June 1 - 5

*** Spring Fair is this Friday (June 5th) 

from 6:00-8:00 at the main school ***

Last Friday we had a visit from Crossroads the clown who showed the kindergarteners and first graders how he transforms from a normal looking guy into a real clown!  He entertained them with jokes and balloon animals.  Sophia then brought in some balloons and we had a special choice where she helped people try to make balloon animals.   Thank you to Jill for organizing this special event!

We had to say good-bye to Ryan this week.  We made him a class book about things we enjoyed doing with him and questions we had about Japan and China.  We wish his family safe travels this summer and we look forward to seeing him in second grade!

We have been reviewing many concepts in math this week, including place value in 3-digit numbers, making change with coins, and showing fractions in different ways.  Next week students will get to take home their math journal (or workbook).

Our concert was a big success! 

In writing we began working on a book about first grade that we will continue to develop until the last day of school.  This will be a real treasure for you and your family to enjoy!  We also began studying the following word wall words: why, can't, school, his, people.  The class has really gotten into playing games with these words on www.spellingcity.com (especially "hangmouse").

Special thanks to Cindy, who let us borrow a National Geographic video about endangered animals and who came in to help Seneca make a presentation to the class about cheetahs.  He showed us many pictures of cheetahs and talked about why cheetahs are endangered.  He also talked about the Cheetah Conservation and we saw videos of cheetahs on www.cheetah.org.  Cindy stayed during choice to help capture what students had learned about cheetahs on voicethread:

This Friday afternoon Mary Jo will be coming in to help the class make some nature-based craft projects that she and Sophia picked out of a craft book from our own Annex library.  I will post pictures of the creations here next week and you can look for them to come home on Friday or Monday.

Last Friday our field trip to Taughannock Falls State Park was rained out and we took a (muddy) nature walk behind the school in the afternoon to practice writing about interesting things we noticed in our explorer notebooks.  Please let me know if you can join us at Taughannock on Wednesday, June 10th, and be sure your child is wearing good walking shoes that day!  All families are also welcome to attend the end of year picnic at Stewart Park on Wednesday, June 24th.

Next week:

• Monday: Jay will be with the class as I'll be in northern VA filling out HR paperwork for my new job and house hunting - wish me luck!  
• Tuesday: Richie will be with the class while I will continue the end of year math and reading assessments.
• Wednesday: We go to Taughannock Falls State Park with our partner class from NE.
• Thursday: Pre-K, K and 1st grade classes from Belle Sherman will all be going to the Hangar Theater to see their production of Really Rosie.
• Friday: Amy will be with the class while I complete the end of year assessments.