As the National Park Service is celebrating their 100th birthday, we are just getting back to school.  I can't think of a better way to kick off the new year with a grand celebration to open the door to new learning for my young students.  We enjoyed S'More style birthday cupcakes to compliment the Junior Rangers we made in class.  

Youtube is such a wonderful addition to the classroom as we were able to enjoy the very creative birthday song as well as an overview by Finley Holiday.  Many of the students were familiar with some of the more prominent National Parks, which led to a very engaging conversation about the parks.  One of my students even brought in her collection of Junior Ranger badges (I had mine to show off as well).

Over the years, I have grown to LOVE the National Parks (my husband thinks I am crazy for the Park Rangers).  I was not exposed to the NPS as a child and feel like I am making up for it now.  The diversity of the system leads to learning about science and social studies and can be differentiated for any grade level.  Many of the parks have well developed lesson plans online that can be used for extended learning.  My biggest challenge is going to be to limit the number of parks that I share with my students.  I want to create a balance between the beauty and conservation efforts of the National Parks with the historic value of the memorials, battlefields and monuments.  It is impossible to go wrong with any of my choices.

I am looking forward to the new year for many reasons.  It excites me to bring the NPS into my classroom as an educational tool and I am looking forward to more travels to National Parks that I have yet to enjoy.  Our studies will be a fun-filled adventure that I am excited to embark upon!  More updates down the road!

This is one of my favorite times of the year (ok, I have many)!  My first graders are now independent enough that we have projects going on all over the classroom.  In honor of Poetry Month and National Haiku Poetry Day, we will begin our class book of Moffat USA haikus.  Above is a sampling of some of the pages in years past created by the students.

I will be formatting the planning pages and accompanying Moffat images soon for my TeachersPayTeachers store so that others may join in in creating one in their classroom.  For a very professional look, I then upload my images to Shutterfly and make the book available to my students' parents to purchase.  It's a great end of year project!  Enjoy!

As many of us have been packing up our classrooms this last week, I have come across some old notes and received new ones and thought I would share that history really does make am impact.  These are a few of my favorites and they bring great joy to my heart!  The bottom image is the self-designed card cover with a quote from Theodore Roosevelt.  Love teaching!!!

I was honored to again be a guest teacher at a local school and share my love of Theodore Roosevelt with two third grade classrooms.  I am still finessing the lessons, but with any teaching, each time improves.  TR is the president of study for the district's third grade students.  As he is my favorite (the more I learn, the more I want to learn), I have a grand time sharing my collection of period artifacts including a stereoscope, period purse and collar box, a camera and other fun treasures.  

As we were wrapping up, one of the students came up to me and announced that the afternoon was "better than field day!"  I think that was a great way to end the day.  Wish I could spend more time teaching kids history all day long!

As I have written before, I grew up listening to country music with my dad as a square dance caller.  A little over a year ago, I came across a copy of the book "Coat of Many Colors" by Dolly Parton.  At the same time, I acquired a copy of "Good Night Tennessee," part of the Good Night Our World series.  As these two books came into my library, I started reading more and then listening to the many songs written by Dolly over her amazing career.  

As an adult, I listened to the lyrics with an entire new perspective. Having gone through immense training on primary sources, her lyrics are such a storytelling gem.  I also came across her DVD from her live concert in London from 2008.  This clip below doesn't do her story justice (even though I can listen to the song over and over).  Dolly's lead in story speaks about the love she felt in her family despite the fact that the roof leaked, there could be a lack of food, her father worked endless hours and her mother was busy raising 12 children.

What makes me even more appreciative of her is her dedication to early childhood education.  Years ago, she started the Imagination Library to supply children with books from birth to age 5 so that they are ready for Kindergarten.  Her father never had the opportunity to learn how to read and she is very proud that her father lived to see her start the Imagination Library.  Kids fondly call her the "book lady." 

I love reading the "Coat of Many Colors" to my students. We spend time reading the book and then writing about their own small moments.  Today we celebrated her birthday as we learned about Tennessee.  

Happy birthday to an amazing woman and great role model!