I hope you are all having a wonderful April vacation. For families that are traveling this week, I hope you are having a fantastic time together. For families that are on a staycation, I hope you are taking some time to relax and have some fun activities planned locally. Looks like we are getting some summer weather this weekend! (finally some sun!)
I had a great first two days back with my favorite first graders! What a wonderful group of kids to come back to. I LOVED seeing all their reviews they have been working on during writer's workshop and getting a chance to read with many of them. It was a nice transition being able to co-teach with Kelsey for the two days before vacation. I was able to get a strong grasp on what the kids have been working on and creating a plan for where to go for the final stretch of the school year! The transition at home is also going well. Ryan and I are so lucky to have supportive families that are helping us out for the final months of the school year! I have a new appreciation for you all getting everyone out the door in the morning for school and work! We are lucky that Grayson will be staying home with our parents for May/June and we will deal with the whole Daycare/getting baby out the door by 7 a.m. come August! Grayson is doing fantastic! He is just starting to sleep through the night (at least for this week!), he's a growing boy weighing about 15 pounds, and full of smiles and babbles!
First, I want to take a moment to thank Kelsey Leighton! She has been a wonderful member of our starfish classroom community the past few months. It has been a pleasure to collaborate with Kelsey and the teachers of the First Grade Team have all said such wonderful things about the work she has done with our group of students and contributing to the first grade team. On Thursday and Friday, I was able to see the growth they have made over the last few months. They have grown physically (a few more loose teeth, adult teeth growing in, a few inches taller) but what stood out most was their stamina to sustain their independent work and their ability to carry out tasks independently. Thank you, Kelsey! You have made this transition smooth for our whole starfish community. She will be subbing throughout the building for the remaining weeks of the school year. We hope she can find any chance she gets to be back with us in the Starfish classroom!
I will be posting later this week with more details of what's to come in the upcoming weeks. Lots of exciting new units including geometry, sound and light waves science unit, writing fiction series books, and a reading unit focusing on comprehension and reading fluency. As we return to school on May 1st, we will be in full swing getting ready for our First Grade Musical Friendly Neighborhood Helpers. The family performance will be May 11 at 6:30 in the SMS Cafeteria.
On Tuesday, May 2nd at 9:30- The first grade will be creating "life size" Friendly Neighborhood Helpers. I'm looking for 1-2 parent volunteers to help the kids trace and assemble their character. Please email to let me know if you are available and would like to help out! Thank you!
Warmly,
Megan Murphy
mmurphy@sau16.org
Please email me with any questions/concerns! I would love to hear from you!
