Meme: Passion Quilt - Part 2

This photo was shared by a PM Mom in response to my "Meme Quilt" post - if anyone else is inspired and wants to share, send me your photo and I will add it to our blog!

Who are these people?

For those of you faithful readers who aren't the parent of a kindergartner, you may be wondering about the strange names you're seeing on our recent blog posts. Children chose "Secret Code Names" to use as their blog identities. Whenever a kindergarten friend adds an idea to our blog it will be identified by his/her secret code name. So which code name belongs to whom? Sorry - that's Top Secret information!

Things we Liked and Learned About...the Zoombile - PART 2 - AM

Blueberry Worm: I liked the alligator. It can grow!
Snowy: I liked the owl and kinkajou. I like how the kinkajou can hang on by his tail.
Hannah Montana: I liked everything, especially the snake and the kinkajou.
Tinkerbell: I like the kinkajou, how it hangs upside down.
Melody: I like the little kinkajou.
Chicken Soup: I like the snake - it was hanging on to the guy's arm!
Strawberry Worm: I learned about the duck - he is really cool. He has camouflage, and I like green and he has a green head!
DJ: I think the boa constrictor is cool because it looks cool with those stripes.
Pokeman: I liked Bodacious the boa constrictor - it was NOT all a tail!
Building: I learned that animals are very gentle.
Boost: I learned that the boy ducks show off for the girls!
Lollipop: I liked the kinkajou - he was so cute!
H2O: I learned that all sorts of animals can have tails.
Flower: I liked the brown animal, the kinkajou - I liked his brown eyes and the brown fur and that's all.
Horse: I learned that you have to be careful with animals. Don't play rough with them, sit down and don't move or it will scare the animals.

Palmer the Kinkajou

Granola the American Alligator

Othello the Barred Owl

Bernie the Rouen Duck

Bodacious the Boa Constrictor

Meme: Passion Quilt

This week I was tagged by Wendy Smith for the Passion Quilt Meme. I've chosen to use a photo of Annabelle when she first encountered "the tunnel." You can see from her expression that she is interested in this new adventure yet a bit hesitant to take the first step (or the first crawl, as it were). But as soon as she got up the nerve to give the tunnel a chance, she was hooked!

One of the most exciting things for me as a new mom is the same thing I love about being a teacher: seeing the world through a child's eyes. For children, everything is new and interesting. Even the smallest achievement is a cause for celebration. And even when something looks a bit scary at first, children are willing to take a risk. Tasting a new finger food, writing their first AND last name, riding a bike without training wheels, using a touch pad instead of a mouse. Our brave children give it a try; it works or it doesn't, they love it or they don't...but they give it their best shot.

As a teacher and mom who is passionate about lifelong learning, I challenge myself to be brave and dare to try something new...in the classroom, at home, in the world. Maybe it will work, or maybe it won't...maybe I will love it, and maybe I won't, but at least I will give it my best shot. Take it from our children: take a risk!

Directions: Find or create an image that captures what you are most passionate for kids to learn about.

• Post a picture from a source like Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what YOU are most passionate about for kids to learn…and give your picture a short title.
• Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt” and link back to this blog entry.
• Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce.

Here are the lucky people I’m tagging:

Sadly, the only other educators I know who have blogs have already been tagged! If there is anyone I'm not thinking of who would like me to tag you, let me know! :-)

We're Famous (Again!)

Our kindness movie was recently featured on 100.5 the Drive's morning radio show! Sadly I didn't hear it but I heard from some folks who did. They also posted it on their webpage - you can check it out here: http://www.mydrivefm.com/pages/julie.html

Things We Liked and Learned about...The Zoomobile PART 1 - PM Class

Jack Sparrow: I liked when Oliver the Owl flew away. I learned that owls don't like loud noises.

Sarah: I learned that you have to be quiet for owls.

Mommy: I liked when we touched the snake.

Dobrom: I liked when Oliver flew away - that was so cool!

Present: I liked when Oliver flew away. I learned that owls can fly silently.

William: I liked when I got to touch the snake and when they showed the Bushbaby.

Cinderella: I liked everything, especially the owl. I learned that you have to be gentle to snakes.

Princess: I liked the snake.

Light Saber: I learned that Bushbabies are very good jumpers.

Scout: I learned that alligators have a nose and eyes on top of their head.

Pirate: I learned that the alligator uses his tail to swim.

Cars: I learned that owls can fly away.

Knuckles: I liked when the Bushbaby jumped into the girl's hand.

Roselet: I liked it when the Bushbaby jumped onto the stick.

Rose: I learned that animals use their tails for jumping and swimming. Alligators use their webbed feet to swim.

Sleeping Beauty: I liked when the Bushbaby jumped on the girl's hand.

Ship: I liked when the owl ate the mouse.

Belle: I learned that when the alligator swims he uses his tail.

Spike: I liked it when Oliver flew away.

Junior the Bushbaby

Cheerio the American Alligator

Oliver the Tawny Owl ~ our Escape Artist!

Bodacious the Boa Constrictor

Pop It!

Introducing an exciting new way to practice popcorn words...POP IT! ~ A Bingo style game packed with learning fun. Follow this link to find the game on our class webpage. Pop It!

Our BIG Book

One of our popcorn words this week is BIG and we have been writing a class BIG book about things that are BIG. Here are some of the children's BIG ideas:

Space is big.

A monster truck is big.

A school bus is big.

A whale is big.

A classroom is big.

A mom is big.

A teacher is big.

The Earth is big.

A car is big.

An elephant is big.

A flat screen TV is big.

And many more!

We also talked about how funny it is that "big" is a little word and "little" (a future popcorn word) is a big word.

The Fever

A fever seems to be sweeping through our afternoon class. So many of our friends have been absent this week. We miss you all and hope you are feeling better and can come back to school "lickety-split!"