Wishing You a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year

Happy Thanksgiving!

From all of us at PDS......
Have a Safe and

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Scholastic.com.....Great Books and MORE!

Thanks for making our Book Fair such a success!

We love Scholastic!

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, PDS students have enjoyed visiting www.scholastic.com to learn more about the Pilgrims, Indians, and The First Thanksgiving.

From the mountains....to the prairies....to the oceans white with foam

God Bless America, my home sweet home! The Fourth grade is hard at work learning the meanings of many geographical terms....so we decided to paint a mural to illustrate some of them. What fun we had! Can you find a desert? A prairie? Mountains? Waterfalls? A plateau?

Dancing with Degas

Degas is most famous for his paintings and sculptures featuring ballet dancers. Check out the Fourth graders' beautiful chalk drawings....graceful ballerinas....and one very nimble football player, right, Will?

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Everywhere!

These beautiful pumpkins were drawn by our
PDS Fifth and Sixth graders!

Delta Impressions....A Visit to the Ellis Theater Galleries

For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

For the beauty of each hour
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon and stars of light,
Lord of all, to thee we raise
This our grateful hymn of praise.

This favorite hymn is perfectly reflected in the stunning exhibit at the Ellis Theater! During the month of October, it's galleries have been home to an impressive collection of paintings by the Delta's own Sammy Britt.  "Ooohs" and "ahhs" punctuated the air as our normally talkative Fourth graders were in awe as they studied Mr. Britt's colorful landscapes and still lifes. As the children compared multiple paintings of the same garden or field, they were amazed at how time of day or weather conditions dramatically effected the look of each setting.  Enjoy a few pictures from our visit!

Thank you, Mr. Britt, for helping us see the Delta's beauty through your artist's eyes! Thank you, Dr. Waldrup and the Delta Arts Alliance for the imformative booklet about the exhibit! It really helped us make the most of our visit!

Catching Some ZZZZZZZZZZ's

The second graders created these cool quilts to showcase some of what they've learned about patterns and different types of lines. Who wouldn't want to snuggle under such beautiful covers? !

Computer Update

The Computer lab has been abuzz with busy boys and girls! I am especially proud of our Second through Sixth graders!!!! For the past couple of weeks they have been learning how to create and insert a table into a Word document. Yes, even the second graders are learning to make simple tables! Most of all, the children are learning to use tables to help themselves become more organized!

The pre-schoolers and kindergarteners are mastering how to manipulate the mouse more effectively, while the first graders have had a great time studying their spelling words with www.spellingcity.com
PDS third graders and sixth graders are also learning how to use the internet safely and responsibly as they research topics assigned by their homeroom teachers. Technology is AWESOME!

Orignal Artworks Fundraiser

What fun we've had in Art class lately! Every grade, from K3 through sixth grade has worked very hard completing their tissue paper collages and other designs for the Original Artworks fundraiser. We can't wait for you to see the finished products!

Out of this World Art!

In honor of the Third Graders'  recent study of space, we created imaginary spacescapes in art.

 First, the children splatter-painted stars in the dark night sky.

Then, we painted vivid watercolor swirls onto manila paper.

Next, each child traced 5 circles (planets) of varying sizes onto the watercolored paper. We used oil pastels to add shading to our "planets."

 Finally, we glued the planets in the sky making sure all of them are "facing" the sun, and used  the scrap watercolored paper to form the surface of the nearest "planet."

 Check out their "out of this world" art!

Fun Fonts and More!

Computer lab has been abuzz with the pitter patter of youthful fingers discovering fun fonts and more! Students in second and third grades typed their spelling words in Word changing fonts and type sizes. (They are also trying hard to remember the home keys and use proper keyboarding.) K4-K5 students learned the parts of a computer, and practiced manuevering the mouse in KidPix. First graders prepared for their weekly spelling test by completing activities on www.spellingcity.com. Second through Sixth graders hone their typing skills with Mavis Beacon. The Fourth and Fifth graders also learned how to create tables within a Word document. Our "Seniors" (aka Sixth graders) have begun learning to create presentations using PowerPoint. As you can see, Computer lab has been VERY busy!

I do ask one favor....whenever your children are using a computer at home....please remind them of the home keys and encourage them to use proper keyboarding techniques. Yes, even the first graders will be learning these skills before the school year ends! Thanks for your help!

Motivated by Mondrian

Throughout the year we will be learning about many different artists. Our first featured artist was Dutch painter, Piet Mondrian. His paintings are so famous Nike even designed a tennis shoe inspired by them!

Our 5K classes created the cool artworks above with watercolors and electrical tape!

A Visit from Freddy

Thanks to Emma Grace, Freddy (the Charleston wrap) Frog visited the Art room last week! Take  a look at a few pictures of our amphibian artist!

Fantastic Fonts

Practicing their Spelling words provided Fourth Graders an opportunity to explore changing type sizes and fonts as well as proper typing technique.

K5 Computer Fun!

Check out these Kindergarteners in Computer Lab!

Elements of Art, Part 1

Color, Line, Texture, Shape, Value, and Space....Fundamentals of Art are FUN to learn about!

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3

Computer classes are off to a great start for K5 through sixth grades! The kindergarteners and first graders have been enjoying Alphabet Express, KidPix and Starfall.com. Second through Sixth graders are busy taking the beginning of the year StarReading and StarMath tests. Many of the children have also begun taking AR book tests.Additionally, First through Sixth Graders have completed the placement test for Mavis Beacon, and are working hard to learn keyboarding skills.

Beautiful Butterflies!

What fun the 4K classes had making beautiful butterflies using the primary colors!

New Year, New Classes

Every year I greet the new school year with much anticipation and a healthy dose of high expectations....and the 2011-2012 school year is no exception! Only, THIS year...for the first time in 32 years I will NOT be teaching a delightful roomful of wiggly first graders all day! Yes, I will still get to enjoy those snaggle-toothed cherubs a couple of times a week....but I will also have the awesome opportunity to teach every PDS student from K4 through 6th grade in our art and computer classes. I am SOOOO excited, and I look forward to a great year with your children.

For those of you who don't know me or my background, I'd like to share a bit about myself. A native Clevelander, I am a proud graduate of Delta State...twice! I first earned my BFA and worked 3 years as a graphic artist, before returning to DSU to study elementary ed. and earn my Masters. Before retiring from public education after 26 years, I was privileged to have been involved in implementing both technology and arts grants at a local elementary school. Boy, did I learn a lot!

Though First Graders will always hold a special place in my heart, I am eager to embrace this new opportunity. What an exciting year awaits us!