Ithaca South Elementary

Kindergarten Potter Park Zoo Trip 2024 is complete! We had perfect weather, awesome parents/chaperones & students, and so much fun visiting all of the animals! Thank you Ithaca PTO for providing admission cost for each student. Thank you Ithaca Public Schools & Transportation for providing a safe and relaxing bus ride! 💙💛💙💛💙💛💙💛💙💛💙

Today, Mrs. MacLaren's class was awarded their extra recess that they won through the PTO carnival. It was a perfect day for some extra time outside!

Mr. Tom Clark, visited with a Kindergarten classroom to share some of his many adventures. Tom is the Gratiot County Animal Control officer that serves the whole county in keeping residents safe and looks out for the welfare of our pets. He taught the children how to ask for permission before approaching a pet and what to do if a stranger with a pet approaches them. Mr. Clark also demonstrated how he uses equipment in the rescue of an animal. He shared how to find pets to adopt from the shelter, use the website Petfinder.com to find exotic pets, and keep updated with their Facebook page for new arrivals.

Our South Elementary teachers ROCK!! Thank you to our Ithaca PTO for recognizing and celebrating the wonderful staff members in our building!

Deputy Kennedy Schall visit Mrs. Simcox's kindergarten classroom on Monday! Deputy Schall talked about her job at the Gratiot County Sheriff's Department, showed students all of the tools on her uniform, and encouraged students to think about a career in law enforcement & corrections! Thank you Deputy Schall & Gratiot County Sheriff's Department for all you do to keep us safe!

Thank you to all of the people who helped with our school woods clean-up today! The trails are ready for our first and second grade field trips this month!

This week, Mrs. Whitford's classroom received their ice cream sundae party as their reward for being the highest earners during our Read-a-Thon fundraiser in March. We are so thankful for generous families and community members who continually support our school and students!

This amazing group of Junior Jackets were rewarded for their hard work at following our school rules: Bee Respectful Bee Responsible And Bee Safe

Our Positivity Project focus this week is enthusiasm. After listening to The Curious Garden by Peter Brown, students in Mrs. Groeneveld's classroom were challenged to make their own flowers and place them around the room. Each student designed and colored their own flower. Their enthusiasm grew as they told their classmates what flower they made and where it hung in the room. It was wonderful to see their creativity, enthusiasm, and the way they celebrated others!

It is always rewarding to participate in a Nature Hike with our Kindergarteners as they search for treasures in remote places! We planted the rest of our trees; saw animal trails, discovered groundhog holes, woodpecker holes, bee hive access holes, and even ant holes! We picked up rocks, pine cones, chestnuts, worms, and even some trash. At the end of our walk, we crawled and hid in the new wheat habitat like rabbits to see what it was like for them to hide from danger. It was a great day to explore Mother Earth!

It was awesome to watch these kiddos explore the texture and behavior of night crawlers! We have included these unique creatures in our classroom as we talk about caring for Mother Earth, recycling, and the planting of trees! As our Positivity Project theme this week is about displaying Enthusiasm , there was no lack of enthusiasm today!

Kindergarteners enjoyed reading "There's a Bird on your Head" in STEAM lab. They then collaborated to build nests for Pom Pom "birds" and attempted to balance them on their heads like the characters in the story!

Last week South Elementary hosted Kindergarten Registration. "Jack" even joined us to help welcome our newest Junior Jackets!

🌼🌼Thank you, Grandparents and Special guests, for visiting today!🌼🌼

2nd graders visited the Math & Reading Room during Grandparents/VIP Day!

1st graders visited the Math & Reading Room during Grandparents/VIP Day!

Kindergarten students visited the Math & Reading Room during Grandparents/VIP Day!

Thank you to all of the Grandparents & VIPs who visited our classroom today! We loved spending special time with you!

Thank you Mrs. Jennifer Geiger from KHA Bees & Boers! We loved culminating our kindergarten bee unit investigating bee boxes, holding your acrylic bee lifecycle, and viewing live bee frames! A big thank you for the bee coloring books, seeds, and stickers. They were beeeeautiful! 💐🐝💐

Our Kindergarten classrooms wrapped up a Bee Unit today with a guest presentation from Mrs. Jennifer Geiger from the Bee Keepers Association! We are very thankful to Mrs Geiger for sharing her passion with us and the awesome props including her "live bee hive"! She left us with some really nice activity books and some wild flower seeds to promote healthy feeding and pollinating for our honeybees!