Where'd you go Miss Lipsky?!

Hello friends of The Lipsky Team!! I have missed you so! If you are looking for me I can be found at my new Second Grade blog, http://starsofbroadway.blogspot.com This year our Chets Creek theme is Orchestrating a Symphony of Success and 2nd grade is Broadway! Stop by and check out the new blog and feel free to leave a comment.

P.S. Roald Dahl plays will be up soon on this blog...I PROMISE!!

Career Day was Amazing!

Yesterday, Chets Creek 5th graders got a treat, members of the Jacksonville community took time off of work to visit us and share information about their careers. We had an amazing mix of talented professionals visit us! Some of our guests were: Michelle Jacobs a meteorologist from NBC and ABC, Mr. Appleby our favorite FBI agent, Officer Bingham from the Jax Beach Police Department and Mako the crime Dog, Dr. Willingham a transplant surgeon, Ms. O'Neil a nurse, Mr. Joswick a computer genius, Mrs. Surrency a nurse who brought along the ambulance from Wolfson's Children's Hospital, Mrs. Acosta from a credit union, Mr. Nash a firefighter from Jax Beach Fire Department, Mr. Powell from Swason Fire Protection, and Commander Almon and friends from the U.S. Navy! We also had a Navy Helicopter piloted by Commander Metcalf land on our Baseball field! The entire day was such a great experience and we learned many things.

Here are some of the new facts we learned on Career Day:

1. News Anchors have great shoes!
2. When a Helicopter lands near you, close your eyes!!
3. Drug sniffing dogs don't like ambulance sirens!
4. You can have new kidneys put into your body!
5. Credit Unions can tell when you pay with counterfeit money!
6. Not all fires can be put out with water...
7. Don't mess with the FBI.

We want to thank all of our visitors for taking time from the busy schedules to share with us at Chets Creek! Career day was an awesome experience for the fifth grade and we have Ms. Symons and Miss Wickert to thank as well for organizing everything for us!!

The Best Show in Town!

And now...the post you've all been waiting for... the cast lists for our play, The World of Roald Dahl! Please read the list carefully because you may have more than one role!!

Lipsky Homeroom Cast:

Narrator 1: Enrique

Narrator 2: Susan

Kid: Spencer

Charlie Bucket: Jeremy

Willy Wonka: Tristan

Grandpa Joe: Matthew

Veruca: Alexis

Mr. Salt: Nathan

Augustus: Taylor

Mrs. Gloop: Allison

Violet: Angela

Mike Teavee: Marc

The BFG: Nathan

Sophie: Kaylie

The Fleshlumpeater: Matthew

The Childchewer: Tristan

The Meatdripper: Taylor

The Bonecruncher: Marc

The Queen of England: Kasi

Matilda: Ally

Mr. Wormwood: Taylor

Mrs. Wormwood: Jhadae

Miss Honey: Alyssa

Miss Trunchbull: Kasi

Lavendar: Allison

Nigel: Matthew

Bruce: Jeremy

Wallace Homeroom Cast

Narrator 1: Mitchell
Narrator 2: Brandon
Kid: Jarod
Charlie Bucket: Jon
Willy Wonka: Kenny
Grandpa Joe: Nicolai
Veruca: Savannah
Mr. Salt: JheraMon
Augustus: Jakari
Mrs. Gloop: Emily
Violet: Jordanne
Mike Teavee: J. P.
The BFG: C. J.
Sophie: Tatiana
The Fleshlumpeater: Brandon
The Childchewer: JheraMon
The Meatdripper: Kenny
The Bonecruncher: Jakari
The Queen of England: Devora
Matilda: Jordanne
Mr. Wormwood: Jon
Mrs. Wormwood: Savannah
Miss Honey: Emily
Miss Trunchbull: Devora
Lavendar: Tatiana
Nigel: Nicolai
Bruce: C. J.

Symons Homeroom Cast:

Narrator 1: Magali

Narrator 2: Griseld

Kid: Cody

Charlie Bucket: Mario

Willy Wonka: David

Grandpa Joe: Jordan

Veruca: Kierstin

Mr. Salt: Randie

Augustus: Mohamed

Mrs. Gloop: Hayley

Violet: Lauren

Mike Teavee: Brett

The BFG: Nathan

Sophie: Evelyn

The Fleshlumpeater: Jordan

The Childchewer: Evan

The Meatdripper: Ian

The Bonecruncher: Isaiah

The Queen of England: Noha

Matilda: Bailey
Mr. Wormwood: Zach

Mrs. Wormwood: Kayla

Miss Honey: Kierstin

Miss Trunchbull: Tamia

Lavendar: Bre

Nigel: Brett

Bruce: Casey

Auditions are Coming! Auditions are Coming!

This week The Lipsky Team students are auditioning for their class play "The World of Roald Dahl". This play tells the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, and The BFG. There are 27 roles in the play and some students will get the chance to play more than one part! But before we get excited about our parts we must practice, practice, practice for the big audition. Here are some things the casting agents (Miss Lipsky, Mrs. Matthews, and Mrs. Stephens) will be looking for:

1. Can we hear you?

2. Are you reading with exciting expression?

3. Are you moving and acting like the character?

4. Are you reading with strong diction (can we understand your words?)

To get ready for the audition we suggest you read your script several times and focus on the long tongue-twister words. Some of the characters in this play talk in long paragraphs and you'll need to practice those parts more carefully than others (The Narrators, Willy Wonka, The BFG, Veruca, Miss Honey, and Miss Trunchbull all are very challenging roles!)

Questions for Leeza from Florida

Hi Leeza! Thank you so much for reading and commenting on our blog. We have some questions for you:

Brandon wants to know what is the Forbidden Kingdom?

Alyssa wants to know what your school is like.

Jhadae asks what is it like in China?

Kasi wants to know about your animals.

Nicolai asks how long is the Great Wall?

Jarod wants to know how you feel about people eating scorpions and dogs?

Tristan asks what do YOU like to eat?!

Kaylie wants to know what kind of clothes you wear?

Jakari wonders what you're life outside of school is like?

Emily wants to know if you have any zoos?

Tatiana asks if you like anything other than swimming or dancing? (Tati loves your blog!)

Jordanne wants to know what language you speak most frequently?

Jon wants to know if you have four seasons unlike here where it's almost always mild?

Please answer any of our questions that you'd like! We know you're very super busy with school, dancing, swimming, blogging, etc. so don't feel like you have to answer everything! Thanks for being an honorary member of The Lipsky Team!!

Miss Leeza in Shanghai

Leeza, a student at the Shanghai American School, in Shanghai China is an avid reader of our blog. On our Cluster Map (which was started over in January) we have 35 hits from Shanghai, China and we know most of them came from Leeza! She is also an frequent blogger herself and you can visit her blog to learn all about her life in China! Since we are studying Asia this year I think it would be an excellent experience for all members of The Lipsky Team to check out her blog and learn about China through the writing of someone your own age! Make sure to leave Leeza a comment about her blog because she is so good at commenting on ours! P.S. Above is a picture of Leeza's school in China that we found on Google (Leeza you'll have to tell us if that's really what your school looks like!)

Fun with the Green Generation!

Happy Earth Day 2009! Today The Lipsky Team played around on the Energy Hog website! Check it out! You can learn simple ways to waste less energy and help keep our Earth Green!

Barefoot Second Graders Everywhere!

What is going on in second grade?! No one is wearing shoes! This year at Chets Creek Elementary school our principal, Mrs. Phillips has sent us Around the World in 180 days! Our second graders have spent the year studying South America. During their studies Miss Patterson, a second grade teacher discovered TOMSshoes. TOMS is a project started by traveler Blake Mycoskie after he spent time with children in Argentina. Mycoskie discovered that many Argentinian children didn't have shoes. This is a huge problem because walking is their main mode of transportation and without shoes these children are getting horrible sores on their feet. Not having shoes is literally making these kids sick! Many children also cannot go to school if they don't have shoes because shoes are a required part of their uniform.

In 2006, TOMSshoes was founded. On the TOMS website you can shop for shoes and for every purchase made TOMS donates a pair of shoes to a child in Argentina. Not only do the good people at TOMS donate the shoes but they go to Argentina to make sure that the right pair of shoes gets on the right feet! This way everyone will get a pair of shoes that really fit them.

Upstairs right now Miss Patterson and our second grade friends are paying tribute to the children of Argentina and the people at TOMS by not wearing shoes in their classrooms all day. You can help the kids of Argentina by visiting TOMS and buying a pair of their comfy, slip on shoes. Miss Lipsky is going to buy the "University Yellow Rope Sole TOMS". Check out the video below for more information on TOMS and tell a friend about their website and their mission.