Dolly Day in Room 102! 

We had the sweetest time celebrating Dolly Day on September 25! Our classroom was filled with big hair, sparkles, pink, and lots of Dolly-inspired outfits as we dressed up to celebrate the one and only Dolly Parton!

But Dolly Day was about so much more than dressing up! We celebrated Dolly's incredible love of reading and literacy. Through her generosity, she has helped put books into the hands and homes of so many children and encouraged little readers everywhere to dream big! 

Throughout the day, we read books, listened to Dolly's music, and practiced kindness—something Dolly has always encouraged others to do.

We laughed, we read, we sang, and we spread a little extra kindness wherever we could. It was a wonderful day celebrating a very special lady who has made such a difference in the lives of children.

As Dolly reminds us, dream more, learn more, care more, and be more!

What a fun day to be a part of our Room 102 family!

 

Grandparents, Goodies & Good Old-Fashioned Fun! 

What happens when Grand Pam, Scott, Woo, and Pink come to visit Room 102? We get lots of wonderful stories, sweet treats, special treasures, and plenty of FUN!

Our four special visitors shared stories about what life was like when they were children. Grand Pam grew up in Columbia, South Carolina, Pink was from Union, South Carolina, and Woo lived in Arkansas. Our second graders loved hearing about their childhood adventures and seeing how things have changed over the years!

Grand Pam brought some extra-special treasures from when she was a little girl. She shared a beautiful lunch box that she and her mother decorated together, a crocheted wrap she wore as a child, and lots of family pictures from when she was about seven years old—just about the same age as our students! How fun is that?

And these grandparents certainly knew the way to our hearts...strawberries and Krispy Kreme donut holes!  YUM!

They also brought jump ropes and hula hoops so we could try some good old-fashioned playground fun. There were lots of smiles, laughs, and maybe even a few impressive hula-hooping skills!

To make the visit even more perfect, they brought us a book about Dolly Parton. With our love for Dolly in Room 102, they couldn't have picked a better book! 

Thank you, Grand Pam, Scott, Woo, and Pink, for spending part of your day with us. You brought a little bit of the past into our classroom and gave us some wonderful new memories at the same time.

Grandparents Month just keeps getting sweeter and sweeter! 

                                  

                                                

 

Once Upon a Time… Cee & Pete Came to the Pine Palace! 

Once upon a time—well, actually today—two very special grandmothers arrived at the Pine Palace with stories from their own second-grade days! Their granddaughter calls them Cee and Pete, and we were so excited to welcome them to Room 102!

Pete took us all the way to Rhode Island, where she attended Catholic school. She wore a uniform every single day and carried her lunch to school in a lunch box. And what was sometimes inside? A peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwich! 

Pete told us that beautiful penmanship was a BIG deal. If you were really good at handwriting, you earned the special privilege of writing with a fountain pen!    She also remembered sinks that had foot pedals to turn on the water. Second grade sure looked different back then!

 Cee brought us a story that warmed our hearts. She told us about a special friend she met when she was in second grade—and they are STILL friends today! What a wonderful reminder that some of the friendships being made right here in the Pine Palace could last a lifetime!

Cee, who is from Greenwood, South Carolina, also loved to jump rope when she was a little girl. She brought a jump rope for our class so we can have some old-fashioned playground fun of our own! She also brought a paper copy of a Weekly Reader from when she was in second grade. It was so much fun comparing her school days to ours!

 Today’s Pine Palace lesson: School supplies may change, lunches may change, and classrooms may change—but friendship, fun, and wonderful school memories never go out of style!

Thank you, Cee and Pete, for adding another wonderful chapter to our Grandparents Month story! 

And they all learned happily ever after… 

 

Aloha from Mimi! 

Our Grandparents Month adventures took us all the way to Hawaii today! Mimi came to visit and shared some fascinating memories from her elementary school days.

Because Mimi’s dad was in the military, her family moved often, and she attended five different elementary schools! One of those schools was in beautiful Hawaii, where school looked very different from ours at Pine Street.

Mimi told us that they didn’t have a cafeteria, and students had to take off their shoes before entering the school! She could even see Pearl Harbor from her backyard.

One of our favorite things to learn about was May Day. The students prepared for it all year long and practiced special dances throughout the year for the celebration. And instead of fire drills, Mimi remembered practicing tidal wave drills!

Mimi gave each student a beautiful lei as a special reminder of the time she spent living in Hawaii.  What a thoughtful way to bring a little bit of Hawaii into Room 102!

She also brought us the book Froggy Goes to Hawaii. After Mimi left, we read the story together and enjoyed continuing our Hawaiian adventure through a book. 

 

Another Walk Down Memory Lane at Pine Street!

Today we had another wonderful Grandparents Month visit, and this time we were lucky enough to welcome a grandfather and a dad to our classroom!

Grandfather had a special connection to our school because he attended Pine Street School for sixth grade! He shared some of his favorite memories with us, including the good food in the cafeteria—some things are definitely worth remembering! He even remembered his sixth-grade teacher after all these years.

He also told us about the fun he had playing games on the playground and how he walked to school every single day. The children loved hearing how different—and in some ways, how similar—school life was when he was a student.

We have loved hearing so many wonderful stories during Grandparents Month. It is extra special when our visitors can share memories made right here at Pine Street School. 

Another sweet day of connecting the Pine Street of yesterday with the Pine Street of today!

  Book Character Day at Pine Street! 

Today, the halls of Pine Street School looked like the pages of our favorite books had come to life! As part of our Read-a-Thon celebration, students AND teachers dressed up as their favorite book characters! 

From silly characters to adventurous heroes and everything in between, there was no shortage of imagination and creativity. It was so much fun seeing everyone’s costumes and trying to guess which books they came from!

What a wonderful way to celebrate our love of reading! Days like today remind us that when we open a book, we can travel anywhere, meet anyone, and have an amazing adventure—all without ever leaving our classroom.

Keep reading, Pine Palace! Our next great adventure is only a page away!