Taking a Bite Out of the World

Posted on 09/26/2009 by Mrs. Cranford

world Quite a bit has changed since last year’s blogging challenge, but our commitment to establishing world connections has not faltered. We began this blog with two teachers, Mrs. Cranford and Mrs. Odom, thus the C-O. I have now been given an additional responsibility on this campus, but Mrs. Odom and I remain with the student bloggers of the C-O Connections. We hope that you will continue to visit our blog and continue to leave your comments because we love to read them.

On our “Meet Our Class” page, you will read a little bit about us. Last year we were rewarded for our hard work by winning the 2009 Edubloggers Challenge. You will see the badge posted along the sidebar of our blog. Our intermediate school in East Texas is a wonderful place to go to school, and we will be sharing our experiences with you this year.

Please let us know what you think. After all, YOU are the reason we continue to grow and make even more connections.

Back to School

Posted on 07/28/2009 by Mrs. Cranford

arg-dancing-back-to-school-red-on-white-url Wow, August is right around the corner, and I am getting ready for a great year! Already I have seen students out and about town doing some early school clothes shopping. The aisles are lined with school supplies and new folders of all colors. This is my favorite time of the year.

Last year, we participated in an online blog challenge, and made connections to other classrooms all around the world. This year we will be promoting the newly created blogs of our intermediate classes, so I will be posting some blog challenges of our very own. I do hope you are up for them!

I will be seeing and reading you very soon.

Summer Fun in 3D

Posted on 06/08/2009 by Mrs. Cranford

Summer is in full force and it is hot here in Texas. My grandchildren and I decided to take this time to catch the new Pixar movie, UP in 3D, in the comfort of the air-conditioned theater. It was a really good movie which taught some valuable lessons. There were some parts that were rather sad in my opinion, but all loved it nonetheless.

The coolest part was the 3D glasses! We were all issued (paid $2.50 extra for issuance) a pair of 3D glasses at the ticket window so that we could view the movie and all of its special effects. I really didn’t know if the kiddos would leave them on their faces for the entire time, but it proved not to be a problem.

It is a tradition with my grandchildren (One that I began about 7 years ago) that at the end of the movie when the music plays and the credits roll, that we head to the front of the theater to enjoy a celebration dance. This day was to be no different. Below is an Animoto of our day date to see UP in 3D.

What have you been doing this summer? Write me a comment and let me know.

Challenge09 #11 – It’s An Honor to Volunteer

Posted on 05/21/2009 by Mrs. Cranford

Memorial Day started as a remembrance of the Civil War soldiers, both Union and Confederate. It is first credited to the women of Columbus, Mississippi, where the women’s association went to the local cemeteries and decorated the graves of both the Confederate and Union soldiers buried there on April 25th, 1866.

The date for Memorial Day was changed to be the last Monday in May in 1971, as part of the national Holiday Act to make all National Holidays into three day weekends.

On this Memorial Day, the local scout troops volunteered to visit local cemeteries and place flags on the graves of our service men. Under the directions of their scout leaders, they met at Lakeview Memorial Gardens at 7:00 a.m. to begin this task. We thank them for the respect and honor they have shown today with their actions.

What actions of respect and honor for the history of your state or country can you write about? We would love to hear about it.

In the News

Posted on 05/17/2009 by Mrs. Cranford

ani-wow ani-wedidit

Recently our local newspaper stopped by to interview some of our student bloggers. The students were eager to share their views on blogging and how it has improved their writing skills and motivated them to read more.

Blogging has truly changed our class. It has connected us with some wonderful classrooms and presented opportunities that we would never have encountered otherwise.

We WON!!

Posted on 05/11/2009 by Mrs. Cranford

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That’s right!! We WON! Boy, were we ever excited. Monday brought about several surprises for our students. First of all, we received an email from Sue Waters, Edubloggers, letting us know that we had won in the Embedded Media Division of the Blog Challenge09 Competition. Whoa!

Next, the newspaper came out to do a feature piece on us because only recently did we ship a package to Myles Webb’s Class, http://melvilleroom8.blogspot.com/ in New Zealand, and they responded with some awesome posts. We shared their website with him and answered all of his questions.

The reported asked how blogging had improved our writing skills and then he asked the students how they felt about blogging. They were certainly NOT at a loss for words to share their thoughts.

How do you feel about blogging? How do you think it affects all of your school subjects?

Will you continue to blog over the summer months? We want to know.

Challenge09 #10 – Enticing the Reader

Posted on 05/09/2009 by Mrs. Cranford

School's Out May 29th! See you again in August.

I think we are going to make it! We have successfully maintained participation in Miss Wyatt’s Blog Challenge 09 thus far. This is the tenth challenge with only two more to come. We are to entice our readers. What better way to do that right here at summertime than with some talk of SUMMER. We will be adding posts over the summer on the subject of Summer FUN. We hope that you will continue to follow us throughout our summer break and make comments along the way.

Some of the plans that our students have for the summer include:

Six Flags Over Texas

Great Wolf Lodge

Destin, Florida

Gulf Shores, Alabama

Nashville, Tennessee

What will YOU do during your break? We want to know. Please share that information with us in a comment.

Challenge09 #9 – Do You Know a Hero?

Posted on 05/07/2009 by Mrs. Cranford

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Our class has read many books this year, and after brainstorming what we felt were qualities of a hero, we began to think back about some of those books and the heroes and heroines in each.

We just finished reading The Chalk Box Kid by Clyde Robert Bulla. In this story, Ivy showed the characteristic of selflessness. She was a heroine to Gregory when he needed a friend. F.N. Monjo wrote in Follow the Drinking Gourd Follow the Drinking Gourd about the various risks involved to help slaves escape to the north. Those risk takers were certainly heroes. A Girl Named Helen Keller by Margo Lundell introduced us to Anne Sullivan, a teacher who went above and beyond the call of her duty to help Helen. Earlier in the year, we read Annie and the Old One by Miska Miles in which we thought both the Old One and Annie were heroines. The Old One was brave in the way she faced death and Annie showed great courage by accepting this unavoidable event. The Legend of the Bluebonnet by DePaola is an example of ultimate sacrifice by a little girl when her village is in dying due to a drought. She was truly a heroine to the village to the point where even her named changed to honor her actions. On a much lighter note, Grandma proves to be the heroine by being helpful in The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins.

We then asked each student to name their personal hero. Here is a list of the results:

Mrs. Cranford: My dad is my hero. Even though I lost him in 2002, he remains to this day the person who continues to shape my life daily.

Brittany: My Ant Sallie is my hero. She helps older people. She took me in and loves me.

Brian: My hero is me because I servived cancer and I almost died. And my grandpa because he was in the war.

Colton: My hero is Papa Don because heis tough and he is a good person. He was in the Navy so he knows how to protect me and keeps me safe. Papa Don is cool because he keeps people from harming others. I love my Papa Don because he helps people with money problems.

Adrian: My dad is a hero. He works so hard and he is the best dad. I love my family and my brother. We are a family.

Jennifer: My hero is Patsy because she takes care of me and Lizzy and Mamat. She loves me. I love Nany. She is a caring person.

>Alex: My hero is my step dad because he is a shairf and is helpful. He is nice and playful.

So we want to know, “Do YOU know a hero?” If so, please leave a comment and let us know who it is and why.