Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Classroom Insights and Highlights


There are lots of ways to learn, we prefer the FUN way:) 

When there is a big job, like learning to tell time, we know who to call...

"BIG BUDDIES!!!" 





 

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Event Updates - Montshire, Big buddies, Food Drive, and most recently... Farewell to our friend Maya and her Family

The many happy faces of our first grade:



We wish Maya and her family a safe journey as they return to China. It has been a wonderful opportunity having Maya join our learning community these past few months. She will be greatly missed by all of us!



Montshire Museum Musings





Peaceful Players Celebration

Great  Job;  we were just short of 200 items of food!!!


Last but not least, our big buddies... who help us learn, teach us new things and most importantly are our  friends.  We absolutely LOVE our big buddies!!!







Sunday, September 20, 2015

We're off to great start...

We are off to such a great start!!! Everyone is showing up on time, and ready to learn! We've discovered how wonderfully caring your children are; it's truly a privilege working with them. All the kiddos are trying their best, and learning how to think which we call "growing our brains,"  just ask them:) 

We've been slowly introducing first grade work.  In the beginning we need to be careful not to dive too quickly into the curriculum, especially within the first few weeks. These initial weeks have been all about adjusting to new time schedules/sleep patterns, routines, and learning about our classroom community. A huge part of this introduction period is teaching children that there we are all good/great at some things, and that we're all continuing to work on things that we're not so good at... YET.  Our rates of "blooming" are different, and they shouldn't feel discouraged if they are not progressing at the same rate as their peers. We are all on the same path, and all of us will get to our destinations.  Our brains are flexible capable of wonderful thinking if encouraged and motivated to do so. This is called "Growth Mindset" or what we call, "growing our brains." The link below provides some of the theory behind how this works, and how we (parents and educators) can encourage this type of growth and perseverance .  http://bigthink.com/in-their-own-words/the-simple-way-to-encourage-a-growth-mindset

Slowly we've  integrated most of the subjects that we'll work on throughout the year. Much of our learning is practiced through learning games, which they appear to enjoy and stay readily engaged.   I'll be showing a slide show of our first few weeks at the Open House, scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 24th. at 5:00 P.M.  

Also during the Open House, we will demonstrate what you can expect your children to learn throughout the year, some of the texts they'll be using, the progression of reading and writing, and what the expectations are relative to classroom readiness and homework. I will also introduce our blog , how to find it, & what it contains , if you're not already familiar. Lastly, part of my presentation will highlight technology; we implement its use in the classroom, and you can also access most of the same learning programs from your home computer, such as Adaptive Mind.

Please, I encourage you, if you have any questions please email me at sloredo@wsesu.org.

One last note, you'll notice I don't have any pictures of children YET on our blog, I do like to include pictures with every blog, but until I get all the permissions back, I unable to do so. 

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Welcome !!! Check out these Back to School Tips and Tricks




Hello and Welcome to First Grade!


Although we might be feeling like Snoopy and Charlie Brown...


Check-out our  First-Grade Handbook tab (top) where you will find lots of helpful information that should answer many of the questions you might have relative to first grade:)



Additionally, you might also find some cool tips at the website below:

Today, Learning Heroes released a new website, featuring a search engine that will help parents find helpful tools and information to support their kid’s learning throughout the year.

Try it out here:  www.bealearninghero.org

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Montshire Museum in March (at last)


So many smiles!

All of us had a great time exploring and learning about the many exhibits the museum had to offer.  We especially loved the workshop which let us learn more about BUGS which was so very exciting getting to examine them up close and personal! 



Sunday, February 22, 2015

In winter we lead a more inward life. Our hearts are warm and cheery, like cottages under drifts... Author: Henry David Thoreau

Warm, cozy and cheery, that's who we are!



A special Valentines Thank You to Carter's mom, Kaiden's mom, Peter's mom, and Caroline's mom for bringing in such tasty Valentine's treats!