The VIEW Crawfordville Elementary School December, 2006

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Cougars here, Cougars there, Cougars, Cougars, everywhere!  Just when we thought it wasn’t possible to grow anymore, we have!  As our student population continues to increase, so does our faculty and staff.  This year we welcome Kris Cason, Barbara Mingledorff, and Angela Mullinax to fifth grade.  We are glad to have Nakia Cotton in Fourth grade.  Holly Harden and Julie Stanford joined the third grade team.  Laura Lawhon and Cindy Loney are on board with the first grade team. Jan Pearce is our new addition to the kindergarten team.  We have a new guidance counselor, Jeff Van Syckle, and a new Speech Teacher, Susan Rep, this year.  We welcome four new paraprofessionals:  Allison Brand, Tiffany Hall, Chris Rohe, and Bridget Matthews.  Kim Dutton was also added as an assistant principal.  We offered best wishes and good-byes to faculty members who have traveled elsewhere to continue their careers in education:  Maggie O’Brien, Polly Bohannon, Amy Mills, Kristen Powell, and Laura Hume.

This year we continue to patrol monthly in the Cougar Prize Patrol looking for “Cougars Caught Reading.”  Students are quite motivated to read with the idea that an administrator or teacher might be visiting them at home.  Sunshine Math Superstars began this year at Crawfordville Elementary.  Students are working on math enrichment problem solving each week.  Students meet weekly to discuss strategies for solving equations, and earn stars for each problem solved.

Crawfordville Kinder Cougars are “falling” into exciting learning experiences as autumn approaches!  In language arts they are hard at work learning about the letters P, C, D, N and A, and the sight words “I, like, go and we.”  In math they are exploring the world of numbers 0 - 10 including how to recognize, count, match, estimate, write, and order correctly.  Mrs. Barwick and Mrs. Blackstock’s classes celebrated the letter “A” by eating ants, well, they were actually edible ones made from marshmallows and pretzel sticks!  Mrs. Pearce and Mrs. Greener’s classes experienced the magical process of plant growth by planting their own lima beans.  Mrs. Thompson’s class is learning about the diverse habitats of animals and people.  Mrs. Stallings’ class has created models of the Earth made from modeling clay and paint.  Mrs. Cutchen and Ms. Hicks’ class spent a week learning all about pumpkins and how to count, measure, weigh and even cook them!  All of the kindergarten classes took part in Red Ribbon Week and enjoyed creating colorful banners symbolizing their pledge to live healthy lifestyles.

First graders recently had the opportunity to visit St. Marks to witness the migration of the monarch butterfly.  Each student had the chance to play a predator vs. butterfly game demonstrating the struggles that the monarch butterfly faces along its migration.  The students viewed a butterfly slide show.  They then discussed the importance of a butterfly’s color in nature.  This trip was an extension of the first grade unit on the life cycle of a butterfly.

Mrs. Williams and Ms. Revell’s class have utilized literacy centers for inquiry, exploration, and investigation skills with hands-on activities in reading, science, writing, and math.  They are also working on research skills through the integration of electronic encyclopedias to promote critical thinking.  Second graders took their reading experiences to a tastier level with stories from the textbook.  Students read the basal story Hedgehog Bakes a Cake, by Maryann MacDonald, in which characters learn a lesson in how to bake a cake properly by following directions.  Afterwards, students measured, baked, and ate their own culinary creations by reading and following the directions precisely.  Next, second graders readLemonade for Sale, by Stuart Murphy.  This story is centered on a group of students who set up their own lemonade stand to raise money.  Naturally, they decided to make their own lemonade to share with their friends.  Students in second grade have learned that reading really can be an adventure, sometimes a tasty one too!

This fall, the third grade Cougars have been busy learning creatively in all areas of the curriculum.  Mrs. Harden and Mrs. Teuton’s class are covering the Middle Ages and the reasons behind the symbols on a knight’s shield.  Mr. Marra’s class is traveling to distant planets and galaxies far, far, away with their space studies in science.   Meanwhile, back on Earth, Mrs. Stanford’s class  is hard at work writing poetry for October.  Mrs. Bartnick’s students are studying the hydrologic cycle and her 4-H Club created  clay sculptures which were on display in the 4-H tent at the North Florida Fair.  Mrs. Morgan’s class is working with money and learning to receive correct change when making purchases at McDonald’s.  Mrs. Bowman’s class is working on those pesky multiplication tables.  They are going to be  Multiplication Masters soon!  Mrs. Jones’ class used the Time Machine to travel back in time to the Middle Ages.  They became lords, ladies, knights, and serfs for the day!

Fourth graders “fall” into step with their curriculum studies too.  Ms. Burnham’s and Mrs. Cotton’s class was amazed as they compared the size of several prehistoric animals.  Students cut out butcher paper to the correct height of a 20 foot Giant Ground Sloth.  They also cut one piece of paper to the actual size of a human.  This enabled them to compare heights of the two.  In Mrs. Strickland’s class students are occupied with their study of the weather.  They have erected a small weather station, consisting of a rain gauge, and large thermometer, outside the classroom window.  Students are also keeping weather charts for two cities in the United States, recording the high and low temperature for each city everyday.  They are applying this science knowledge to other areas of the curriculum while studying and writing myths about the weather.  Mrs. Driggers, Mrs. Harvey, and Mrs. Hames are diving into their unit on biographies, with the study of Helen Keller: Crusade for the Blind, and The Story of Walt Disney: Maker of Magical Worlds.  Students are also busy preparing for FCAT Writes by learning the Four Square Writing Method.

Fifth graders in Mrs. Kelly’s class enjoyed their celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, with a culminating Fiesta.  Students prepared and tasted foods from several Hispanic countries.  They made ponchos to wear for the Fiesta.  Students also enjoyed reading, Esperanza Rising, the story of a Mexican girl who must move to California to become a migrant worker.  Fifth graders in Mrs. Mingledorff’s and Mrs. Cason’s class are studying body systems in science.  Students had the opportunity to create model skeletons as they studied the skeletal system.  Mrs. Smith’s class is also working with the skeletal system as well as creating colonial villages in their social studies unit.  Mrs. Mullinax’s class is busy with main idea, story details, multiplication, division, forms of energy, and a unit on the American Revolution.  Mrs. Hobb’s class is working on summarizing and paraphrasing stories, collecting and organizing data, persuasive writing, life in ecosystems, as well as, developing biography reports on explorers.  Ms. Upedegraff’s class continues to work on the skeletal system and the American Revolution.  They have been writing and performing their own version of many Shakespearean plays.  They also wrote letters to veterans for Veteran’s Day.

Crawfordville Elementary School is definitely a busy and exciting place to learn and grow.  We are thankful for the opportunity to share educational experiences in this caring Cougar community.  We look forward with bright optimism, to the second semester.

This article originally published on December 14, 2006.

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