TEN MINUTE JOG

Since January, our students have been practicing jogging both in their weekly P.E. class with Mrs. Brown-Smith, and at their daily recess time.  They started out with just a few minutes, and worked up to jogging for ten minutes!  (Mom and Dad, can you do that?)  On Friday, March 16th, our students completed the official ten minute jog during their P.E. time.  Thank you to Mrs. Hill and Mrs. Gonzalez, who came to cheer the children on.

 Thanks to Duval County's TEACHER SUPPLY DEPOT, each student received their own water bottle to cool off after the event.

 Can you see Mrs. Doiron jogging with the class?

Literacy Week 2012: School Wide Slumber Party

On Friday, March 16, 2012, everyone at school wore their pajamas all day.  Students in Mrs. Doiron's class brought their stuffed animals, pillows, and blankets in order to listen to Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber.  In this story, Ira is worried that his friend will make fun of him for bringing a teddy bear when he comes to sleep over.  It turns out that Ira's friend has a teddy bear, too!  Thank you to all the families who helped their children remember to wear pajamas to school.  We were so comfortable reading in our jammies!

Literacy Week 2012: Book Character Dress-Up Day

Here are photos of the students who dressed up as book characters.

Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz

One of the puppies from 101 Dalmations

A rescue robot

Barbie the ballerina

Woody from Toy Story

Cinderella

A service man from Meet a Soldier

Sleeping Beauty

Mrs. Doiron was Rapunzel

Literacy Week 2012: Living Book Worm

On Monday, March 12th, students at Merrill Road Elementary School made a living book worm.  ALL THE STUDENTS in the school sat in the hallways and did their Independent Reading for 15 minutes.  This is what hundreds of readers looks like...

FIELD TRIP TO THE JACKSONVILLE ZOO

On Friday, March 9th, our class took a field trip to the Jacksonville Zoo.  In Science our students have been learning about the classes of animals - amphibians, birds, fish, insects, mammals, and reptiles.  Visiting the zoo was a great opportunity to practice identifying the classes of animals.  We saw many birds, mammals, and reptiles, a few fish, and an awesome amphibian - an African Bullfrog!  We hope you enjoy these photos of the children visiting the zoo on a beautiful day:

Taking a break for animal crackers and baby carrots.

We were good listeners in the Education Center.

Viewing a parrot.

A lizard from Austrailia

Getting up close and personal with a snake!

Fun with Pattern Blocks

In kindergarten, we work with Pattern Blocks to learn about two-dimensional shapes.  The Common Core State Standards require that kindergartners "Analyze, compare, create, and compose shapes".  Two of the things that our students need to be able to do are 1) "Model shapes in the world by building shapes from components and drawing shapes." and 2) "Compose simple shapes to form larger shapes."  Look at how much fun it is to work towards these standards:

Green Card Picnic

What does the class receive if EVERYONE in the class has a green card at lunch time?  A Green Card Picnic.

When we are having a GREAT day, and EVERYONE has a green card at lunch time, Mrs. Doiron treats the children to a Green Card Picnic.  If the weather is nice, we all eat together outside on the blue picnic tables by the cafeteria.  If it is cold, rainy, or too windy, we eat in our classroom.  We have had several Green Card Picnics within the last month!

Follow the Path

Students in our class are enjoying playing a new game - "Follow the Path".  These game boards are used to practice naming letters, numbers, letter sounds, reading sight words, and so forth.  Students use either a game cube or a spinner to determine how many spaces they may move.  If they are able to name the letter, number, sound, or word, they may move to the new space.  If they are not able to name it, they have to go back to their former spot.  Thanks to our Wednesday volunteer, Mrs. Halliger, who gave Mrs. Doiron the lovely stickers and fancy paper.  (They were "Creative Memories" leftovers.)