Happy to Have Addy Series Now

The kids have been reading Addy, the American Girl, for weeks now.  I wrote a grant in 2011 in order to have a class set of the books for the children.  It is a historical fiction series of six books that takes place in the 1860's when the atrocities of slavery were allowed in our country.  The books are compelling and memorable as heck.  I have read this series to the classes ever since I can remember.  Now they each can share a set of the books and see them up close.

It was so nice to have a parent of the girl in magenta, say that she was so pleased that I was educating her child about the the atrocities of slavery in our county.  I know I walk a fine line when reading these books, but feel the children have a right to know about how terrible America used to be before we were united as one.

Every time I read this book to classes, I well up with tears, sometimes break out in tears, get goosebumps, and feel every emotion known to mankind.  This is the sign of a great writer!  The author leaves us hanging at the end of every chapter and you can hear the kids begging to hear what will happen next.

What I love about this series is that the children become vested and genuinely care about the well being of the characters.   You can just feel their sense of hope and faith that things will work out at the end of the story.  The children learn about how Addy and her family escape their plantation and run to Philadelphia to start a life in freedom.

Old and Slow Dinosaur Computers

We use AR Accelerated Reader in our classroom.  Problem was, that for years we had really slow and broken down computers.  I wrote a grant and was awarded five brand new Lenovo computers to support the program.

Now that we have the new computers, the kids have read so many more books in a very short period of time. They LOVE taking tests on the computer if you can believe that!  Look at our speedy new lab of computers. Achievement has really skyrocketed ever since.

New Indians in Our Cupboards

I have the sweetest kids this year!  I love that they all take care of one another.  I love that they take care of their teacher all of the time too.  I feel so very blessed to come to work with these wonderful kids every day.
How many can say that they still love their same job after 30 years?  I suspect very few can.   

We had been reading the Indian in the Cupboard.  The old set of books were falling apart.  I decided to write grant to get a new class set of the books the kids love so much.  Low and behold, through the kindness of friends and strangers, enough money was raised to replace those well loved books.  Here are some of the happy readers.  Aren't they adorable?  They totally deserve to have decent books that are intact.

It is especially fun to read this aloud to the kids using different voices for each of the characters.  Boone, the cry baby of a cowardly cowboy is a favorite to read in voice.  Tommy, the British medical orderly is another.  Little Bear, the Indian, is another entertaining one to read in voice.  I read the kids a chapter a day.

SF or Bust for Luz's 13th Birthday

Luz was in my second and then third grade classes.  Her class was one of my top 3 most memorable ever!  Several of her classmates and I still keep in touch.  It was Loosie Goosie's 13th birthday on the weekend of the 23rd July.  My husband's cousins came to visit and wanted to tour SF.  I thought Luz might really like to meet Victoria, our cousin's daughter.  Luz and Tori got along famously. 

 Here are Tori and her mother Lisa of Sweet Lisa's Exquisite Cakes of  CT.  Tori really wanted to take the cable cars in the city.  I think she was disappointed that they were slower than a roller coaster so I did my best to drive down some steep roads pretending not to have any brakes.

We walked around Fisherman's Wharf, had lunch at Fog City Diner and fell in love with the cheddar biscuits and apple butter there.

Tori and Luz enjoyed posing here in front of the SF Aquarium on the Wharf.  You wouldn't know that these girls are 3 years apart.  Luz was the shortest in her class and yet she has grown so tall since I had her in 3rd grade.  Tori is 10 years old.

Here is another photo of my student "S" and her older sister "J." J is showing off her state report after the 5th grade parade of state reports. Nice work J. Aren't they beautiful girls?

These sisters are a wonderful pair of young ladies. I will always remember "S" as having so much personality. Her older sister "J" was graduating grade 5 this year. "S's" sense of voice came through in her writing as did her sense of humor.

She is also a budding actress. I had the pleasure of seeing her performance of one of the mice in Cinderella during the school year. "S" is born for theater and I hope to see her act in many more shows in the future.

Her family was one of the most involved I had all year. They donated tons of items and LOTS of hours helping in class as well. Classroom teachers' can't get the job done well without families that are involved like this one. I am grateful for the many hours of assistance. If it weren't for this family, I am sure our class wouldn't have reached our grant goal through Donor's Choose. We were able to obtain 5 new Lenovo All -In -One computers this year valued at $3,000. "S's" mother worked at Chevron and was able to get our grant site lots of extra exposure and once that happened, the donations came flooding in to the tune of hundreds per week and even hundreds per day on occasion.

You simply couldn't meet a finer young man than "J." He was always so caring of others in class. He took great care of me as well. "J" was this years time keeper. He kept a timer at the ready and always had this set each day to make sure we wouldn't miss things like library, PE, or music. I will always remember "J" as being the most caring and kind young man in class. He never said a mean thing to anyone. Thanks "J" for making my year so amazing and for keeping me on schedule. I hope you are having a wonderful summer.