Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Officer Bart Coming to Super Sleuths

Officer Ben Bartholomew from the Cass County Sherrif's department will be with us on Thursday at 11:00, for Super Sleuths. Better known to students as "Officer Bart", Ben will be sharing crime fighting and investigation techniques with the kids. Bring your sack lunch and plenty of questions. I am sure Officer Bart will do his best to educate us and answer our questions.

Also, a reminder to let me know if you would like to participate in A Mansion Mystery, the following Thursday, March 26. We need at least 8 children to fill the main characters, but can use as many as 25. The mystery party starts at 12:00. Each student will play a part in the mystery and read lines from character cards. They are handed out as we go so that no one knows the outcome of the mystery. At the end, we all vote on who we think "did it". Should be lots of fun! There will be pizza at 11:30 for any interested. Cost for the pizza will be $2 per child. Let me know as soon as possible so that I can assign the parts and order the pizza.
Have a great week!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

St. Patrick's Day


St. Patrick's day is celebrated on March 17 each year by the Irish as well as many others. St. Patrick was born around 380AD in Britain. It is hard to distinguish between legend and fact concerning his life, but he is generally credited for bringing Christianity to Ireland. Hands of a Child has just published a new lap book project for children PK-3. It is a free download this week at CurrClick.com and would be a great project to do with your children to learn about St. Patrick and the holiday that bears his name. Although it is written for younger children, it could easily be adapted to older children as well, or be done as a group project with all of your children sharing in the work. If you are not able to download it, let me know. I can print it for you.
I also have a video tape available for check out in the HSAP room. It's called, Irish Dancing Made Easy. I actually did this with some students a couple of years ago and it's kind of fun. Let me know if you would like to borrow it.
One of my favorite books to read around St. Patrick's Day is Jamie O'Rourk and the Big Potato, by Tomie dePaola. Tomie is half Irish himself, so many of his books have an Irish theme. Another favorite is The Irish Cinderlad, by Shirley Climo. This is an interesting Cinderella story set in Ireland. As you probably guessed, the main character is a boy rather than a girl. It is fun to read and then to compare and contrast with other Cinderella stories you know.
Do you have any other ideas for St. Patrick's day? Feel free to post a comment.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

A Pickled Pepper Mystery

Today I am sharing a creative twist on a nursery rhyme. Try it yourself. Choose a rhyme and then be the detective. Ask questions and look for clues. "Was Mother Hubbard robbed? Why was Humpty Dumpty on the wall? Did he fall or was he pushed?" Anyway, enjoy!

A Pickled Pepper Mystery
By Corrisa, Angela & Mariah
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers;
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Setting: Newsroom. Reporter, Mariah is live on the air giving an account of a late breaking story on Mother Goose News.

Reporter: Hello, and welcome to the Mother Goose News. Today we are live with Peter Piper. Did he really pick the peck of pickled peppers? Or did he steal them? We go live to Peter…
Peter: I did not steal the peppers! I picked the pickled peppers!
Reporter: We will find out. We have a witness here today who claims Peter stole those pickled peppers. Please welcome Corrisa.
Corrisa: Hi, I’m Corrisa, and he stole my pickled peppers. My beautiful pickled peppers, and I will press charges.
Peter: I am innocent. I buy stuff. I do not steal.
Reporter: Well today is going to be interesting. Peter, will you be kind enough to tell us what happened?
Peter: Yes, I went to town to buy some pickled peppers for my mom. I went to the Humpty Dumpty Grocery Store and bought my pickled peppers.
Corrisa: Liar! You stole my pickled peppers. My dog even saw it!
Reporter: How did your dog tell you this?
Corrisa: I just know these things.
Reporter: Well I think that about raps this mystery up. But how do you pick a peck of pickled peppers? Don’t you have to pick the peppers before you pickle them?
Peter: You buy them already pickled.
Reporter: Well, that’s a rap. Join us again tomorrow for Mother Goose News!