Stepping up!

I cannot tell you how fabulous our Step Up Day was for these 'first graders'! It was such an exciting morning. The children came to school looking older and more mature and ready to rise to the occasion of being first graders, if only for 45 minutes. The group worked so well together, I am really looking forward to next year!
I set the morning up to feel like it will in first grade. I had a morning message that each child needed to read and sign in on. Then we held a mini-morning meeting where my kindergarteners taught the other kids one of our favorite greetings. So many smiles and laughs were shared during this greeting! Thanks to Liz for snapping photos:

Then I did my famous lunch count guessing and read a book:

After the book, we brainstormed ideas that would make our weeks the best week ever. Then kids had to draw 4 things that would make their own Best Week Ever.

At the end, I waved my magic wand and turned them all into kindergarteners again... but it will be such a short time until they really ARE first graders. I told them all a little secret about first grade. I'll tell you too: first grade is the best!

Details, details!

As these last few weeks of school start to fly by (sniffle!), I wanted to give you a couple of details:

Step Up Day: Friday is Step Up Day. I will meet all of the 'first graders' out on the playground at 7:55 and we will come into the classroom through the back doors of the school and hang our things in the first grade cubbies (rather than entering through the stage). If you are late to school that day, don't worry, just use the stage! This is one, simple and fun way for the kids who are already in my class to feel a little bit 'older'! Step Up Day is actually only 45 minutes so after that, I'll wave my magic wand and they will all go back to being kindergarteners!

Concert: Tonight is our Spring Concert. I'll see your child in the classroom at 6:15. It's going to be fabulous!

End of the year field trip: Weather permitting, we will take a walking field trip of Warren Village on the 11th in the afternoon. We will visit the town library where Marie, the children's librarian, has something special planned for us. We will explore a safe spot on the Kid's Brook and go to the Warren Store for a sweet, cool treat! We will be back by 3.

Last Day: The last day of school is a half day of school ending at 12:30. We will have our traditional fun Field Day (which parents are welcome to attend) but then will have some time in the classroom to wrap up and say goodbye. I'd like these last few moments of the year to be just our class together. Then it will be summer!

I can't believe this wonderful year is almost over!

Dinoman

On Friday we had the pleasure of going to Dinonan's performance in the gym. It was not only educational (I learned a bunch about dinosaurs) but incredibly entertaining!

Today we wrote a thank you letter and drew pictures of our favorite part of the show. Ask your child what part they enjoyed!

Greenhouses

We sent these home last week, but for 12 days we had a classroom full of greenhouses! In order to be able to see the whole growing process, we started bean seeds in our greenhouses and observed them every few days. Some of them grew to be quite large!

Wooden creations

My husband, Bill, is a cabinet maker and has lots of wood scraps hanging around his shop. Thanks to the Stine family, the Greene family and Bill, we now have a new station in our classroom complete with wood glue! The children helped me move furniture around, carry in boxes of wood and then got to work!

The glue dried really quickly, allowing kids to paint their creations! We also had a meeting to discuss discoveries kids made about working with wood glue (Miles said don't use too much, Cora said don't use too little) and about building a base for your structure so it wouldn't stick to the table! I can't wait to see where the kids take this!

 

Seeds!

Last week Jeannie came to plant seeds with us. We planted herbs for Claire and Yuko to use in the kitchen. We also planted some flowers. We have been learning about what seeds need to grow, the seed life cycle and identifying plant parts.

The seeds are being carefully cared for in our classroom and we just noticed the first sprouts today!

Sugar House

We had a lovely field trip to the Sugar House in April, thought it was slightly disappointing because they weren't boiling when we visited. We loved the sugar on snow taste test and the short hike we took through the woods. Thank you to everyone who helped us!