our blogging. We have bumped up from pictures to videos. Because we are also beginning videographers, the best video we have to bring to our blog is our video from Open House. Better late than never! (That is an example of an author's craft called alliteration, which is the repetition of the same sounds at the beginning of words).

Do you want your own copy of the video? A parent graciously donated their time to burn copies of the Open House video for every student. The Cd's were also generously donated by another parent of ours.

Fiction Favorties

2008-10-10T15:01:00.012-04:00

In Readers' Workshop, we have been learning about two main kinds of stories: Fiction and Nonfiction. Fiction stories are made up by an author for the purpose of enjoyment. For two weeks we have been enjoying different genres of fiction. See some of our favorite selections so far.

Fantasy Fiction - The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn is considered fantasy fiction because the characters are forest animals that talk and go to school at night in a tree. While the author's purpose is for enjoyment, she also confronts a difficult situation we've all experienced at some point in our lives...seperation from someone we love. A child that enters a new school, a child going to parent's house for the weekend, a child going off to camp, or even the death of a loved one...it is said best by one of our students, "even when you can't be with people you care about the most, you can always carry them with you in your heart."

Traditional Fiction - Town Mouse and Country Mouse by Jan Brett is a fable that has been passed down from one generation to another. The author's purpose in this fable is to remind us of a familar moral lesson..."There's no place like home" and "the grass isn't always greener on the other side."

Realistic Fiction - BEDHEAD...Oh, come on, you know you've had it! This funny story by Margie Palatini is realistic because we've all had a bad hair day when we push, pull, straighten, curl, spritz, spray, gloop, and mousse...and our hair is still way out of control. But has it ever happened to you on class picture day?

African Brochures

2008-10-03T18:51:00.004-04:00

Come travel with us on our African Safari as we teach you about the fascinating things in Africa!

Book of the Month

2008-09-28T08:25:00.006-04:00

After reading our September Book of the Month, Amazing Pop-Up Picture Atlas, our class made brochures about Africa. The students got into groups and researched information about Africa using the book of the month as well as the computer. They then chose different facts about Africa, such as, African Animals, African Customs, Egypt, etc. that they wanted to display on their brochures. The students added their own special touch by drawing pictures to go with their facts and/or pasting pictures of Africa that they found on the computer. One student was so excited about this activity that she told me that she dreamed about it!

The Thing About Georgie

2008-09-28T07:33:00.003-04:00

This week our class started reading our first Battle of the Book together. The Thing About Georgie by Lisa Graff is an entertaining story about a fourth grade boy who happens to be a dwarf. The chapters in the book start off by having us do things that will help us understand what it is like to be a dwarf. For example, the narrator asks us to take our arms over our heads and touch our ears. Something we thought most people could do. We are so excited about this book and can't wait to learn more about Georgie and his life experiences.

Summer Vacation

2008-08-12T21:47:00.006-04:00

It's hard to believe that we are back to school. I am looking forward to a wonderful new year and look forward to meeting all of our new students. I want to share a few things that my family and I did during our summer vacation. First, my son had a wonderful opportunity to spend time with his almost 90 year old great-grandfather and his grandfather. They visited Washington, DC and had the chance to see the airplane that Pappy (great-grandfather) flew during the war. They visited museums, monuments and memorials.

When my son returned from his trip,we were off on our three week long vacation which began with our trip to South Carolina to visit with family. We enjoyed fishing, swimming and spending time with family. After a week in South Carolina, we ventured off on a road trip to Maryland where we spent a week with grandparents. We ate at all of our favorite resturants and ate the biggest and best crabcake sandwiches, ever. Then we spent a very relaxing week at Fripp Island, SC with my sister and her family, my brother and his children and my mother. Sadly, this was our first trip to Fripp Island without my father who died of cancer one year ago.

A week after returnig from our trip, my children spent a week in Los Angeles, CA with their grandparents to visit their new little cousin. They had such a great time site seeing and visiting such places as Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Laguna Beach, and the Santa Monica Pier. I think that they even spotted a celebrity or two.

Well, this was just a quick synopis of my summer vacation. Write back and tell me, Mrs. Shaffer and Mrs. Rossignol what you did this summer. We look forward to meeting all of our new students.