Week of August 31, 2020 - TK & Kindergarten - Back to School
 |  Click image for read-aloud |
 Click image for read-aloud |  Click image for read-aloud |
| The Itsy-Bitsy Spider A playful song to help us focus. Pete the Cat and the Itsy Bitsy Spider, by James Dean Video Read by Chom Stories Pete and his friends know just how to help the spider succeed. Discuss Find connections to the theme for the year, Working Together for the Gator Good. Teachers Rock, by Todd Parr Video Read by Todd Parr. If you think Todd reads a little too fast to see the pictures, here is a version read by Storybook Time. A celebration of the ways in which teachers change the world, from encouraging creativity, to making students laugh, to helping them form friendships, always wanting everyone to succeed and making the classroom a great place to be. My Bus, by Byron Barton Video Read by Our Home of Many Blessings. Fun with grouping and number play, with a surprise ending. If You're Happy and You Know It A chance to sing and move. Be a GREAT Gator Simple guidelines for a GREAT school year together. |  |
Week of August 31, 2020 - First Grade - Back to School
 Newly-painted front office |  Lower playground gone - two-story building to come |
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School's First Day of School, by Adam Rex
It's the first day of school and everyone's just a little bit nervous, especially the school itself.
The Pigeon HAS to Go to School, by Mo Willems
Why does the Pigeon have to go to school? He already knows everything! What if he doesn't like it? What if the teacher doesn't like him? What if he learns too much?
Discuss Find connections to the theme for the year, Working Together for the Gator Good.
Be a GREAT Gator Simple guidelines for a GREAT school year together.
Crafty Connection Until we are able to be together again at school, fold yourself a little Grand View School building. Decorate it with our new colors: white walls with blue and green trim, or any way you like. Here are the video instructions. Wouldn't this make a super-cute bookmark?
It's the first day of school and everyone's just a little bit nervous, especially the school itself.
The Pigeon HAS to Go to School, by Mo Willems
Why does the Pigeon have to go to school? He already knows everything! What if he doesn't like it? What if the teacher doesn't like him? What if he learns too much?
Discuss Find connections to the theme for the year, Working Together for the Gator Good.
Be a GREAT Gator Simple guidelines for a GREAT school year together.
Crafty Connection Until we are able to be together again at school, fold yourself a little Grand View School building. Decorate it with our new colors: white walls with blue and green trim, or any way you like. Here are the video instructions. Wouldn't this make a super-cute bookmark?
Week of August 31, 2020 - Second Grade - Back to School
| Newly-painted front office | Lower playground gone - two-story building to come |
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Excellent Ed, by Stacy McAnulty
Ed, the Ellis family dog, has many talents, but none of them matches the excellence of the five Ellis children's in this story that reminds us everyone is excellent at something.
Ragweed's Farm Dog Handbook, by Anne Vittur Kennedy
Ragweed blithely breaks all his own farm dog rules, collecting biscuits as he goes.
Discuss Find connections to the theme for the year, Working Together for the Gator Good.
Be a GREAT Gator Simple guidelines for a GREAT school year together.
Crafty Connection Until we are able to be together again at school, fold yourself a little Grand View School building. Decorate it with our new colors: white walls with blue and green trim, or any way you like. Here are the video instructions. Wouldn't this make a super-cute bookmark?
Activity Ragweed's handbook reproducible found at TeachingBooks.net
Ed, the Ellis family dog, has many talents, but none of them matches the excellence of the five Ellis children's in this story that reminds us everyone is excellent at something.
Ragweed's Farm Dog Handbook, by Anne Vittur Kennedy
Ragweed blithely breaks all his own farm dog rules, collecting biscuits as he goes.
Discuss Find connections to the theme for the year, Working Together for the Gator Good.
Be a GREAT Gator Simple guidelines for a GREAT school year together.
Crafty Connection Until we are able to be together again at school, fold yourself a little Grand View School building. Decorate it with our new colors: white walls with blue and green trim, or any way you like. Here are the video instructions. Wouldn't this make a super-cute bookmark?
Activity Ragweed's handbook reproducible found at TeachingBooks.net
Week of August 31, 2020 - Third Grade - Back to School
| Newly-painted front office | Lower playground gone - Two-story building to come |
 |  Click image for video  Click image for video |
Jasper & Ollie Build a Fort, by Alex Winan
Best friends Jasper, a quick and feisty fox, and Ollie, a slow, deliberate sloth, decide to build forts in the yard. While Jasper's enormous fort goes up in minutes (complete with a rock climbing wall, bouncy, castle, and moat), it's Ollie's humble fort that has what the pair need most . . . a place that they can share.
Discuss Compare and contrast the two approaches to getting a job done and find connections in the story to the theme for the school year, Working Together for the Gator Good.
Be a GREAT Gator Simple guidelines for a GREAT school year together.
Crafty Connection Until we are able to be together again at school, fold yourself a little Grand View School building. Decorate it with our new colors: white walls with blue and green trim, or any way you like. Here are the video instructions. Wouldn't this make a super-cute bookmark?
Video Extenders Click here to find out why sloths are so slow, their connection to avocados, and more. Click here to see and hear an adorable baby sloth.
Best friends Jasper, a quick and feisty fox, and Ollie, a slow, deliberate sloth, decide to build forts in the yard. While Jasper's enormous fort goes up in minutes (complete with a rock climbing wall, bouncy, castle, and moat), it's Ollie's humble fort that has what the pair need most . . . a place that they can share.
Discuss Compare and contrast the two approaches to getting a job done and find connections in the story to the theme for the school year, Working Together for the Gator Good.
Be a GREAT Gator Simple guidelines for a GREAT school year together.
Crafty Connection Until we are able to be together again at school, fold yourself a little Grand View School building. Decorate it with our new colors: white walls with blue and green trim, or any way you like. Here are the video instructions. Wouldn't this make a super-cute bookmark?
Video Extenders Click here to find out why sloths are so slow, their connection to avocados, and more. Click here to see and hear an adorable baby sloth.
Week of August 31, 2020 - Fourth Grade - Back to School
| Newly-painted front office | Lower playground gone - Two-story building to come |
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We Don't Eat Our Classmates, by Ryan T. Higgins
It's the first day of school and Penelope is not having much success at making new friends until the class pet steps in to save the day.
The Best School Year Ever, by Barbara Robinson
The teacher's assignment is for each student to write a compliment for each classmate and Beth must think of one for awful Imogene, a member of the notoriously rotten Herdman family, the worst family in the history of the world.
Discuss Find connections to the theme for the year, Working Together for the Gator Good.
Be a GREAT Gator Simple guidelines for a GREAT school year together.
Crafty Connection Until we are able to be together again at school, fold yourself a little Grand View School building. Decorate it with our new colors: white walls with blue and green trim, or any way you like. Here are the video instructions. Wouldn't this make a super-cute bookmark?
It's the first day of school and Penelope is not having much success at making new friends until the class pet steps in to save the day.
The Best School Year Ever, by Barbara Robinson
The teacher's assignment is for each student to write a compliment for each classmate and Beth must think of one for awful Imogene, a member of the notoriously rotten Herdman family, the worst family in the history of the world.
Discuss Find connections to the theme for the year, Working Together for the Gator Good.
Be a GREAT Gator Simple guidelines for a GREAT school year together.
Crafty Connection Until we are able to be together again at school, fold yourself a little Grand View School building. Decorate it with our new colors: white walls with blue and green trim, or any way you like. Here are the video instructions. Wouldn't this make a super-cute bookmark?
Week of August 31, 2020 - Fifth Grade - Back to School
| Newly-painted front office | Lower playground gone - two-story building to come |
 Tomas Rivera age 10 |  |  Dr. Rivera in his office |
This is a unique year, with a unique learning environment. It won't be money that will make the biggest difference, although it has sadly been further evidenced by distance learning during a pandemic that financial resources have a profound impact on learning success. But a case can be made that a part of school success comes from within each student: personal determination and a love of learning. And for those of us lucky enough, if there is an educator who can open up the world of books to us.
Consider the example of Tomas Rivera. He was born in Texas in 1935. A migrant worker who valued education, he became a writer, a professor, and a national education leader. When Dr. Rivera died in 1984, he was the chancellor of the University of California at Riverside. The campus library now bears the name of the boy who was once encouraged to read by a librarian in Iowa.
Video An interview with author Pat Mora.
Tomas and the Library Lady, by Pat Mora
While helping his family in their work as migrant laborers far from their home, Tomás finds an entire world to explore in the books at the local public library.
Discuss Find connections to the theme of the year, Working Together for the Gator Good.
Be a GREAT Gator Simple guidelines for a GREAT school year together.
Crafty Connection Until we are able to be together again at school, fold yourself a little Grand View School building. Decorate it with our new colors: white walls with blue and green trim, or any way you like. Here are the video instructions. Wouldn't this make a super-cute bookmark?
Consider the example of Tomas Rivera. He was born in Texas in 1935. A migrant worker who valued education, he became a writer, a professor, and a national education leader. When Dr. Rivera died in 1984, he was the chancellor of the University of California at Riverside. The campus library now bears the name of the boy who was once encouraged to read by a librarian in Iowa.
Video An interview with author Pat Mora.
Tomas and the Library Lady, by Pat Mora
While helping his family in their work as migrant laborers far from their home, Tomás finds an entire world to explore in the books at the local public library.
Discuss Find connections to the theme of the year, Working Together for the Gator Good.
Be a GREAT Gator Simple guidelines for a GREAT school year together.
Crafty Connection Until we are able to be together again at school, fold yourself a little Grand View School building. Decorate it with our new colors: white walls with blue and green trim, or any way you like. Here are the video instructions. Wouldn't this make a super-cute bookmark?
 Explore For those interested in reading more about social justice and the migrant farm worker experience in California, I recommend The Circuit, by Francisco Jimenez. It is an honest and powerful account of a family's journey to the fields of California. Once an undocumented immigrant, Dr. Jimenez is now a professor at Santa Clara University. |  Explore For those interested in reading more about social justice and living as an undocumented immigrant, I recommend Dear America: the Story of an Undocumented Citizen, by Jose Antonio Vargas. Brought to the US from the Philippines as a child, he didn't learn of his undocumented status until he applied for a learners' permit and spent the next 20 years hiding in plain sight, writing for prestigious news organizations. |
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