Spring Carnival!

The carnival was a blast! It was great to see so many Sofferin's Superstars at the carnival! But since Leo wasn't there, I got a picture of someone almost as cute - Mrs. Donnelly's son, Evan.


First up for the pie throwing booth were Mrs. Hayden and Mrs. Wood. Love the hat, Mrs. Wood!








Chloe nailed Mrs. Hayden right in the nose!


Great shot, Chloe!









Here goes Axel, ready to creme the fifth grade teachers!






What good sports they were!


The best part of the carnival was the dunk tank! Here's Mr. Sofferin while he was still dry, and still in one piece.



Look how long the line was to dunk Me. Sofferin!



Mr. Sofferin waiting to get dunked.


Mr. Sofferin getting dunked.


Mr. Sofferin...dunked.



Klea made sure she was first in line to dunk Mr. Sofferin!



Axel shoots...



And misses!



Even Mrs. Kornblum got in on the fun!


Here's former Sofferin's Superstar, Hey-Mama, taking her shot at dunking Mr. Sofferin!



Mr. Gibbon's boys lined up to dunk me!



But I got my revenge!





And finally, here's Mrs. Goodman's adorable little girl ready to do me in! She couldn't quite hit the target hard enough. So being a sucker for cute little kids, I took a dive and cut a chunk of flesh on the window of the dunk tank, resulting in the first stitches I've ever gotten in my life!



Check back tomorrow for pics from Cultural Arts Day!

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More Fashion Design Pics!

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Fashion Designers

This week our class is working on a special project that combines what we've learned in math, science, and social studies. The kids are taking on the role of fashion designers, creating their own fashion lines, based on scientific and mathematical specifications! The project involves what they've learned about light energy, symmetry, fractions, estimation, and specialization! I've never tried this project before, and just thought it up last weekend, but it's turning out to be a great experience for the kids. Check out some of the great designs they've created.















































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Ms. Burns at the EDDY Awards

Ms. Burns was honored along with the four other finalists for Duval County Teacher of the Year last night at the EDDY Awards! And Rebekah's little sister got to do the presentation with a friend from her class! Thanks to Mr. Gibbons and Mrs. Peck for these great pictures from the EDDY Awards!

Geek Day

Friday was Geek Day at Beauclerc! Could one of these people be the next Carl Sagan, Steve Jobs, or George Lucas?






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Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Test?

It's rare that I ever have anything to post having ANYTHING to do with all the standardized testing your kids are put through, but I just had to share this. Last week, the kids took the Benchmark Math and Reading tests...for the third time this year. *sigh*

But today, I got the scores, and was elated at the MASSIVE improvements in just the past two months, and even more over the course of the year. Now as anyone who knows me is well aware, my class doesn't spend a single solitary moment on drilling FC@T practice questions or FC@T specific skills into their heads. In fact, the very word itself is a "cuss word" in my classroom (hence, my use of the @ - I don't even like to type the word!). My students don't ever waste their time on FC@T websites or worksheets. When we're on the computers, it's to learn how to use Power Point, Microsoft Word, to do some research on the Internet, or to use Gizmos science simulations or other highly engaging websites. In math, we spend our time learning to think and expanding our minds. In reading, we spend our time actually ENJOYING what we're reading and discussing the incredible stories of Bradley Chalkers, Bobby Ballenger, Helen Keller, and Judy Moody. We engage in real-life, hands-on science, rarely ever even touching a text book. And we never, ever let social studies sit on the back burner.

This is what I've focused on every year I've been a teacher, and your kids have once again demonstrated that authentic teaching and learning is not only far superior to the old-fashioned way of learning, but that it also just happens to result in very strong scores in standardized testing as well. And while I don't hold much stock in these tests anyway, it's nice to see that they back up what I've always said.

So, congratulations on some really terrific Benchmark scores, folks! Tomorrow, the kids will bring home a comparison of their scores from each of the three test sessions.