What Happened to Mrs. Cassidy?

Dear Readers,

Alright, alright!

I keep getting questions and emails asking why this classroom blog is no longer being updated. Clearly an explanation is in order.

First of all, thank you, thank you, thank you for your support of this blog. Your clicks (yes, we watched how many visitors we had to this blog) and comments made this space what it was meant to be—a place to share what was happening in our classroom and a place where my students could showcase their work and know it was being seen by others beyond our classroom. The children were also able to receive feedback from relatives, friends, former students of mine and from people they didn’t know from places they would probably never see. We read each and every comment aloud together. Thank you for your contribution to our learning.

Now, about that explanation. Last June, I retired from classroom teaching. People always told me that I would know when the time was right to do this and they were correct. I did!

This change has given me the opportunity to put more time into other things that I love. It’s a joy to be able to spend time working one on one with students learning to read. There was never as much time as I wanted for this in our busy classroom. It’s also a delight to mentor teachers and to speak to teachers at conferences as part of their professional development. I have done this for several years, but I love that I now have more time to put into the preparation that I want to do for these sessions.

I speak about ways to connect your classroom with the world (such as this blog) and how those connections can help you to teach literacy and math. I also speak about using robotics with young children and about using iPads to create and learn. You can check out all my presentations and the resources I share here.

So, if you’d like to get together for a coffee, for a chat or for a conference let me know!

This blog and the thirteen years of student blogs the children created will remain online as an example of the power of connected learning and as a way for my former students to continue to access their six-year-old learning.

Thank you again for your support and for making this blog the community that it has been. It became more than I ever dreamed it could be.

Kathy Cassidy

Future Engineers

This week we had several challenges involving Hot Wheels cars and Lego. From measurement to construction principals to aerodynamics and everything in between. So much problem solving. So much fun.

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Releasing the Butterflies

After watching the caterpillars grow and make their cocoons, we waited what seemed liked a very long time and finally all of the butterflies emerged. When the time came to let them go, all of the students read aloud a letter they had written to the butterflies.
Most of the butterflies were very cooperative and stayed around long enough for everyone to have at least one turn to hold them. I got pictures of as many of these wonderful moments as I could!

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The Pheasants Hatched!

For twenty three days we waited patiently while the pheasants grew inside their eggs in the incubator in our classroom. Waiting was not easy!
This week, they finally began to hatch. Several of the eggs hatched as the students watched–an incredible learning experience.
The chicks have been given to the Wildlife Federation who will raise them until they are able to look after themselves. Then, they will release them into the wild.

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Happy Mother’s Day

By now all the moms will have received their hand made gifts, so it’s safe for me to post this picture of the students hard at work on their fancy hangers.
I hope your day together is wonderful!

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