Happy 10th Birthday CCE!

The birthday candles represent the theme
for each year in our school's history.

As the Leadership Team has been studying The Disney Way, one of the chapters reminds us of how important details are to the overall effect. It is obvious at Chets Creek this week that so many people have taken care of the details. Most of that credit goes to KK Cherney, our Media Specialist, and her little crew of worker bees that have made so many dreams a reality this week.



From individual displays for each of the ten years to the time capsule display to the beautiful birthday candles painted by our Art staff, you can see the history of Chets Creek as you walk through the lobby.

Each day WCCE, the student hosted morning news cast, has revisited a video clip from a previous year. On the first day of this celebration week, the children saw footage of that very first day, as Chets Creek opened with children boarding the Magic School Bus with Mrs. Frizzle to journey to their new school. On Tuesday the current children revisited Mrs. Frizzle and the Magic School Bus that brought those first children from three different elementary schools in the middle of the year to the newly built Chets Creek Elementary. Today's children hopped on those same buses and watched a video of that first magic ride. The video then took them through the years with photographs. Even Mrs. Frizzle was the same - well maybe ten years older!

On Wednesday we celebrated with a breakfast for our alumni - children and adults. Alumni were invited back for breakfast and were guest readers for the entire day. Each guest read their favorite Book of the Month from a previous year. This was a chance for the original students and faculty to meet once again and remember and share stories about those years gone by. It gave our present faculty and children a chance to understand the rich history that their present is built upon.














On Thursday all of the faculty and children were dressed to represent one of the themes from a previous year. From Hollywood to Racing to Cowboys, the teachers (the Kindergarten Team on left) entertained their grade level at a birthday bash. The Kinder teachers performed their rendition of the Hokey Pokey to the delight of their students! Then the kids sang "Happy Birthday" and had their chance with the "Chicken Dance!" Each child enjoyed a birthday cupcake and treat bag delivered by the CCE Paraprofessionals!


On the final day of the week-long celebration, the school held a flag raising ceremony much like the first one at Chets Creek. This time the Chets Creek patrols stood with the award-winning honor guard from Sandalwood High School which contained Chets Creek graduates. Principal Phillips briefly reviewed our history as one of the top 20 schools in the state of Florida and then read from the book, C is for Chets Creek which was written by this years' students. Each class wrote a page about the traditions and history of the school.

The culmination of the week was a flag raising ceremony to bury the new time capsule. The first mounds of dirt were turned by current fifth graders, representatives of the "Class of '08." Ten years from now at a birthday celebration much like the one today, this new capsule will be dug up and we will once again celebrate our history. These children that are writing their names on our hearts today will be gone and some of the faculty will have moved on, but there is no doubt that this school has left its mark. Surely, some of us have been changed... forever.