Welcome to our web page!   This site is intended to enhance the educational experience beyond the classroom; it is NOT a weekly homework site.  Everything that I provide here will be to challenge, extend and support what we do in the room.

In the section to the left, you will find links to web sites that I think might be helpful.  To access the site simply click on the heading.  I welcome any suggestions for sites to include here on our web page.  There is a link to my email in the left section. 

Blessings to you all!  I am so fortunate to work with such an amazing group of people, both children and families! 

Mrs. J. Pryor

Thank You For Teacher Appreciation Week!!!!!

I can not begin to thank you all, students and families, enough, for the ENORMOUS outpouring of generosity during Teacher Appreciation Week, May 5-9, 2008!  All of the cards, flowers, and gifts were so unnecessary and yet truly a blessing.  To see any of the above pictures larger, simply click on the photo.  I took all the flowers home on Friday as I was entertaining family that night.  I have included pictures of my dining room table; I used loose flower petals as part of the centerpiece.  I will be enjoying all my lotions, trinkets, pictures, tea, pool items, chocolate, shopping trips, and dates with my husband for a LONG time!  THANK YOU!  I am so blessed to know all of you!

New Class Slideshow Page!

I am so excited about this new page!  Simply click on the "Class Slideshow Page" link in the section to the left.  You will be directed to a page with ongoing slideshows of some of the activities we have been doing in class.  Don't forget to scroll down to see all the shows.

Check it out! Lights, camera, ACTION!

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

 Inscrutable, decrepit, skeptical, automaton, misshapen, armoire, jagged, disheveled, Monsieur, dodge, teetering, maintain...  Have any of these words made their way home recently?  As a class, we have just finished a magical journey of the imagination into the world of Paris, France in 1931.  The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick is the Caldecott Medal winner for 2007, and you will have a hard time putting it down.  We did!  Brian Selznick combines 158 pencil drawings with 26,159 words on 525 pages to introduce young Hugo Cabret and the drawing that changed his life forever.  Hugo, Isabelle, Papa Georges, Etienne, and all the "Money in Your Pocket" words have become close friends.

If you are as hooked as I am, I highly recommend that you spend some time exploring The Invention of Hugo Cabret web page.  First you will see a key hole; click on it.  What follows is an adventure that can be as long or as short as you desire.  Each time you click on an item you will be taken deeper and deeper into the history of the story.  Be sure to click on the title, the keyhole, the author's name, the moon, and The Caldecott Medal itself.  With enough creative exploring, you will even be able to watch A Trip to the Moon by the real Georges Melies.

Sit back, watch the curtains part, and enjoy the movie!

  Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

This April, my husband and I were in a production together called "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."  I was so excited to see 20 people from Inland Leaders come out to Corona to see it!  Six students from our class were able to make the trip with their parents (and, sometimes, siblings).  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

For those who were not able to make the trip (or for those who want to take a trip down memory lane), I put together a slideshow with narration that will tell the story from start to finish.  Just click on our Class Slideshow Page link to the left.  For added fun, try to find me and/or my husband in the pictures.  The slideshow story takes about 9 minutes to get through and begins with the slide that says, "There once was a man named Joseph who had incredible dreams about his future..."  Enjoy!

There are a few other new slideshows on our Class Slideshow Page, as well.  Just scroll down the slideshow page to check them out!

Governor's Challenge

Due to the high volume of schools participating in the Governor's Challenge, the deadline has been extended to the end of May.  Currently our school is in 1st place!  Keep up the amazing effort, and don't forget to stay active and LOG YOUR DAYS!!  We're almost there...

 Project of the Month ~ Habitats/Life Cycles

On Thursday, May 15, 2008 you received the handout for the final Project of the Month.  From that date, there are exactly three weeks to work.  Get started!!!!  To help you out, I have included a number of incredibly helpful links in the left section titled "Research Project Links,"  as well as a downloaded copy of the project assignment itself (in case you lose yours).  Have fun and challenge yourself!

 African American Heritage Month

A special friend, Mr. Kenneth Morris, visited our class on Thursday, February 28, 2007.  Mr. Morris is a direct descendant of the famous antislavery abolitionist Frederick Douglass.  He is also a direct descendant of the great educator Booker T. Washington.  Mr. Morris spoke to the class about leadership and how you don't have to be born into an important family or have amazing help to make a difference in the world.  He told the story of how Frederick Douglass remembered being 7 years old and taking a walk with his grandmother.  Douglass knew soon that this would not be an ordinary walk; his grandmother looked too sad.  They walked for 12 miles to a plantation.  His grandma called over some children: his brother and sisters!  He hadn't even known he had any siblings.  Then his grandmother had to leave him there.  That day Frederick Douglass realized he was a slave.  

He taught himself how to read and write by trading lessons for food from the neighbor children.  Years later he would escape slavery and write and speak often about how wrong slavery was.  He was well-respected and even became an advisor to Abraham Lincoln!   A boy who didn't own shoes or a pair of pants until the age of seven became the leader of the Civil Rights Movement.  And his great, great, great grandson came to OUR classroom to talk about being a leader in OUR world today!

Mr. Morris is the president and founder of the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation, dedicated to bringing modern-day slavery to public attention and working to make a change.  To check out their website, click on the link below.

Frederick Douglass Family Foundation

Mrs. Pryor's Class Computer Presentation of Martin Luther King, Jr.