Congrats and Happy Summer!

Hooray! You've an awesome job in first grade and you are all officially 2nd graders! Enjoy your summer! I will miss you! Love, Ms. Pratt

A day early, but thank you to all of the wonderful fathers who

are part of our Room 4, 1st grade community! Your kids love you!

Final Days in First!

In less than a week, students will graduate first grade and step out into their summer break. They are ready for 2nd grade and they have, without a doubt, earned a vacation. This week students celebrated the end of the year and all their hard work at Look Park. Thank you to all of you who joined us and/or those who sent food. It was a lot of fun! 

This last week of school, we will be reviewing some academics, and doing some fun end of the year projects. Students will be bringing home work and projects. Please let me know if your child will not be with us through the last day of school so I can make sure they bring home their portfolio and end of year materials. Students will also be saying  goodbye to their reading buddies.

Please keep practicing the baseball and Crocker Farm song at home. We will perform this at our end of the year assembly on Wednesday. If you have a hat please be sure to send it with your child prior to Wednesday. As a reminder, Thursday, June 22nd is our last day and dismissal is at 1:20. 

I look forward to a fun last week! Congratulations to you and your child. Thanks for a wonderful year and have a wonderful Father's Day. Here we go...

Goodbye Chicks!

Hi Room 4 Families! Summer is on the way and the sun is coming out. As we approach the end of the year and wrap up our academics with assessments and progress monitoring, I hope to balance this with some more outside time for students. We say goodbye to our chicks this week, as they head back to the farm. They are growing fast and will need more space. These little feathered friends have loved being part of our classroom community. Here's a quick look at some of the learning we took part in this week:

Monday's Fun Centers:

On Monday, due to rescheduling our field trip, the three first grade teachers ran centers. Ms. Bartolini did a face painting center, Ms. Donoghue did a STEM building center, and we did a slime science project in my classroom. It was fun for students to get to work with each of the teachers in all three classrooms.

Reading:

R controlled vowels is a new focus in Superkids for unit 5. Students continue to read each day in guided reading groups and also work on pattern words with -or, -ur, -ir, -ar, -er words, where the /r/ sound controls the syllable.

Math:

Students worked on measurement this week and used other objects as a standard unit of measurement. We used cubes, paperclips, tiles, and other objects in the room. Students looked at our feet as a way to measure and they noticed that because we all have different size feet, we cannot use this as a reliable way to measure something. For the remainder of the year, students will be reviewing math we have learned throughout the year.

Unit Study and Writing:

Students had a flexible week in writing and unit study. We did some read alouds and discussions and also had the opportunity to do some open-ended writing prompts and take out the chicks,a couple last few times. Tara Luce continued to work on Mindfulness in our class and students are doing a wonderful job!

Reminders and Wish List:

• Our Field Trip to Look Park is on Thursday, June 15th. We hope to see you there!
• We would love some table wipes to get us through the end of the year!
• Please practice singing, "Take me out to the ballgame," with your child at home and the "CF version" too, at home with your child. We will sing this at the June 21st assembly. If you have one, please send a baseball cap in with your child prior to this date to wear for the song. We will return it with your child on the 21st. If your child wants to wear his/her Crocker Farm shirt on this day or a baseball Jersey, that's great too. A baseball mitt, is great too!
• If your child will not be there through the last day of school, please email me or send a note, so I can send all work and end of year things home with your child in advance. 

Wish List

Hi Families! We are on our last tub of Chlorox table wipes. If you would be willing to donate a tub to get us through the remainder of the school year, we would really appreciate it!

Field Day Fun!

Thank you, Will!

Let's start with the fun stuff...

It's amazing how time can seem to pass so slowly with some things, fly by with others, and then with other things, you just can't decide, it feels like it is over too fast but it also feels like it has been such an awesomely long journey. I think that is the way we have felt about having Will in our class. He has become such a part of our community and it feels like he's been with us forever, but his time with us just flew by and we will all miss him! On Thursday we celebrated Will with a pizza party and a class gift (Hamilton T-shirt, water bottle and a class book with college advice and what students like about Will). Will will be playing football for Hamilton College so mark your calendars for when Amherst College plays Hamilton in the fall! Hopefully Will might do some substitute teaching on breaks from college.

The chicks are growing like weeds! Thank you to Rohni and Hallie's families for chick-sitting this weekend and thank you for the other offers we had. I'm sorry that not everyone got to take them but I appreciate your understanding! They are growing their adult feathers and have tail feathers. The chicks are adorable and it was fun getting to hold them and interact with them on the carpet this week! 

On Thursday we got to see the musical, which was AWESOME! I am still humming the tunes from Newsies and Les Mis. I was so impressed and someday I hope to see some of your kids up there. Ms. Lincoln did a wonderful job with the help of other teachers such as Ms. Travis. I applaud all the hard work of the older students who really set a great example of dedication, hard work, bravery and perseverance. On Friday I enjoyed another amazing Crocker Farm Field Day and room 4 students did an amazing job. I saw teamwork, CARE everywhere, and some great athleticism! Field Day is one of my favorite days of the year! I hope your child shared all the fun activities they participated in and we owe a huge thank you to Ms. James! 

On, with the academia...

Reading and Writing:

We wrapped up units, 3 & 4 this week of Superkids (yep, we are flying)! Students learned about the spelling patterns: -aw, -awn, -awl, and -all. Students learned about irregular word patterns, because there is always an exception to the rule, right? Students did a great job on assessments and their reading, comprehension and spelling has come such a long way! Spelling assessments have been so impressive! Go room 4! Students wrapped up their research papers on chicks. Students included a question, an intro, 5 facts with supporting detail in the body and a conclusion. Then students included scientific or realistic illustrations and/or diagrams to support their writing. I am looking at 2nd graders! Where have my first graders gone! Super impressive!

Math:

Show me the moneyyy! They sure did! We wrapped up our unit on coins and students have got it down. Although they may understand the value of a coin, I hope what they are really learning this year in math, is the value of hard work and how much it pays off. With all they have grown, they should feel like a million bucks! On Wednesday we took an assessment and ALL students proved that they have mastered coins. I encourage you to have your child help you with change next time you are at the store! Next week we will start measurement.

Unit Study/Science:

This week, we completed all the egg drops and wrapped up most of our chick and embryology unit. Students also got to handle the chicks and we continued our Mindfulness work with Tara Luce. Students are doing a wonderful job. Please ask your child to lead you through a mindfulness exercise. I need to make this a daily habit of mine; it's truly amazing and so relaxing!

Look Park Re-Scheduled:

Hope you all have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing many of you at Look Park on Thursday, June 15th. Keep your eyes peeled for a new permission slip coming home. We rescheduled due to weather.I am sorry for the confusion and for any schedule adjustments this may cause you.Email me if you have any questions. Everyone is paid for, we just need a new signed permission slip.

Attention: Look Park is rescheduled for 6/15!

Hi families! Due to the forecast of rain and possible thunderstorms on Monday, we have rescheduled our Look Park field trip for Thursday, June 15th. It will be the same time and we are sending new permission slips home. Please sign and return. We have the cost covered from your previous payments and donations-thanks! We apologize for this change. We hope you will still be able to attend!