Pets

Happy August Everyone!

Do you have pets at home? We have 3 cats who are more like family than they are pets. Our oldest cat is Eleanor Roosevelt. She loves to be with her people and is the "lap cat" of the bunch. Stella Luna is our mighty hunter who presents us with "gifts" almost every day; voles, moles, mice, rats, frogs, and snakes. Ginger Rogers was a rescued kitten who is afraid of her own shadow. She eats every meal as if it were going to be her last which is why she is as wide as she is long. They provide me with great stories which I then turn into books. Can you guess which cat is which?

Water Play

Goodmorning Sunshine!

How nice to wake up to a day filled with blue skies and sunshine. Alita spent last week at Eliteam summer camp for ski racers. The camp coordinator and former Olympian, Doug Lewis, recorded the daily events in his blog. The pictures showed the kids having a blast mountain biking, climbing on a ropes course, playing soccer, skiing down sand pits, and hiking; all in the rain and mud. Alita never had so much fun. Doug also has a camp for adults at the end of the summer. Hmmm, wonder if I have time to squeeze in a week of outdoor adventure?

We managed to get in some water skiing this weekend in between the storms. It was quite windy and the water was choppy, tough skiing but lots of jumps! Alita and I even managed to ski double.

Remember to play for at least an hour a day outside. That goes for adults as well as kids.

Have Fun,

Ms. Rogers

Making Books

Hello Everyone,

Glad to see the sun shining after a very wet weekend. The gardens and lawns are so happy I can almost hear them growing!

I received a postcard from someone, not sure who as he or she did not sign their name, asking if making books counts. I'm thinking that this person is wondering if making books counts as time on your reading calendars. I would love to know what the rest of you think about this idea. My initial response is that YES making books can count as time on your calendars. Especially if you share your work with others afterwards and I would love to have you bring your writing to school and share it with everyone in the classroom.

Happy reading and writing boys and girls!

Basketball

Hello Boys & Girls,

Do you like to play sports? Everyone in my family loves to play and watch sports of all kinds. My favorite sport is skiing, any and every kind of skiing. I water ski at our camp in the summer and alpine and telemark ski anywhere I can in the winter.

My son's first word was ball! He had 2 basketball games this week so I made a movie that features some of his best moves. If you think you know which player is Sam respond and tell me what number you think he is and I'll let you know if you're correct. Good Luck!

Empty Classroom

Hello Boys and Girls,

I went into school today to work with the other Vista teachers. I always enjoy going into the classroom in the summer and spending time organizing books and materials. Today I had a huge surprise. The custodians had cleaned the carpets in the classroom and piled everything up in big heaps in the Kiva. It was really quite a mess. Here's a quick Flip video showing our empty classroom and the piles of all of our classroom stuff. Guess I know what I'll be doing next week!

Thanks to Hailey, John, and Noah for sending me postcards. Check your mailboxes for a return postcard.

Keepin' Cool

The summer heat is on and it sure feels good. That is if you can find a way to stay cool! Here's a Flip video movie of how we stay cool on a hot summer day. The Flip movie making software has a couple of "cool" effects. Enjoy :)

4th of July

Hello Everyone - Hope you all had a fun filled 4th of July. Bill, Alita, and I marched in the Richmond parade with the Cochran's float. The ski club was celebrating the new snowmaking machines by having one big long water fight the entire length of the parade route. We were all soaked, as were many of our friends and family who cheered us on from the audience! We're all excited for next years ski season and looking forward to shooting water (and air) out of the snowmaking machines in order to make snow. The video footage was taken using my new Flip Video camera. Everyone in the classroom will be using it next year and creating their own movies. It's so much fun and quite easy to use. The possibilities are endless!