WELCOME ZACHARY

Welcome to Beauclerc Elementary School Zachary Cote. Zachary comes to us from Mandarin Oaks and is off to an awesome start! Zach poses with Edvin Beganovic, also known as Banana-Vich!

SENORITA FINALISTA!

Congratulations to Alison Watson, Beauclerc's own kindergarten teacher. Alison has been selected as a FINALIST for Duval County TEACHER OF THE YEAR! There are over 8,500 teachers in Duval County and she is in the top 6! We are so proud of her!

Alison poses with her awesome co-teacher Angela Beaver

Alison celebrates with her family

District Administrator Barbara Langley and Principal Kornblum congratualte Alison

Congratulations to Danielle Tolson. She was our STAR Student on February 15, 2008!

Congratulations to Peyton Pritchard! Peyton was STAR Student for February 22, 2008! Peyton had an awesome week!

REMINDER: Our End of Month Luncheon is scheduled for February 29th! Come join us for lunch and see what is going on in Room 71!

WRITING: We just finished our Responses to Literature for the book Wilma. Our writings are on display across from Room 71. The students did a great job, come check them out. We are also currently working on different types of sentences, and sentence structure. We also took the district's quarterly Writing Assessment this week. Most students have shown growth or maintained their current level. Next week we will be working on a Response for the Book of the Month!

Nathan Boyd gets excited about his writing

READING: I am currently reading Behind the Bedroom Wall, and Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs to the class as part of our daily mini-lessons. All this week and next we are working out of Blast Off, in preparation for the FCAT. Your students are working hard. Nathan Boyd stated on Friday, "I feel more confident Mr. Gibbons". This was the purpose of working out of Blast Off. You made my day Nafus!

We are also working on the structure and interpretation of poetry. We have begun breaking down the poem Walking Through the Woods on Snowy Evening by Robert Frost. This is a poem about a sad person reflecting on life. This is a poem normally reserved for middle school and high school students. Your children were amazing in their interpretation of each simile and metaphor utilized by the author.

We will begin reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas after FCAT. We will resume Tuesday night homework, and spelling tests after FCAT.

END OF YEAR TRIP: The remaining balance of $44 dollars will be due some time in late March. Please start saving now. Some have already paid their balance to get it out of the way. Your children have been looking forward to this trip since kindergarten. If for some reason you are unable to come up with the money, please contact Mr. Gibbons. A friend of mine who owns a business has offered to pay for a student who cannot afford to go. Remember your child must meet the county's Book Standard and have no referrals in order to go. I'm confident that ALL my student will meet this requirement.

Happy Birthday Javon!

Thank you all for the awesoem cards, canddy, and Diet Cokes on Valentines Day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS. PECK!

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Congratulations to Abrianna Hudgins! She is our STAR Student for February 8, 2006. Abrianna always does her best and is an awesome helper in the classroom. She keeps our library straightened out and organized, and has an awesome sense of humor!

~~This week's Spelling words:
dismayed

winced

impression

Hiroshima

insult

atomic

records

radiation

sprouts

Nagasaki

Test: February 17th

~~100% of those eligible to go to Universal Islands of Adventure have paid! We rock! Thanks for turning in your deposit in a timely manner. You may pay your reamining balance at any time.

~~Thanks to Alex Turko, a former student, for volunteering after school every Wednesday to work with students. Alex also designed our Wilma bulletin board across the hall. Alex was also the very first student from Mr. Gibbons classes to ever read Milkweed, along with Danielle Zinn about 4 years ago.

~~We finished Milkweed! WOW! I've never seen so many tears at the completion of a book. If you would like to borrow a copy just send in a note! And no, it wasn't just the girls who cried! I can't tell you how many times we laughed out loud at Misha, or dropped our mouths in shock, or wiped our eyes in angst over Janin's fate! No textbook has ever made students laugh out loud, or cry from sadness or joy! Never! These are the books that make your child love to read! This book even got Mrs. Peck to change her all time favorite book to Milkweed.

~~Mrs. Peck did procedural writing on how to eat an Oreo, and fed us OREOS! Now, we are hoping she will do a writing lesson on how to eat a Maine lobster, or maybe how to eat a dozen fried shrimp! Keep hope alive!

Reminder: NO SCHOOL February 18th

Monday February 4, 2008

Happy Ground hog Day! Puxatawny Phil saw his shadow! That means six more weeks of winter. I am looking forard to the warm weather so we can play some baseball!

Congratulations New York Giant fans! Awesome game...right down to the wire! The Patriots are still the only team in NFL history to win 18 games in a season! Better luck next year! Go Pats! Go Jags!

Room 71 won the Golden Skate Award again! We had approximately 12 of our 21 students show up to support the PTA at Skate Station Friday night! Way to go Room 71! Thanks to Mrs. Keller and Mrs. Mika for working the desk at Skate Station. I think this is the 4th time we have won for the most students! This week's Spelling List:
deportation
locomotive
quota
resettlement
furious
agitated
trodding
squatter
maw
huckster
galoot
refugee
parasol
Test: Monday the 11th

Remember that Wednesday the 6th is an Early Release Day!

Congratulations again to Mrs. Alison Watson! Alison is a finalist for Region Five Teacher of the Year in Duval County! You rock Mrs. Watson!

Come check out our responses to Literature on the bulletin board outside our room. We wrote about the life of WIlma Rudolph. Everyone did a nice job. Over the next two weeks we will be working on Procedural Writing.

We are almost finished with Milkweed. We are really enjoying this piece of historical fiction by Jerry Spinelli. Sometimes you have to remind yourself that it is fiction. Next week we will begin working out of Blast Off for three weeks before FCAT

ALL deposits of $10 must be turned in this week if you are planning on going on the end of year trip to Universal Island of Adventure. If you are dring down (students must ride the bus) then no deposit is required.