Make a Smilebox slideshow

The Sweetheart Valentines of Room 8

Meet Grandma Dolores... she was one of the Valentines of Room 8...You can tell by her big smile that she's happy to be here!This is Jacob. He's the 'new guy' that just moved into Room 8 ... all the way from Arizona!
Austin put on his big smile to show he was excited to get all his valentines.We needed something to put our valentines in...so we made bags.Ashley was trying to find everyone's bag so she could put their valentine inside.Ashley was still smiling after depositing all her valentines into the correct bag.

Well, well, well... who have we here? Another Room 8er, a bit older than the average 4th grader. This is Debbie. Do you recognize those eyes?
This is Debbie's Valentine... commonly known as Kenny, or "Dad" if you're Ashley.
Orion... he certainly has a smile...
Summer's eyes don't match her smile! Oh gee whiz... here's Kacey. He's smiling, but not with our big smile. Nope, not this guy, none of that for our Kacey. No sirree!
It's OK, Kacey, Shelby will smile for you.
We just love Mrs. T. She comes in Room 8 for ExCEL. Here's your blogging teacher... Photography by Austin!

Hi Riley! I can tell by your eyes that you have a big smile on your face!Brittany M., isn't necessarily a 'former Room 8er'... we love it when she comes and hangs out in our classroom!I think Moriah was disappointed that Valentine's Day wasn't also National Hugging Day.
Now hold on... who is this? Mr C? Abby is taking all this smiling pretty seriously!
Happy Valentine's Day to you, Vanessa!
"Do I have to?" asked Danny. I snapped his picture before I answered.
Now Kaia is one-happy-Valentiner. She is smiling with her entire face!Nathan is dreaming about all that chocolate in his Valentine's bag.
Brittany was turning cartwheels...and I snapped this picture as she was coming around. (Just kidding!)
Hey Kobe, nice rose!Spegi is a natural with that smile!

Oh Wasey, she's smiling because she'll be able to make all kinds of jewelry while she's off for President's Week.Shane's not too sure about all this.Wesley's smile reminds me of Kaia's. His whole face is smiling.Ahhh, we can't forget Kendra!
Hearts were overflowing in Room 8...
Hearts on napkins...
Heart-shaped cookies...
Hearts on cupcakes...
Oh yeah, and we had Oreos!

Room 8 definitely enjoyed celebrating Valentine's Day.

Thank you to all the parents who brought treats for the sweethearts of Room 8!

Meet Thalia and Blu

We've been having some pet sharing recently in Room 8. Today, my daughter-in-law, Erica, mother of my granddaughter, Thalia, sent me some photos that Thalia took today while she was playing with her dog, Blu.Blu, is a white lab. He's no small animal.He's about as docile as they come... and he absolutely loves Thalia.After dressing Blu up, Thalia took these pictures of him! He's a very photographed dog!I thought I'd share these pictures with Room 8, plus introduce you to Blu...and Thalia, of course!ThaliaThis is Mrs. J with Thalia. She was in my nephew's wedding!Thalia with her parents: my son, Josh, and her mom, Erica.Another picture of Thalia and Blu!

Kacey's obsidian, Orion's Arctic Hare skin, & Sam's abalone

Last week, Wasey shared her baby basket. I oohed and ahhed... and told Room 8 how much I love it when they bring in things related to what we're studying. It lets me know they're going home and thinking about what they're learning and applying it to something they already know.

Thus the post on Kacey, Orion, and Sam.

Kacey is Mr. Outdoors! He asked if he could bring in some obsidian. Of course I said, "OF COURSE!" Not only did Kacey bring in the 'volcanic glass', but he told us how he had used an antler to try and make an arrowhead. I told Room 8 this was called 'soft percussion'... and using a rock to try and make something from the obsidian would be called 'hard percussion.'

We talked about the fact that obsidian is also called 'volcanic glass' and why. At that point, Kacey pulled out some little shards of obsidian that had broken off when he was trying to make the arrowhead.

He brought in several pieces... and passed them around so Room 8 could have a closer look.

Ashley was checking out a piece. I think in this picture she was commenting on how sharp some of the points were. I kept trying to get a great picture of Kacey... a view of him looking at the camera.
Room 8 started to laugh after ever snap of my camera when they would see Kacey turn his head away at the EXACT same time.
I think Kacey got a bit frustrated with his photographing, blogging teacher snapping so many pictures of him.

He decided to get rid of the obsidian...putting it back into his back, hoping the camera would go away. It did.

Thank you for bring it in to share, Kacey!


We studied the tundra. Each student selected an animal from the tundra, did a little research on that animal, and then made a type of mobile with their animal and it's place in the food chain. Orion did his on the Arctic Hare.As I'm sitting here blogging, I cannot remember where Orion said he got this.
He brought in an Arctic Hare skin to show us. It was absolutely beautiful...and SO soft! As you can see, Kaia is thinking it would be wonderful to rest her head on.
Austin just wanted to touch it.


Orion walked around the room so everyone ... well, everyone who had clean hands... (we had a lot of sudden urges to wash hands!) could touch it.

Orion, thank you for bringing it to share with us.


Sam... he's our abalone guy.
He not only showed us his shell, but he told us a little about preparing abalone to eat. He said you have to be careful or it will be tough or chewy.
The outside of the shell...

The inside of the shell...

Sam... thank you for bringing your abalone shell, AND for the wonderful information you shared with us too.