Melissa Eaton

Here’s just a few video clips from our “parade” of balloon creations. Our English Learners designed their own parade balloons for a pre-Thanksgiving parade. We loved the creativity & enthusiasm these balloon artists showed! 🦃 🎈 🎨 @rafael_segarra @2598Laura

Sneak peek at our Thanksgiving Balloon projects in Kindergarten ELL. We read Balloons over Broadway, by Melissa Sweet. Then, students figured out ways to decorate their very own balloons. Next up, we will have our very own Thanksgiving Parade! @2598Laura @rafael_segarra 🦃 🎈

We spent Veterans’ Day learning about the contributions that veterans have made to our country. Students were excited to have so many veterans from our community come to our assembly this morning @CowlishawKoalas! @Mrs_SMaldonado @BeckyAllenReads @LanaHaslett2 @2598Laura

This week our ELs had the privilege of learning about Dia de los Muertos from an expert—our phenomenal Spanish Bilingual TA, Mrs. Sandoval, who came dressed as La Catrina & taught us using photos from her hometown of Guanajuato, Mexico. @rafael_segarra @Kahoot @2598Laura

Happy Halloween from the ELL Team @CowlishawKoalas! @DieballPonce @2598Laura @rafael_segarra

Today our English Learners learned all about Diwali! Mrs. Dabburi, our superstar Telugu & Hindi Bilingual TA, taught us all about this festival. 🇮🇳 With her expert guidance, students made colorful rangoli designs or colored diya lamps. 🪔 @rafael_segarra @2598Laura @DieballPonce

Today we learned about Puerto Rican culture & history from a guest speaker—the fabulous Taina Torres. We even drew coqui frogs, just like the ancient Taino in Puerto Rico. What a cool way to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month & Indigenous Peoples’ Day! @rafael_segarra @2598Laura

Seed dispersal w/2nd & 3rd grade ELs: We hunted for seeds in our school garden & watched them “disperse” in the wind. With our @plugable microscopes, students added seed 📸 & descriptions using @BookCreatorApp. 💨 🔬 @rafael_segarra @CowlishawKoalas @2598Laura @DieballPonce

Apple science & Apple engineering with our Kindergarten English Learners. Using only toothpicks & play-doh, these miniature engineers used teamwork & creativity to stack their apples into tall towers! 🍎 🍏 📕👷‍♀️ 👷 @rafael_segarra @CowlishawKoalas

We had the coolest visitors today. . . 2 tall Sandhill Cranes wandered into our school garden @CowlishawKoalas! What a teachable moment! Our 2nd grade ELLs became “window bird-watchers” & amateur ornithologists as we studied crane behavior, calls, & migration. @rafael_segarra

Great start this morning to our Fall Gardening Club! We found sunflowers, milkweed, mint, & cantaloupe, plus tons of cosmos, marigold, & zinnias. These strong 💪 gardeners pulled 6-ft. weeds, & they looked just like the characters in “The Enormous Turnip!” 😂 🌽 🌸 🪳 🌻

Last week I was a featured guest on a webinar w/@BookCreatorApp. I shared insights from working w/our amazing ELs @CowlishawKoalas in @ipsd204 & learned some cool new ideas to try w/students this year! @rafael_segarra @DieballPonce @CarlosGAzcoitia

All through the rainy spring, these dedicated gardeners showed up, ready to (literally) get their hands dirty. This week, we had warm, dry weather to transplant seedlings to our garden @CowlishawKoalas. Just 2 mtgs left until summer. I’m so proud of their perseverance & optimism!

Our 1st grader English Learners celebrated Earth Day 2024 🌎 by reading Eric Carle’s “The Tiny Seed,” OUTSIDE. Then, we planted tiny flower seeds in egg cartons—recycled, of course! ♻️🌱 🌺 🌸 🌍 #EarthDay2024 @rafael_segarra @DieballPonce @CowlishawKoalas

Finally! The rain stopped long enough so these Friday morning gardeners could get outside and get their hands dirty! We planted peas, lettuce, & carrots. 🫛 🥬 🥕 We also discovered the plants that came up from last year: strawberries, cilantro, mint, & lettuce! 🍓

If you ever have the chance to view an eclipse w/Kindergarteners, take it! Their descriptions of the eclipse tickled my funny bone. They thought the sliver of sun we saw through our eclipse glasses looked like: a banana, a frowny-face, & a giant hot Cheeto! 🌕 🌞 😂

Day #1 of Spring Gardening Club (Monday Edition): We used @plugable microscopes to investigate seeds, succulent starts, daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, & crocuses on this rainy morning. 🌧️Then we planted cantaloupe, pea, marigold, & tomato seeds in peat pods. 🍅 🫛 🍈

Team Red practicing for our #VexIQ competition this morning. . . Lots of excitement as competition day approaches! @CowlishawKoalas 🐨 🤖 @ipef204 @briangio3

A few photos of our @CowlishawKoalas Robotics Teams hard at work. Over the last few weeks, they’ve been refining their designs, preparing for team interviews, updating firmware, & testing design elements for our upcoming competition. @ipef204 @IPSD_WOW #VexIQ @BookCreatorApp

STEAM fun tonight @CowlishawKoalas! I led the “spaghetti station,” but we weren’t cooking. 😆 Student architects (& parent assistants) used dry spaghetti, marshmallows, creativity, & plenty of perseverance to design & build tall, stable towers. . . a spaghetti city! @CowlishawPTA