Back to School Night

     This Thursday is Back to School Night for parents, 6-8.  This year is especially important for you to attend because elementary schools are getting an ALL NEW standards based report card.  It's totally different than what you are used to.  Want to learn more about it?  Then be sure to attend this Thursday.

     Student council applications are due Thursday.  One (or two) students from each class is chosen to meet during lunch, a few times throughout the year, and talk about improving our school.  Last year's student council decided to help an animal shelter and started collecting donations for animals.  I explained council to the children and invited anyone interested to take an application.  Mrs. Maloney and Mrs. C will be choosing representatives from each grade on Monday.

     Today we discussed the stages in the writing process and then read The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant.  We admired all the details she used when telling us about her relatives from Virginia.  Boy, did that family like to hug.  We decided to write about a time we may have visited with relatives or friends.  Children met with partners to talk about their experience (prewriting) then started writing (draft) on their own. Cynthia Rylant is also the author of Henry and Mudge books, which we have been reading and Poppleton books which we will be reading.

 
       A student wore this shirt today and I just LOVED it.  I HAD to snap a picture.  Did you know smiles are contagious!  Test that theory out and see.

 
 Mark your calendars.  Tuesday, Sept. 23 is picture day and next Wednesday is a half day.  Dismissal will be at 12:30.

Pete The Cat

     We have been having lots of fun with Pete the Cat stories.  Pete is a groovy cat that likes to sing.  I love to sing too so I really enjoy reading his books.  We found a website with some Pete songs, videos and activities.  Click here to check that out.

     Monday we used IXL in the computer room.  Clearly the children used IXL in first grade because they all knew exactly what to do.  We are scheduled to use the computer room Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays 2-2:30.

     Today we read Daddy, Can I Have an Elephant?.   The main character asks for some crazy pets. The students brainstormed other ridiculous pet choices and wrote about one of them.

     The students got into groups to play two different games this week.  In one game, they had to work with a partner to find rhyming words.  In another, they had to put school related words into sentences.  I had to remind almost every one of them that sentences need to begin with a capital letter and end with punctuation.   They shouldn't need reminders much longer.

     I super excited to tell you about our two fabulous new helpers.  Miss Fahey will be in our room 45 minutes a day to help out with reading.......whoo hoo!  Miss Nicole (Wackrow) is a high school senior who will come for an hour before lunch to help our class as well.  I feel so lucky to have them both on our team.

Full Week

     This week is our first full week of school.  I'm expecting that the students (and teachers) will be exhausted before the week is through.  Please try to get your child to bed early this week to help us all get through.

     Tuesday is Election Day.  Which means that only sandwiches will be served for school lunch and your child must order his/her lunch on MONDAY.  Before school, please discuss with your child whether or not they will be buying or bringing lunch on Tuesday so the lunchroom can prepare appropriately.

SUCCESS

     We did it!  We made it through the first day of school.  Everyone came in smiling and left at 2:40 still smiling.....EVEN ME.  It was a great day.
   
      Here's a little bit of our day.  We chose desks, unpacked supplies and colored a picture (there is a good chance that seats are going to be switched around next week).  We played a get to know each other game, practiced a fire drill and lock down.  The students brainstormed about 2nd graders.  We read two books, First Day Jitters and a Pete the Cat book.  Ask your child to tell you about the stories and sing you Pete's button song.  Our Fundation kits are set up and we started building words.  We wrote a bit about ourselves and shared something from our summer.  We even had a classroom scavenger hunt.  WHOOO WHEEEEE  all that plus snack, recess, lunch and a few bathroom breaks.  It was a jam packed day.

     We have recess at 10:20 and lunch at 12:40.  It is a long morning, so be sure to pack a snack to hold them until lunchtime.  Children are also allowed to keep water bottles at their desks.  This might be especially important to keep in mind as I've heard temps could reach 90 degrees tomorrow.

     You may have noticed I sent home some of the pencils and glue sticks.  I had the children keep a few at their desks and told them to bring the rest home and restock their pencil boxes as needed.

     Thank you to all those who returned the STACK of paperwork you received over the summer.  If you haven't done so yet please do ASAP.

     Here are some pictures of our exciting day!   Enjoy!

game

fundations

brainstorming

story (I wonder who had the jitters?)

Last week of summer

     Kids start school a week from TODAY.  Boy, does summer fly by quickly.  I'm sorry if I missed  you on Tuesday sneak peak into school day.  I was on vacation with the family trying to squeeze in as much fun as I could before school starts.  Today, I have to go to a workshop in the afternoon and then teachers "officially" start on Tuesday.  So my summer fun has just about ended, although there is still a long weekend ahead of me.

     I hope everyone has had a fantastic summer and is looking forward to second grade!!!!

WORK

     I admit it.  I don't like that word.  I REALLY like my summer care free life but all good things must come to an end.  And although I don't like 'work', I do love my job.  This week I have gone in every day to get things ready.  My kitchen table is overflowing with paper and my spare bedroom full of boxes.  Here are some pictures of the progress I've made.

     I've had a chance to meet some of the new Wyman staff..........fabulous people and we are lucky to have them on board.

    THIS is the most exciting school story I have so far.  There is a big window in the hallway outside of my classroom.  I noticed something stuck on the outside of it.  (OUTSIDE being the most important word of that sentence.)  Upon further investigation, it was a BAT.  Sound asleep in the  middle of the day on the window screen.  Here are some pictures.

From the inside looking out

From the outside looking in

     Miss Ginger our new, super awesome custodian took the outside picture.  I wasn't going to get that close.  Believe it or not, he was cute, about the size of a tennis ball.  Miss Ginger and I called him our pet and I named him Stellaluna.  If you haven't read that book yet, no worries we will this year.  The next day he was gone.  He must have found a darker, more appropriate place to sleep the day away.

      I'm off to school again this morning to cross more things off my to do list.  The weekend is supposed to be wonderful (and I've got Sox tickets) so I'll be back in my summer care free zone.

My Happy Place

     For those who don't know, I'm a Red Sox fan.  To be honest, I'm more of a Fenway Park fan.  Sure I want the Red Sox to be great and actually win games BUT I'm more in love with going to games than actually watching.  Fenway is my happy place.  My son, Derek, was put on the season ticket wait list when he was born, he's nine now, and last year was his turn to buy!  We opted for a ten game pack because a whole season is just ridiculous, not to mention, not in a teacher's budget.  Ten games is the perfect amount for us.

      Well, when I was invited to WB Mason's trade show at Fenway I cheered.  The boys and I spent the day in the park.  To start our day, a very nice Boston Police officer working a NSTAR detail noticed I was looking for a parking space.  As someone was pulling out, he had a worker block the space with cones and as I circled back he said it was saved for me WHOO HOO.  We then headed to the park, walked the bases, sat up on the green monster, strolled through the EMC level where they have the Red Sox Hall of Fame filled with player plaques and past jerseys.  We said hi to Larry Lucchino as he passed us in the halls.  We had our pictures taken with Wally and the 3 World Series Trophies.  We even enjoyed a free Fenway Frank while sitting in the "red seat" in the bleachers where Ted Williams hit his famous home run.  Well, we did until staff came over the microphone and politely told us every tour is trying to point out the infamous seat and we are sitting in it so no one could see it.  So we waved to all the tours we could see throughout the park and moved our booties one seat over.  Click here to find the history of the red seat.

     In addition to all that fun, we had bags overflowing with giveaways and headed to Faneuil Hall to continue the fun with the rest of the family.

Here are some pictures of our day.

walking bases

green monster

Hall of Fame

Wally

Famous seat that we AREN'T sitting in 

Our LOOT

WB joined our picture

     It was a great day!