If only dogs could read!  The canines would then be able to fully appreciate the beautiful work our students have done on the kiosk at the Fairhope Dog Park.  We will be updating the news and adding artwork throughout the year for dogs and humans to enjoy. 

Our other artwork at the school is focusing on our upcoming Fall Festival.  Friday, October 28^th, we will host a preschool non-scary party from 6 until 9pm.  Then, at 6pm the regular festival for the entire family begins.  We will have a silent auction, games, cake walk, and gourmet hot dogs – to name just a few of the fun events.  As always, the entire community is invited. 

The middle school students are busy reading, practicing the parts of speech, and painting their 360 degree mural, depicting the natural Fairhope and South Alabama region.  After much research, this week, raccoons and a few fish were added.  3-D tree trunks also seem to be sprouting up through the mural. 

During free time, the students are working together to construct a clubhouse on the edge of the beautiful wooded campus.  The teachers have whispered that math skills are being used to measure, cut, and place the boards, but the students just think they are having fun.

Science class has us preparing our garden.  After reading gardening books, we have decided to plant turnips, lettuce, onions and garlic.  We soaked different seeds in water to see how they sprout.  We are also adding native azaleas and banana shrubs to our campus. 

Our cooking class always involves planning and writing the menu, multiplying it to feed the class, shopping within a budget, cooking, then of course the best part – eating!  This week’s dish was homemade pizza.

The school had the pleasure of welcoming author Don Sawyer this week.  Mr.   Sawyer is the author of more than ten books for children and young adults.  The students enjoyed getting to know him and asked lots of questions.  Our own writing program is so varied and concentrated; Mr. Sawyer may have inspired another future author from our own Marietta Johnson family.

Our youngest students aren’t square – but they sure are learning about squares!  Four corners are everywhere we look!  They have also become experts on the letter “B” and the number “3”.

Our days at Marietta Johnson are so enjoyable that we all voted to end the week by returning to school Friday night for a pizza and movie party.  A fun evening for a week of hard work!

October at MJSOE

With this beautiful fall weather, we find ourselves hurrying through our classwork so we can go outside to work in our garden! Thanks to the help of Mr. Christenberry from Old Tyme Feed and Seed, we are well equipped for work. The elementary students are clearing the space from the summer crops and preparing the rows for fall plantings. 

The rehearsals for our original Christopher Columbus play continue as we research new ideas and rewrite lines every day.  We made a trip to the Goodwill store to gather items for costumes.  It is interesting to see the formal way people dressed in the 1400’s. 

The younger students took a memorable field trip to Mr. Donnie Barrett’s Tea Plantation.  They learned so much and saw amazing things.  Some of the children were busy chasing the turkeys, and some of the turkeys were busy chasing the children!  Students were able to compare and contrast the various nesting sites and eggs of chickens, turkeys and peacocks.  The real excitement began when one student took an unplanned “swim” in the Koi pond!  Oops!   There was plenty of time to dry off in the bright sun as we happily wandered through the rustling bamboo forest. 

The youngest students at Marietta Johnson were delighted to celebrate Circle Day!  Circles were everywhere in all sizes and colors left the children and teachers going in . . . circles!

Light Spectrums and gamma rays are still on the agenda in science, but we’ve also started focusing on the migration habits of Monarch Butterflies and will be ready when they make their way through Fairhope later this year.  Earth science has us learning about the layers of the earth.

Our reading in recent history items had us learning about the Oklahoma City Bombings.  This was a terrible event that happened before most of us were born.

The older students are enjoying taking turns presenting a cooking lesson every week.  So far, we have learned to prepare Shepherd’s Pie, Homemade Pizza and of course our bounty from the recent Jubilee on the Bay.

Our new music teacher is already a hit with the children and is showing us how various music uses different rhythms.  The students look forward to exploring music in many new and interesting ways throughout the year.

Plans are going full force for our annual Fall Festival on Friday, October 28^th.  New this year is an earlier safe and non-scary party for Preschoolers in the community from 6pm – 9pm.  The full festival for the entire family will begin that evening at 6pm.  With the guidance of the art teacher, the students are working hard preparing games and decorations.  And as always, the community is invited to attend.

The End of Summer

The winds were blowing in just the right direction for a late summer Jubilee! 

When we heard the news of the Jubilee, the older students quickly made our way down to the bay for one of the best science lessons you can imagine. Within steps of the statue of our founder, Marietta Johnson, we saw one of the most amazing sights around.

We quickly gathered enough flounder, crabs and shrimp to feed an army – or at least a class full of hungry kids.  We took our bounty back to the school and learned to prepare it ourselves.  Delicious!  Many of the students who have lived in the Mobile Bay area their entire lives had never actually seen a Jubilee until that day. 

Our writing journals are sure to be full of details of a day at school we will never forget!

And if we weren’t already the luckiest kids in town, we had already planned a field trip to Weeks Bay for the very next day! So once again, we found ourselves exploring the local water.  This time, we pulled seine nets, then identified, categorized and recorded our findings.  We found that Moon Jellies and Pin Fish were plentiful.  We also hiked through the bog to observe the beautiful birds, plants, and marine life. 

Back on our campus, we are learning about light spectrums and made cool bracelets that change color when exposed to sunlight.  Our math lessons continue to focus on basic multiplication and are moving into division on different levels for each student.

The younger classes love reading together, painting, and learning Spanish.  They are also exploring colors and numbers in creative and unusual ways.

We are all making preparations for our annual Fall Festival on Friday, October 28^th.  The parents are having fun coming up with new ideas for our silent auction and new Preschool Pumpkin Patch Party.  This fundraiser is always open to the community and is one of the best events of the year. 

 We are bringing towels to school now, just hoping for another Jubilee!

The School Year Begins

Our school year began after Labor Day, when we were greeted by cooler weather, new teachers, and new students.  The parents held a festive covered dish dinner where new families, teachers and board members were welcomed.

We jumped right into our schoolwork, with the Pre-K classes learning all about colors and numbers in both English and Spanish. 

Kindergarten students have been exploring the outdoors looking for insects to examine.  They are also raising butterflies and love creating and working on various puzzles. And Kindergarten class wouldn’t be complete without painting, and our students have been busy mixing colors and creating masterpieces!

The older students are discovering remarkable facts not found in most history books about explorer Christopher Columbus.  We are writing our own play about Columbus to present on Columbus Day.  Another area of study is the life of historian Howard Zinn, author of “Young Person’s History of America”.

Science and Math classes are measuring everything in sight!  We have used every type of measuring instrument and scale possible.  Reviewing math facts has been a “ball” since we have used our hovering math balls to pass, bump and punch around to each other during the game. 

We have also started our yearlong exploration of plants and animals native to the Fairhope and South Alabama region by collecting and researching a large number of specimens. Our new frog and turtle habitat has been fascinating to create.  We are planning many informative trips around the area for further study throughout the year.

All students have enjoyed our writing journals.  We write every day on topics we take turns choosing.  We enjoy going to the library several times a week, and our current group reading adventure is, “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. 

All students participate in art class several times a week, and we are currently studying abstract pointillism, with Andy Warhol’s work as our guide.  Our school wide group project is a large glass mosaic of our historic bell tower. 

Ringing the bell to signal the end of the school day has been a tradition at our school for over 100 years.  We are still excited to be chosen to ring the bell at the end of our school days in 2011.  It’s going to be a great new school year!