Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Thank you for all your support and love!

Hello First Grade Families!

Thank you so much to all of you who send sympathy emails and made a point to check on me to see how I'm doing.  I really appreciate all of your love and thoughtfulness.  It was a surreal time, full of family togetherness, love, laughter, tears and stories.  I feel so lucky to have had such an inspirational grandmother and to have known her so well, for so long.  So much of who I am is from her as an inspiring model.  Here are a few photos to share with you.





Last week was a nice time back together.  I know the students were very excited to share stories and memories from their spring break adventures.  Silas and Hannah Eileen shared photos as well.  The class is so curious and interested.  They always have many and interesting questions for each other.  Here are a few inspiring images from Hannah Eileen's vacation:





We have taken some time to stop and get to know each other again.  We have had many new friends join us in the last many months, as well as many new interestes coming up as we grow.  The students have been creating their own poster about themselves to share some things they like.  The posters have been a source of many important work time strategies.  The group is connected to the idea of sharing their work time tips with each other.  Here are a few.






Another step in this process has been for each student to be interviewed by a peer.  The students have practiced getting ready to present information by taking notes while they had the interview discussions.  We have begun these presentations about each student.   It's been nice to connect over simple stories and interests.










We have added a daily ritual recently which I am not sure I have shared yet.  We are using coins to calculate the quantity that is the same as the date.  This daily practice, along with our other activities and games has brought more awareness and comfort in using coins.  Keep up the practice and discussion!


And finally, we enjoyed my instruments from around the world this week.  The students have such descriptive language.  They explained the way these instruments may have been made, what sounds they make and the subtle differences between similar instruments.  On another day, we formed groups of like instruments and the teams planned a musical presentation.  This took teamwork, collaboration and listening.  Here are are a few memories from the fun.







Thank you for sharing your children with me.  Love, Jennifer

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