Marine Quest Open House: Saturday

Marine Quest is a fabulous event for the whole family this Saturday. Check it out.

Final Week of April

Just a math box quiz on Friday of this week. We are concentrating on finishing our Phantom Tollbooth literary essays and story sequels. Scientific classification is our final unit in Science. We will be doing several engaging investigations and projects each week. We'll have another History assessment on chapters 1 to 10 but not for another week or so. We will be starting a project to research the various events that led up the the American War of Independence. Next week we begin our final book study of the year. More about all this later.

Human Impact Noticed Just Beyond Our Door

Our Land & Water science unit is complete. Our last investigation was to run the same amount of water through the stream table bins (above) after grass and mustard plants have firmly rooted. The results were clear. The water sank into the soil instead of running off. The water when it did emerge was not muddy as it had been every other investigation. The roots of the plants held the soil in place and kept the moisture near the roots.



Besides water changing the land, humans do too. Evidence of this is just outside our classroom. Since our door is directly in line with a sidewalk leading to Guidance, the clinic, learning center etc., people over the past seven years have "beaten" a path of sorts down the berm. Evidence of this can be seen in how the soil is several inches shorter opposite our door than next door (see photo below). And the plant cover is well worn away too. People "cut" through our classroom to reach the hallway and beyond. We take this route to get wherever we are going all day.

Celebrate Singing & Recycling

Visiting Artists: Karen Porter & Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker shares his humor and enthusiasm for pottery making with the class. They all fashioned turtles and then helped him produce some bowls and bottles. What an artist! What a showman!



First off today was a lesson in illustration from Karen Porter. You can see some of her decorated elephants on the counter. She guided the class into "seeing" then drawing a sailfish. She encouraged everyone to relax about their art...if you mess up, it can be fixed or transformed.

Celebrating Shorecrest's Artists

All this week we've been touring various divisions of the school checking out the various student art displays. Here we're "smelling" our soda bottle recycled flowers and (below) visions of the future. We also toured the art on display in the Middle Division.

Celebrate African Drum Traditions

Malian Bahikoru Kouyate gave an African drum demonstration Wednesday that enthralled us all. Young and old were drumming and dancing.

Celebrate Jazz

The music room was really swinging with this jazz quartet made up of drummer Peter, bassist Jen, Ben on keyboards and Vicki on violin and vocals. They all started in classical music but soon discovered the fun of jazz. They explained how a quartet works by comparing their individual roles to a table with a painted canvass on it. Ask a Shorecrest student to explain further.

Celebrate the Arts: Monday

Our Celebrate the Arts week began with a preview of the UD musical "Singing in the Rain." It continued with a tour of the UD art studio and juried art exhibit in the halls.



Later in the week: a jazz group, African drums, art tours of the rest of the campus, demos by two working guest artists. It all ends with a Lower Division song concert and picnic on Friday.

We Celebrated the Arts at Sarasota's Ringling Museum

Posing next to a statue of a Roman chariot in the courtyard sculpture garden of the Ringling Art Museum, our group enjoyed an hour's highlight tour of the collection.



Here we are listening to our docent volunteer in one of my favorite galleries at the museum.



After lunch and a walk through Florida's largest rose garden (in peak bloom), we walked around the Ringling Mansion on the bay with Miss Telemachos and her class.



We rode in the "party bus" both ways. Here's a view from the mirrored, laser-light showed ceiling.

Tilly Smith Story part 2

This is the second part of our presentation about the ten year old British girl who after paying attention in geography class saved her family and others from an approaching tsunami in 2004.

First click the play arrow, then double click the image to view. An enlarged screen will appear.

Tilly Smith Story part 1

Here is part one of our presentation this morning about the Tilly Smith who was ten years old when she saved her family and many others from the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster.

To view, first click the play arrow on lower left, then double click the image. An enlarged screen and audio will play.

About Field Day from PE Teachers

Dear Parents,

The lower division is excited about this year’s installment of Field Day. We have put together what is sure to be a fun event for all. Your child will be assigned to a team designated by a color. The students will be split by grades into six K-2 teams and six 3-4 teams. We ask that your children wear their team’s colored athletic clothing and proper athletic shoes to school on Field Day, April 5th, 2010. Please do not feel required to purchase any new clothing for this event; we simply ask that your child be identifiable, for example, as the Red Team or in Shorecrest Sprit Wear. We appreciate your cooperation and support of this enjoyable event.

The coaches will coordinate, organize, assist and instruct all volunteers on their assigned event. Field day for the students will begin promptly at 10:00 and last until 11:30. Those of you interested in assisting the staff and getting close to the action can contact the PE Staff (Coaches Diedrich, Every and Pope) directly at ext. 442 or email jdiedrich@shorecrest.org, wevery@shorecrest.org, or apope@shorecrest.org.

Thank You,

The PE Staff

Busy Week Ahead

Alexis B. and Isabelle J. managed our recent class "Relay for Life" fund raiser. How many links did we create?


Tuesday we have the Math Unit 9 assessment. Students have already prepared a study guide.
Friday is the History of US test on chapters 32 to 41. I will give out a list of key concepts for studying.

Also on Tuesday and continued on Wednesday is the creative writing assessment known as WRAP. This is not graded, but sent away for evaluation. It's two one hour sessions in which a complete story beginning, middle and end must be composed from a story prompt.

Special events this week include: Field Day at 10AM Tuesday and our tour of the Ringling Museum in Sarasota. That's an all day event.

Science: Land & Water Projects continue

Students continue to investigate what water does to the land. Here they analyze the how rocks change the stream beds. We built dams this past week and saved "houses" from flooding. We've planted grass and mustard seeds. Once grown we'll explore how useful their roots are in limiting erosion.