Teacher of the Year

The Teacher of the Year is nominated and selected by the teaching staff each year. In 2022, I had the great privilege of being selected as Woodbury’s Teacher of the Year. It is a very special honor. This year, Mrs. Fabro (who was the Teacher of the Year for 2024) and I had the honor of helping to announce this year’s Teacher of the Year— Mrs. Ehlers!

Mrs. Fabro teaches 4th grade, and she is incredibly dedicated to her class. It was so much fun surprising her with this special recognition during a morning staff meeting. She is so incredibly deserving of this honor. Mrs. Ehlers will be celebrated at a formal district event in the spring.

Congratulations, Mrs. Ehlers! We love you!

Orange Taste Testing

While studying the history of Orange County, and how our local land came to be, students have learned that our city of Irvine used to have acres after acres of farmland and orange groves. Navel and Valencia oranges grew in great abundance.

With the countless types of orange varieties today, many of our students have never tried more than one or two types. Thanks to family donations from the Nolan, Ko, Kwok, Jarfa, Huang, and Diamante Families, our class had such a fun time trying five different types of oranges— Blood oranges, Cara Caras, Mandarins (“Cuties”), Navel, and Valencia oranges. Students loved some varieties and strongly disliked others. By the end of the tasting, students were begging for extra slices of their favorites!

Students ranked the oranges by sweetness, tartness, and juiciness, then decided which ones were their favorites and least favorites. Afterwards, students practiced writing an opinion paragraph about the best tasting orange.

Thank you, Parents, for donating oranges, plates and napkins to our class!

Thanksgiving Holiday

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Wednesday, November 27th through Friday, November 29th is Thanksgiving Break. The school will be closed. Please enjoy this time with your family and be reminded of all that we have to be thankful for. Be sure to stay safe and practice proper health precautions as we are still battling the pandemic. We want all of our Woodbury families, students, teachers, and staff to return to school healthy and ready to learn!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. I am personally thankful for my amazing family, friends, and coworkers. I am also thankful to have the opportunity to teach such a wonderful group of students. I feel so blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

History of Orange County

As part of our social studies unit, students are learning about the history of our local community area. We traveled back in time to learn about the original Native Americans, the explorers who traveled from Spain and England who mapped the California coastline, and how the land was later utilized as ranchos and farming. Later, towns were formed and the land that we now know as Irvine and Orange County was slowly formed.

Parents, you can help your child understand their local city as well as neighboring cities by taking your family out to explore. Point out to your child when you pass by different Orange County cities or when you travel down streets that are named for famous people or important landmarks.

In class, we have learned and discussed the following neat details:

  • Anaheim: the first city in Orange County; started by a German man named George Hansen

  • Tustin: named after Columbus Tustin; he named the streets numerically and alphabetically; you can see a statue bust of Columbus Tustin in Old Town Tustin.

  • Santa Ana: founded by William Spurgeon; he helped form railroads in the city to help with transportation

  • Orange: named by Andrew Glassel; he and Alfred Chapman played a game of poker to decide who got to name the town; other possible town names were Olive, Lemon, and Almond; if you travel to the city of Orange, you will see streets with the same names.

  • Newport: named by Captain Dunnells who sailed through the new port; the name was later changed the McFaddens Landing by the McFaddens brothers from Santa Ana; if you drive down the 55 freeway, you will also see an exit named McFadden!

  • El Toro: name means “the bull;” many bulls were raised in the area; the area also had a lot of sycamore trees; the Spanish word for sycamore is “aliso;” the city name was later changed to Lake Forest

  • Laguna Beach: the town was originally named Canyon de los Lagunas by the Spanish; many artists came to paint the beautiful seascapes. Laguna Beach became an art colony and there are still many art galleries there today!

  • Westminster: started by Reverend Webber; the town was mainly a farming community

  • Buena Park: the word “buena” means “good” in Spanish; Walter Knott started a berry farm in Buena Park, which later became the amusement park

  • Fullerton: started by George and Edward Amerige; the Atherton Ostrich Farm raised ostriches in the town

  • “Nellie Gail”: Lewis F. Moulton bought Rancho Niguel to raise sheep and cattle; the streets Moulton Parkway and Moulton Ranch were named after him. When he died, his wife took over the ranch. The community of Nellie Gail is named after her

  • “Modjeska”: Madame Helena Modjeska was a famous actress who lived in Orange County; she built a home in the canyons near Saddleback Mountain, and the area is now known as Modjeska Canyon

History of Orange County

Students have been learning about the History of Orange County, and as part of our studies, they will be performing a play on stage! Ask your child about the various facts they’ve learned about the first towns and cities in Orange County such as Anaheim, Santa Ana, Tustin, Orange, El Toro/Lake Forest, Laguna Niguel, Newport, and of course, Irvine!

Take a look at some of these Google Slides that we have been studying. Parents who grew up in the area might also find some of the facts quite interesting!

Mustang Milers Registration

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Mustang Milers is an awesome after-school running program here at Woodbury Elementary that promotes healthy living, eating, and fitness. The children train to run the equivalent of a 26.2 mile marathon (broken up into weekly miles). They run their last mile at the Orange County Marathon- Kids Run to earn their marathon medal.

Mark your calendars! Sign your child up starting December 2nd at 7 AM. Registration will close December 16th (or when all slots are taken). Don't wait or slots will fill up! In previous years, Mrs. Dyer had over two-thirds of her class signed up! In fact, the featured photo above are all of Mrs. Dyer's alumni (I miss you Jason, Andrew, Grace, Emily, Anabelle, Michael, and Gabriel. I hope you're all doing well in college)! Visit the Mustang Milers Facebook page and the program's Mustang Milers home page page for more information.

All TK, K, and 1st grade participants MUST have an adult accompany them at practices. TK and Kindergarten practices are 3:10 pm - 4:00 pm. Grades 1-3 and 4-6 have separate practice times. Again, DO NOT WAIT to register. Every year the program completely fills up to capacity, and I don't want your kids to miss out!

Please register through the ACE website.

Additionally, with over 300 participants, Mustang Milers relies on dedicated volunteers to help our practices run smoothly and efficiently. If you are interested in volunteering each Friday at our practices, please contact your child’s teacher.

For more information and the latest updates please go towww.mustangmilers.com, follow Mustang Milers on Instagram, Facebook and join the Mustang Milers Canvas Page. 

Once you are registered, please be sure to check the following: 

1. Update your child's ACE profile

     -Child's current grade

     -Child's current teacher

     -Update your child's shirt size

2. Sign up for our Canvas course by clicking HERE.

3. Follow and Like us on Instagram  and Facebook

 

Thanksgiving Turkey Bags

Our class made Thanksgiving turkey bags. Each turkey is stuffed with notes about what each child is thankful for this year. The kids loved making them , and they are excited to be able to take them home to surprise their families during Thanksgiving.

Gobble! Gobble!

Tongva Journal Notes

Tongva Journals are due Thursday, November 14th.

  • The cover should be fully outlined and have petroglyph symbols added.

  • All areas are completed (see pictures below if notes or pages are missing or unfinished
    *Note: Photos may have variations of notes depending on small group rotations.

  • All illustrations should be fully colored and outlined
    *Note: Handwritten penciled notes do not need to be outlined.

Veterans Day

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Veterans Day is a day to honor people who have bravely served in our United States armed services. Be sure to give thanks for all the men and women who have fought to protect each of us in our homeland.

Check out this really neat and extremely special Veterans Memorial in Anthem, Arizona. The five pillars, which represent the five branches of the military, are strategically designed and constructed to allow the sunlight to pass through at precisely 11:11 am on November 11th every year to shine a spotlight over a mosaic of the Great Seal of the United States. How incredible is that!

 

Disguise a Turkey Narratives and Crafts

The students are starting a new narrative writing assignment called Disguise a Turkey. We read the story, “‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving” and "Turkey Trouble." Turkey Trouble is about a turkey who is trying to avoid getting cooked for Thanksgiving dinner. He disguises himself as a cow, a rooster, a horse, a pig, and other animals. But unfortunately, the other farm animals are still able to identify who he is. 

For our narratives, we will be pretending to have a pet turkey that we have to help disguise and hide so that it doesn't get cooked for Thanksgiving. The students can use their imagination and "dress" their turkey as anything or anyone.

There is also a paper craft to complete with the narrative (templates will be sent home Tuesday, 11/5). Students can use any materials to color and decorate their paper turkey (please keep any decorations about the same size as the paper turkey and to not extend it past 8.5"x11"). 

The writing and paper craft project is due Tuesday, 11/19.