Swamp Monster Guided Reading Groups & New Cars

~We did our first Guided reading groups for Blackwater Swamp today! It's been a few weeks since we last did our groups! I forgot how much fun it is to sit out in the courtyard and read a book with friends! We love reading about Ted, and his crazy, and dishonest new friend Jimmy.

Fencey, Chandler, Cheron, & Hope

Trevor & Elijah

Lovey and Werenga



Justin and Franky

Human Bean, Buck, Delilah, and Hailey

I loved listening to this group read

Raquel, Seleshia, and Deuce

The Pickles Club

FORMER APES!
~Former Apes Argen the Albanian Couch Man, and Daniel Sherer came by to show off Daniel's new car. Both boys play lacrosse at Wolfson High School, and both are going to college next year!

Argen and Daniel

Renaldo made a visit

The Louisiana Bayou & Swamps

~We started our new novel, Blackwater Swamp by Bill Wallace today. The story takes place in the bayous of Louisiana. The pictures below are to help you connect to the story.

Crossing Guard

~Please call 630-2160 if you are interested in a part-time job! I spoke to the police woman who was on traffic detail today, and she gave me this number to post for any parent looking for a part time job.

Happy Birthday Mrs. Wood!

This was taken 4 years ago when Mrs. Wood was the Homeroom Mother for the Apes! She is now a fifth grade teacher at Beauclerc!

Tagger

~We finished Shredderman today! This book was awesome and we got to practice our tone with different end punctuation! Mrs. Peck laughed a lot during this book!

Thursday April 21st

~Thursday April 21, the Easter Bunny is coming to visit Mrs. Goodman and Mr. Gibbons after school. He said...well I think it is a HE,..... he said he has some Easter baskets that he would like to give the Apes of Room 71 and 73. He is just too busy to fill them. he asked if the parent of 71 and 73 would send in treats to help a Bunny out. I know it is early..... but just wanted to give you plenty of heads up before it just creeps up on us.

this is Emmy's sister from 2 years ago helping to fill the baskets the Easter Bunny left for us!

STAR Student 3-11-11

~Congrats to Pritch and DQ, They are this week's STAR Students! They both worked real hard, and are always doing what they need to do!

Mr. G, Pritch, DQ, & Mrs. Goodman

Who was Saint Patrick?

~Saint Patrick's day is next week.... in the USA, it is more a celebration of Irish culture, but it started as a religious holiday. Here is a brief history of who he was.

Who was Saint Patrick?

~Who Was St. Patrick?
St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is one of Christianity's most widely known figures. But for all his celebrity, his life remains somewhat of a mystery. Many of the stories traditionally associated with St. Patrick, including the famous account of his banishing all the snakes from Ireland, are false, the products of hundreds of years of exaggerated storytelling.

~Taken Prisoner By Irish Raiders
It is known that St. Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents near the end of the fourth century. He is believed to have died on March 17, around 460 A.D. Although his father was a Christian deacon, it has been suggested that he probably took on the role because of tax incentives and there is no evidence that Patrick came from a particularly religious family. At the age of sixteen, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family's estate. They transported him to Ireland where he spent six years in captivity. (There is some dispute over where this captivity took place. Although many believe he was taken to live in Mount Slemish in County Antrim, it is more likely that he was held in County Mayo near Killala.) During this time, he worked as a shepherd, outdoors and away from people. Lonely and afraid, he turned to his religion for solace, becoming a devout Christian. (It is also believed that Patrick first began to dream of converting the Irish people to Christianity during his captivity.)

~Guided By Visions
After more than six years as a prisoner, Patrick escaped. According to his writing, a voice-which he believed to be God's-spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to leave Ireland.
To do so, Patrick walked nearly 200 miles from County Mayo, where it is believed he was held, to the Irish coast. After escaping to Britain, Patrick reported that he experienced a second revelation-an angel in a dream tells him to return to Ireland as a missionary. Soon after, Patrick began religious training, a course of study that lasted more than fifteen years. After his ordination as a priest, he was sent to Ireland with a dual mission-to minister to Christians already living in Ireland and to begin to convert the Irish. (Interestingly, this mission contradicts the widely held notion that Patrick introduced Christianity to Ireland.)

~Bonfires and Crosses

Familiar with the Irish language and culture, Patrick chose to incorporate traditional ritual into his lessons of Christianity instead of attempting to eradicate native Irish beliefs. For instance, he used bonfires to celebrate Easter since the Irish were used to honoring their gods with fire. He also superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called a Celtic cross, so that veneration of the symbol would seem more natural to the Irish. (Although there were a small number of Christians on the island when Patrick arrived, most Irish practiced a nature-based pagan religion. The Irish culture centered around a rich tradition of oral legend and myth. When this is considered, it is no surprise that the story of Patrick's life became exaggerated over the centuries-spinning exciting tales to remember history has always been a part of the Irish way of life.)

Congratulations Katy Burns!

~Two students from Ms. Burns class stopped by to practice their presentation for the Eddy Awards next week. They rocked it! Ms. Burns is a finalist for Duval County Teacher of the Year. Out of more than 8,500 teachers, 5 are selected to represent Duval County. We are so proud of Ms. Burns. It seems like everyone I talk to is going to cheer her on at the Eddy Awards! Mr. G, Mrs. Pickles, and Mrs. Goodman will all be there along with quite a few parents! Yahooooo for Katy Burns! If you see her, tell her congratulations!

News and Notes!

~The Word Study test for next week is on Tuesday!

~You must sign the permission slip in order to try out for the talent show!

~Check calendar for dates and times!

~There is no luncheon in March! There is a luncheon the last Friday in April!

~FCAT starts April 11, be on time!

~The Apes sold the most tubs of cookie dough and won the Golden Cookie Award! We will be getting cookies real soon...thanks Mrs. Bergeron!

You play it with your mouth Franklin!

King Cake... Beauclerc style!

~Today is Fat Tuesday... or in French: Mardi Gras! This is the last day before Lent season leading up to Easter. We celebrated Mardi Gras and learned about the New Orleans King Cake tradition.

New Orleans king cake

In the southern United States, the tradition was brought to the area by colonists from France and Spain and it is associated with Carnival (also known as Mardi Gras), which is celebrated in the Gulf Coast region, centered on New Orleans, but ranging from the Florida Panhandle to East Texas. King cake parties in New Orleans are documented back to the eighteenth century.

The king cake of the New Orleans Mardi Gras tradition comes in a number of styles. The most simple, said to be the most traditional, is a ring of twisted bread similar to that used in brioche topped with icing or sugar, usually colored purple, green, and gold (the traditional Mardi Gras colors) with food coloring. Cajun king cakes are traditionally deep-fat-fried as a doughnut would be, and there are many variants, some with a filling, the most common being cream cheese and praline.

It has become customary in the New Orleans culture that whoever finds the trinket must provide the next king cake or host the next Mardi Gras party.

King Cake is delicious!

Maggie May buys the cake next year!

Lucas bus the cake next year!

Happy Birthday Maggie

~Happy Birthday Maggie. It was a shame she was so tired, and actually fell asleep and landed on her cupcake.

We love Shredderman!

Mrs. Howell's Class

~Mrs. Howell's class came by to model their Mardi Gras masks~ Can you identify Mrs. Howell and Ms. Malderson?

Meet the characters of Shredderman

~To meet the characters of Shredderman: Attack of the Tagger click HERE!

STAR Students & Papers

~Congratulations to Hannah & Chandler! They are this week's STAR Students! Way to go Apes!
~Your child brought home a stack of papers from the last few weeks, be sure to go through them!
~Reminder: Word Study Test on Monday!
~Universal/Cookout money is due by March 24th!
~Thursday, March 24 is the last day before Spring Break!

Isn't it amazing ....we all wore our Ape shirts on the same day!

Volkswagen Bus

~In case you were wondering, this is what a REAL Volkswagen Bus looks like. They were real popular in the 1960's and 1970's when hippies like Mr. Green were younger.

Attack of the Tagger

~We started our new novel today, Shredderman Attack of the Tagger today. We spent almost our entire time just relaxing and reading it together. There are tons of characters..... so just about everyone got a part. This is just a fun engaging book before FCAT! Today we learned who the Beatles were...and Ed Sullivan! We even got to watch a 1964 performance of I Want to Hold Your Hand.

Shreddrman!

Nolan Look-a-like

Nolan Byrd

I think they like this book!

Goodbye Max and Kevin!

Yesterday we said goodbye to Max and Kevin (Freak and Mighty). We really learned a lot about character and making generalizations in this novel, Freak the Mighty. Great book!
Can't wait to see the movie~!

Ms. Burns is Famous!

To read an awesome article about Katy Burns, our awesome Teacher of the Year FINALIST in the Florida Times Union click HERE!

New Novel

~Rest in Peace Kevin, we will miss you, you have been one of our funnier novel characters this year! What an awesome person you were to protect Max from the truth, and give him hope.

~What will our next novel be? Find out on Thursday!

Thinking about you!

~We miss you and are thinking about you Janet!