Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

The year has come to the end and a new year will begin. This will be the last blog for the year until after the new year.
 Our class has been talking about Christmas this month.We put up some Christmas decorations in our classroom and on the bulletin board.   So far we learned  about trees and the significance of the trees. This week we are talking about snow and what we can do in the snow. Later this month we will talk about the true meaning of Christmas, Santa Claus, his reindeers  and the new year. Christmas is when everyone has a wish list of things they want for Christmas. On my wish list is a mp3 player so I can listen to my own music. Christmas is also when people travel to see family in other places.

me in front of the hand tree

the hand tree

Your Friend
CoolGabe

CHALLENGING QUESTIONS
WHAT DOES CHRISTMAS MEAN TO YOU?
WHAT IS ON YOUR WISH LIST?

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello World

Boy, I have been busy this month. Our class has been talking about Thanksgiving this month. We learned about the first Thanksgiving where the indians and the pilgrims got togrther after a long hard winter to celebrate what they were thankful for . The celebration lasted 3 days. We made indians, pilgrims, hats, bands and turkeys. We talked about what people have for thanksgiving dinner. Everyone has something diffrerent to eat for dinner. We talked about pumpkin pies also. Now the weather is getting cooler, low in the upper 50s and high in the low 70s.  Is everyone ready for christmas? We already went to the festival of lights. Each trees was  decorate with different themes and lights!  It was pretty cool and we all had a great time.  We especially liked the gingerbread village that was on display....oh, the idea of eating all of the display was overwhelming.

WHAT ARE YOU HAVING FOR THANKSGIVING?

HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING
Your friend,
CoolGabe

Happy Halloween

Hello World

       It has been awhile since I did a blog. There has been quite a few changes in our agency. The access to a computer is limited and schedule conflicts. I will try to write a blog at least twice a month.

      This month our class has been talking about Halloween and making spooky Halloween stuff. I went to the pumpkin  patch with a group. I saw lots of pumpkins that day. Our classroom has been busy making mask, pumpkins, ghost, witches, spiders, oh my. We decorated our classroom with the things we made. We will pretend to bob for apples and experience what will be like to bob for apples.  Here is a mask that I made.

my mask   call me Cool Gabe

cool mask    hi there

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

• QUESTION ---WHAT ARE YOU GOING AS FOR HALLOWEEN NIGHT?

Your Friend

Cool Gabe 

 

               Have a Happy and save   Halloween

FALL FUN TIME

Hello World,

         It has been awhile since I written on my blog. I have been busy with fall activities this month. Fall season is here and I have been learning new things about what happens in the Autumn. Autumn is a another name  for fall. Weather changes, types of clothing, and trees and leaves.  Do you know when the trees lose thier leaves, they getting redy to rest for the winter?. Fall is also the time for fun activities that we all like to do such as hayrides, bonfires, football games, and festivals. Depending  where you live, there is some type of harvest festival  planned in the area.   I hope everyone is having a great fall season.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT FALL SEASON AND WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FUN ACTIVITIES YOU LIKE TO DO?


       Recently a story about me was featured on the cover of  of the Sebastian  Chamber of Commerce September newsletter

Gabe on the cover of Sebastian Chamber of Commerce

Your Friend
Cool Gabe

All About Horses

Hello World,
   
      Our class is still talking about farm aninmals. This week we are talking about horses. There was a lot that I learned about horses during our lesson. I learned what they eat, what types of riding movements, and where they live. In computer lab our class watched some videos of horse races, horse shows, and other interesting videos. Does anyone remember an old tv show called Mr. Ed, the talking horse?   We watched some video clips from the show when Mr Ed was singing the blues. That was a funny clip to watch. Next week we will be finishing up our study on farm animals and moving on to a new lesson on fall season.


    Flordia is in the hurricane season this fall. There is a storm coming on the west side of Flordia name Issac.
Everyone should be prepare for a hurricane when it apptoaches it's destination.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO WHEN A HURRICANE ARRIVES IN YOUR AREA?

Your Friend
Cool Gabe

Learning about the farm

    Hello World,
   
    I hope everyone had a good summer and enjoyed the time off  with the warm temperrtures.  As the summer season comes to an end and fall season is just around the corner. We will have lots of changes coming our way.   Weather tempertures become cooler, Fall festivals are planned, and kids go back to school.

    Our class has been talking about farm animals, so far I learned about pigs, chickens,and cows.  I have learned what food comes from each animal. This week our class learned how a dairy cows produce milk and how the farmers use machines to extract milk from the cows. We learned that the milk goes to the dairy factory to be processed, then put into milk containers, and then to the stores for us to by and drink.

     Next week    we  will be talking about horses


WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE  FARM ANIMAL?

YOUR FRIEND
COOL GABE

Zoo Time

Hello World

Summertime is when prople like to go to the zoo. Our class is just finishing studing zoo animals. Zoo is a place to see diffrent animals from diffrernt places. I learned about sarfrai animals like elephants, zebras, lions and tigers, oh my. This week otters, penguins, and birds. In the computer lab I listened to diffrerent animal sounds from each of the zooanimals.  We will be talking about farm animals for our next lesson plan. There will be alot to talk about being on a farm. 


WHAT DO TOU LIKE ABOUT VISITING A ZOO?

Your Friend

Cool Gabe

Summertime Fun!!!

Hello World,

I suppose everyone wants to know where I have been for the past 2 months. Well, I've been very busy with my adventures with my family. Summer time is when people take vacations to exciting places.  I have had a really busy summer so far.  My family and I went to Lion Country Safari  to see differrent kinds of safari animals. I went to a place called Joes Place in a town called Micco to listen to music. Boy, I  had a blast!! I went to visit my aunts in a town called Haines City and my cousin from Indiana was here to visit. My family and I went to SeaWorld  and we? had a family 4th of July celebration.

Question? WHAT DID YOU DO THIS SUMMER FORVACATION?

Learning New Topics

Hello World

 I have been busy in my classroom for the last couple of weeks finishing up our discussion on sea animals. I learned a lot about dolphins, manatees, sharks, squids and octopus. There are quite a few interesting creatures we have in our sea.
     
Our garden is growing quite well. The vegetable plants are getting bigger each week. Soon we will have some blooms on the plants that will become veggies. I will keep you posted on the progress of the garden.

       Our new lesson plan starts next week on different safety issues that we need to know about. Fire safety will be the first issue to learn about. Summer time is around the corner and  that means warm weather and long days. We need to learn to be safe during the summer. We will talk more about safety next time.

Your Friend
CoolGabe

Plants, animals and me oh my

Hello World,

the corn

I have been busy the last couple of weeks. My classroom wrapped up the lesson on our garden and we move on to our next lesson on sea animals. I have some pictures of me holding some vegetables that we planted. The vegetable are growing very well and thriving.

the green peppers

the tomatoes

Our classroom is learning about sea animals. I discovered that there are quite a few interesting little creatures in the ocean. Our class talked about crabs, lobsters, jellyfish and hermit crabs, oh my.  Then we discussed about fishing. We made fishing poles and pretend we went fishing. This week we learned about seals and whales.

Here is a question for you,  Has anyone ever seen a white orca whale?

Your friend
Cool Gabe

busy, busy with Cool Gabe

Hello World,

I have been busy for the past few weeks. I have been accomplishing a lot of fun activities. I hope everyone had a great Easter a few weeks ago. I  helped color eggs in my classroom. Boy that was fun dipping the eggs into a cup and watch the eggs change color. I even took an egg home with me.

My classroom finished talking about spring time and gardening. We have green peppers planted and and they are growing quite well. We have corn and tomatoes growing also. We are trying to grow some lettuce and hopefully the lettuce  will start growing soon. I will have some pictures coming when the vegetable start to get big. We also learned about growing different types of fruit  and trees that can grow in the garden. The fruits that I learned that can grow in the garden are strawberries, grapes, orange trees, apple trees and many other types of fruit trees.

Last weekend I participated in the Relay For Life at Riverside Park. I sang in the choir with my peers from ARC. I had a great time being part of this event.

Now our class is learning about sea animals. We will explore  what is under the sea. We looked at crabs, lobsters, jelly fish, turtles, and hermit crabs. It will be fun to explore what is under the sea.There are a lot of  interesting sea creatures and plants that are in the sea that needs to explored.



CHALLENGING QUESTION:
DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS UNDER THE SEA?

Your friend,
Cool Gabe

WHATS NEW WITH COOL GABE

Hello World

The last few weeks have been busy for me. There have been a lot of new and exciting adventures that have been happening these past few weeks. Remember  that I mentioned about Christopher Coleman, who empowers people through his life story. I met him when he visited ARC one day. We had a great time visiting with each other.

My Mom took me to the high school where he was telling about his life story. My mom and I were moved by his testimony and amazed by what he had to say. If you are interested about Christopher Coleman, you can visit his web site.  Christopher Coleman.net.

Another new and exciting news that  happened, I finally received my new wheelchair. My chair is blue with custom made cushion seat that fits  my body shape. I also had a birthday last week. What a great birthday gift I received. I was so happy to have my new chair.

Springtime is here in Sebastian/Vero Beach area. In our classroom, we have been talking about springtime and gardening. I helped planted lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, corn, and bell peppers. The  bell peppers and corn  are sprouting a little bit. We been talking how to plant a garden this week.

CHALLENGE QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK


WHAT EXCITING NEW THINGS AND/OR PROJECTS YOU WILL BE DOING THIS SPRING?
WHAT IS IN YOUR GARDEN?


Your Friend
Cool Gabe

springtime is here

Hello World

Spring time has arrived in Vero Beach, Fl. The weather is getting warmer, flowers and plants are blooming, and now it's time for planting.  This week I am learning about rock and roll. There are so many genres of rock and roll that it will take too long to list. I enjoyed listening  to different kinds of rock and roll from different rock bands and musicians. Spring time is for festivals. There is one coming up this weekend called the fire fighters festival.

There is someone coming to visit the Vero Beach and Sebastain area that empowers poeople. His name is Christopher Coleman, who is a motivated speaker, from Acworth, Georgia. He speaks to Christian  organizations, schools,workplaces and disabled groups throughout the world through Empowered Ministries/Empowered inc. He will be at the fire fighters festival on Friday night and on Saturday he will be at the Sebastain High school in the afternoon. I,Gabe Caldwell inspire people while Christopher Coleman empowers people.  For more information about Christopher Coleman, his web site (www.christophercoleman.net)

Your Friend
Cool Gabe

MUSIC TIME

Hello World

   I have been learning about different types of music in the last few weeks. I learned about rhythm and blues, country, jazz and gospel so far. Next week I will be learning about rock and roll. I enjoyed gospel and country music better than jazz and rhythm and blues. It was nice to explore other kinds of music and can't wait to hear other types that I haven't  heard yet.


WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SINGERS AND MUSIC BANDS?

Next week is rock and roll music. Let's rock and roll!


Your Friend Cool Gabe

Hello World

Happy Valentines Day week!  I want to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day even though it was two days ago. I helped decorated the room with hearts for valentines day and made some hearts to put up on the bulletin board. here are some pictures of me making valentine hearts.

making a heart - putting stickers on my purple heart

picture of my purple heart

      I am  learning about different types of music in my classroom. So far I learned about gospel and rhythm and blues. I listened to different kinds of music on the cd.
What kind of music do you like?

Your  Friend
Cool Gabe

super bowl party

Hello world

My friend Mark (my van driver) came to my house for the super bowl party. We had a great time watching the game. My mom fixed fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob, yummy. My other friend Judy was over also, we all watched and cheered for the New York Giants. My sister,Taylor, had a bet with my mom about who was going to win the game. My sister won the bet of fifty dollars. Way to go sis! i cheered for the Giants! Yeah Giants. What a big day I had with my friends and family. Thanks Mark for for watching the game with us.

my friend mark and I at my house for super bowl game

Mark and I having fun

A big shout to my family in Indiana, especially to my cuz Desier who is at boot camp. My mom is from Kokomo  Indiana which is about 50 miles north of Indy.

My mom and I

My sister Taylor and I

Your friend

Cool Gabe   

LET'S GET UP AND EXERCISE

Hello World

check out my new muscles

How many of you exercise everyday? I learned how to do exercises in my wheelchair (my yellow bus) this week. I learned to do new exercises with  my arms and legs. I exercise both in my classroom and on nice days, outside. It's recommended  that adults should exercise 30 minutes or more most days of the week if not everyday. Here is my challenge question. How many  of YOU are doing 30 minutes of exercise a day?

Your friend,
 Cool Gabe

REPORTING FROM THE TROPICS

Hello World,

Cool Gabe here reporting from the tropics.  I feel sorry for everyone up in the cold north, because I'm at work today wearing shorts and a T-shirt. 

As you know, I've been waiting for my new wheels.  I had a fitting recently for my new custom fitted wheelchair and it's a beauty!  To quote my mother,  "Woo Hoo!"  I want to give a big SHOUT OUT to Chris, the guy helping me with it, and to the scooter store because they are great.  Thank you!

Here's what been happening on the home front:

• My Aunt Mona and Joe came for a visit a couple of weeks ago.  We ate a lot of seafood  (I like to "see food and eat it").  We have so much wonderful, fresh seafood in Sebastian.  Shrimp is one of my favorite foods.  Aunt Mona and I enjoyed our visit.  
• Our neighbor, Ms. Vic and her family (kids Patty and Lenny and grandson Nick),  were over for Christmas dinner.  We had lots of great food.  Ms. Vic is one of my best friends!  Ms. Vic is from New York and is a great Italian cook which might be one of the reasons why we're such great friends.  Pasta, ravioli, spaghetti -- she can make it all!  It's always nice to share a meal with Ms. Vic.

Last week in my cooking class we used purple cauliflower from Veggies of Vero.  It was my first time to see it and eat it.  We cooked it up with some garlic, olive oil, and squash.  Yum!!!! 

Here's a fact that my teachers shared with us:  Purple cauliflower's color is caused by the presence of the antioxidant group anthocyanin, which can also be found in red cabbage and red wine.

Playing around in the kitchen!



Just having fun!

 Off for more adventures! 

Your friend,
Cool Gabe

THE IMPORTANCE OF TABLE MANNERS

Hello World,

Let me ask you a couple of questions:

• Do you know how to act at the dinner table?
• Do you know how to set a table?
• Do you use the words "please" and "thank you" at the dinner table?
• Do you enjoy your food?
• Do you how to eat? 

These questions are a clue about what I've been studying this week at ARC of Indian River County.  My teachers, Barbara and Jacque, have been talking with us about Table Manners.  We've been using the computer lab to watch some really funny TV shows about bad table manners.  We've also been having demonstrations in our classroom about how to set the table and how to eat slowly.  Did you know that if you eat slowly, you digest your food better, and are less likely to overeat? 

I'm going to give you a challenge about table manners.  When you eat dinner tonight, time yourself.  If you eat dinner from start to finish in less than 20 minutes, then we have some work to do to help you slow down and enjoy your food.  Call me, because Cool Gabe is ready and able to help YOU learn good table manners! 

Off to my Healthy Cooking class!  Talk with you next week.

Your friend,
Cool Gabe

Here I am in the computer lab doing some research yesterday.

INSPIRING YOU

Hello World,

I'm so proud of my sister, Taylor.  She just made the softball team at Sebastian River High School!  She has been working hard to get on the team and now her dream has come true.  Go Sharks!  I'm looking forward to seeing you play. 

I was quite surprised to learn last Sunday that the Vero Beach Press Journal had a story about my blog.  The article was called "Inspiring Others" and it was in the "Good for You" section of the paper.  Boy, was my mom surprised!  I love to inspire others with my smile and my positive attitude.  I inspire others because I know I always have the support of my family and my faith.  Thank you to the Press Journal for the article.  There is a link to the Press Journal at the bottom of this blog. 

The American Heritage Dictionary defines "inspiration" as "stimulation of the faculties to a high level of feeling or activity."  Here's my challenge to the readers of the Cool Gabe blog:  what are YOU doing to inspire others??  I'll be looking forward to hear from you.  You can contact me via this blog or you can send a letter to me at: ARC of Indian River County, 1375 16th Avenue, Vero Beach, Florida 32960.  I think an "INSPIRING OTHERS" campaign is in order to make the world - my world and yours - a better place.  

Your friend,
Cool Gabe

http://www.tcpalm.com/

Here I am holding the newspaper article about my blog!

Working on today's blog with Walter and Kathi

WINTER WONDERLAND

Hello World!

We're turning up the heat here in the tropics.  It's Cool Gabe reporting from the cool tropics.  Very cool, in fact.  The Siberian cold front has blown through Vero Beach and Sebastian.  We've been bundling up and hunkered down in the van for my morning ride with Mark.  I look like a polar bear when I get off the bus at ARC.  Funny thing is, I like polar bears because I love the cold weather.  After all, I am Cool Gabe!

Mom is back working at school this week with the kids.  I'm back to work with my teachers, Barbara and Jacque.  It  was nice to have last Friday off with my mom, but I'm glad to be back on my regular schedule here. 

I'm looking foward to my cooking class tomorrow because I think we're making zucchini muffins with zucchini just picked from Veggies of Vero http://www.veggiesofvero.com/.  Can't wait! 

Your friend,
Cool Gabe

Where's the snow??

"Winter wonderland!"