More memories and pictures of Ms. Harris

Over the last couple of days, the kids have been showing their love for Ms. Harris, filling the board with their sentiments. It's been good for them to express the things they love about Ms. Harris. I'm preserving their tribute on the blog so that it will be here forever!

Ms. Wood and I helped collect Ms. Harris's personal pictures and stuff to be delivered to her family. It'll be good for the Spill family to go through Ms. Harris's things and see just how much her kids loved her. But I'm preserving these on the blog as well!








Check out this awesome picture that Mrs. Wood found of Ms. Harris with one of my favorite students from a few years ago, Raymond.



Oh, and we can't forget my personal favorite picture of Ms. Harris - the photo of her and her husband - Elvis Presley.

Moving Science Test to Monday

We were scheduled to take an end of the unit test on Heat, Sound, and Light energy this Thursday. Since the kids haven't had a good opportunity to study this past week, I'm going to move the test to Monday. We'll take some extra time to review concepts today and tomorrow, and I'll even read to them the entire test tomorrow, so they won't be caught off-guard and they'll know exactly what to study. Doing it this way will also give the children something to do with their brains over the three day weekend. Since the second quarter ends tomorrow, this test will count towards their third quarter grades. You can help your child prepare for the test by practicing the vocabulary in the right sidebar, and by discussing the following questions:

Does sound travel fastest through solids, liquids, or gases? Why?

Why is there no sound in outer space?

Why does a smaller instrument part, such as the skinny strings on a guitar, make a higher pitch? Why does a larger part, such as the big keys on a xylophone make a low pitch sound?

What are the colors of the visible spectrum and their order in the rainbow? HINT: ROY G BIV!

Which colors have the higher frequency and which have the lower frequency?

Does light travel faster through gases or liquids? Why

Is it better to wear white clothes or black clothes on a hot day? How about a cold day? Why does the color of your clothes matter?

Trying to heal...

A lot of healing went on in room 70 and room 13. There was a lot of sadness and a lot of crying, important for grieving a loss this big.

We had a big breakfast and an even bigger lunch thanks to PTA! Your kids are coming home with full stomachs today. Have I mentioned how much our PTA rocks?

In the morning the children wrote letters to Ms. Harris's family. They'll be delivered next week. Thanks to Mrs. Zinn for providing the supplies and offering to compile them into a book!

Then we tried to do a bit of math and science in order to keep our brains busy. Like I told the children, it often helps us to get through a tough time if we can keep our minds and bodies active.

A lot of kids took the opportunity to talk to the grief counselors and other teachers. Thank you so much to Ms. Dresbach, Mrs. Kephart, Mrs. Ryan, Mrs. Ross, Mrs. Meyer, Mrs. Lee, and Ms. Ramanan for helping our kids.

Tomorrow, we'll get back into our daily routines. But the grief counselors will continue to be here throughout the week for any kids who need to talk. And our guidance counselor, Mrs. Allen, will continue to be available for kids throughout the year if they need her.

As you know we were planning on having a surprise birthday party (not such a surprise though - she knew we were planning something all along!). And everyone has insisted that we go ahead with it, as a celebration of Ms. Harris. It will be a somber, but uplifting way to bring some closure to this ordeal for the kids.

Mrs. Wood will be filling in for Ms. Harris's class, at least for the time being. We don't know at this time if it will be permanent. But whatever happens, we will still be here to make it through any other changes.

I know that all of the parents are probably very worried about your children's emotional well-being at this time, but I assure you that they are in loving hands with Mrs. Wood and I and that we will be doing everything we can to help them heal.

We love you, Ms. Harris!

When we lose someone we love,
Our life becomes strange,
The ground beneath us gets fragile,
Our thoughts make our eyes unsure;
And the loss drags our voices down
Where words have no confidence.

Our hearts grow heavy with loss;
And though this loss has wounded us
No one knows what has been taken from each of us
When the silence of absence deepens.

Flickers of guilt kindle regret
For all that was left unsaid or undone.

There are days when we wake up happy;
And inside the fullness of life,
Until the moment breaks
And we are thrown back
Onto the black tide of loss.

Days when we have our hearts back,
We are able to function well
Until the middle of work or encounter,
Suddenly with no warning,
We are ambushed by grief.

It becomes hard to trust ourselves
All we can depend on now
Is that sorrow will remain.
Sorrow knows the right time
To loosen the coiled rope of grief
And lets go its last tear drop.

Gradually, we will learn acquaintance
With the invisible form of our departed;
And when the work of grief is done
The wound of loss will heal
And we will have learned to accept

That gap in outer life
And be able to enter the warmth

In each heart
Where our loved one remains.

We all love and miss you, Ms. Harris.

Ms. Harris

Services for Ms. Harris will be held at Arlington Park Cemetery, located at 6920 Lone Star Road, at 2:00 PM tomorrow - January 18th.

Grief counselors will be at the school on Tuesday, and probably throughout this week. Together we will do everything we can to help the children through the grieving process. It's going to be a really tough road ahead for a while, but we'll get through it together.

We have tried calling all of you, so hopefully you've heard from either myself, Mrs. Parker, or Mrs. Rowan. If you have not heard from one of us directly, please call me at (904) 608-8687.

Comings and Goings

We've had a lot of changes since coming back from break! Derek and Drake moved back to Illinois and are back at their old school! Kaleb has moved to Kansas! All the kids in the class (especially the girls) have been very upset at losing all three boys all at once! They will be greatly missed! But we're also pleased to welcome Cynthia into out class! She's been a great addition to our group!


-- Post From My iPhone