Family

"I Am a Book Reader" 

by Scout Schultz

Bulldogs, did you see the kindergarten book parade? The "book parade" is when the kindergarten teachers and students dress up as book characters and walk around the school, and we all clap when they pass us. I'm in third grade now, and I remember dressing up as a mouse and proudly holding the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. I'll never forget it!

Why do they have the parade?  Kindergartners are celebrating becoming readers, and that is a BIG accomplishment!  We ALL think it needs to be celebrated as they hold up their books and shout "I am a book reader, I am a book reader!" 

Mrs. Gabbei said, "Leading up to our story book parade, our readers were learning that they can read everywhere they go—in the halls, in the car, at home! We had been reading story books and working on retelling the story and trying to make our words match each page! Something that stood out to me during this unit was watching my readers use 'character voices' as they read their books! They were truly making their books come to life!"  

Ms. Miranda shared, "During this reading unit, our class enjoyed sounding like the characters as they shared their star storybooks with each other. They even threw in hand motions, which made it even more entertaining to those listening! Observing each detail of the illustrations really helped them tell as story tellers!"

I hope you believe you are book readers!  Say "I am a book reader" no matter what grade you're in! 

Question from Elle:  Why did you start picking up trash?  

Answer from Clare: I did this because I wanted to help out, not just for a prize.  I was also bored and wanted to help the environment. 

Answer from Anna:  I want to help animals so none of the animals die.

Question from Elle:  What kinds of things have you been picking up? 

Answer from Clare:  I have been finding confetti bats and pumpkins outside on the soccer field and popcorn day tootsie roll wrappers. 

Did you know that if you pick up 1 or 2 pieces of trash you can change the world?  Please read the book Just Help!:  How to Build a Better World by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and choose to see the "sunny side" of things!

"Milestone Year Teacher"

by Faneza Hunter

You might think 5th grade is a milestone year in life. It is, but 3rd grade is a milestone year too! We don’t just learn to read but we read to learn! Read to learn about our awesome third-grade teachers!               

We have a new third-grade teacher, Ms. Sweeney! Ms. Sweeney likes to read and listen to music. Her only hobby is to macrame [pronounced m-a-kr-u-mei]. She is from New Jersey and her favorite color is turquoise. She likes The Philadelphia Eagles.  Ms. Sweeney loves to read (just like me)! The most influential person in her life is her grandmother and someone inspiring would be Michelle Obama. 

I can't wait to learn more about my milestone year teacher.  Try to get to know your teacher, too!

"Helping People"   

by Simone Dale 

Are you ready to meet Mrs. Branch, our social worker?  Do you know everything she does?  In this interview, you’ll learn all about her and how she helps Spring Mill students.  

Q:  What does a social worker do for an elementary school? 

A:  I help make sure basic needs, like food, clothing, and school supplies are met for every student.  I also help provide family support, like secure housing and utilities.  I work closely with different community partners.  Our community partners help pay for things, like the housing and utilities, and they provide supplies for students.            

Q:  How do you help our students? 

A:  I help students with their social and emotional needs. I teach regulation strategies to small groups of students.  I also teach all our students about kindness and bullying prevention.   

Q:  What do you enjoy doing outside of school?  I like to do praise dancing at my church.  It's dancing freely to music.  I also like to play with my little Yorkie.  I have three children and four grandchildren.  

Please make sure to make Mrs. Branch feel welcome at our school!  And if you like dancing too, like I do, let her know! 

"Art at Spring Mill"

by Isabel Hudson 

Have you ever wondered what is happening in fifth-grade and third-grade art?  In this article, you will learn about their projects and the importance of art.  

One of fifth-grade’s projects is a tree silhouette.   A tree silhouette is a tree you paint and you pick warm or cold colors to paint the background pattern you want.  They're really pretty in the fall. 

In third grade, we wrote our names and drew things we like around them, and we cut them up to make it into a new piece of art!  Cool, right? My class also does scrapbooks on the Fridays we are in art.  My whole class LOVES scrapbooks.  A scrapbook is like a free draw coloring project.  We get magazines and cut things out that we like out and glue the pieces in our scrapbooks.  It's like we're making new art! 

Another project we LOVE is listening to music and drawing how the music makes us feel.  And if the music is fast we do our drawings fast but still neat. And if the music is soft we do it very s-l-o-w-l-y and neat.  You should try it! 

I do art on the weekends, after school, and while I'm making books.  Art is an interactive place where you can draw or make anything you put your mind to.  I think art is a great place to express your feelings and to interact with others. The most important type of art is the art of imagination. Use your imagination to feel feelings, and turn your feelings into art, and show that art to be you.  And always be you because you're the only you.