Crew News August 8, 2013

Today was another fun day. We got to do some reading, writing and math along with many other fun activities. Here are a few highlights:

During our Morning Meeting, we played Person to Person. This game is played with a partner and we connect body parts - like knee to knee, forehead to forehead, etc. It was a great way to get everyone up, giggling and getting to know each other as you can see in the photos below.

Later, after some independent reading (I learned so much about our readers during this time) we took a body break. Ms. Wendy led us around the room as we pretended to walk on a tight rope.

Extra, Extra
Ask your child what language Ms. Wendy is teaching us and if they remember any of what we learned today.

School Pictures
Our time for school pictures is tomorrow at 9:20 am. Be sure to have your child bring his or her happiest smile.

Coin Bags
On Monday, your child will need a bag of coins to use during math time as we learn to count money and make change. Please put your child's name on a sandwich size bag and fill it with 20 pennies, 5 nickels, 10 dimes and 2 quarters. Many of you have already sent these in so your child is ready to go.

First Day of School

Wow! What a great day! No tears! It was all good.  We read several books, used our new supplies to draw a pictures of our Hopes and Dreams for the year, and learned how things work in first grade. We are ready for a good day tomorrow.

We're Waiting for You!

Ms. Wendy and I are waiting for you. We can't wait to get started on Wednesday! See you soon.

Getting Ready!

It is getting closer and closer to the first day of school. I have started getting ready and I am very excited for the first day. I hope that you all are, too.

Ms. MaryBeth and I went shopping for the first grade school supplies and as you can see it takes a lot of supplies for one crew. In the pictures below I am sitting at the table with some of the supplies.

I thought you might like to see what our room looked like for most of the summer. We had to pile the desks in a corner and clear the room as much as possible so that the carpets could be cleaned. Doesn't this look funny?

I will tell you that it doesn't look like this anymore. It is beginning to look ready for a new crew of eager first graders to come to school in about a week and a half. I can't wait to see you then.

If you have any questions about first grade, you can comment on this post and ask them or send me an email.

Sam's Summer Reading

Sam is getting ready for first grade by doing some summer reading - just like many of you. Below Sam shares some of the facts he learned while reading his book on spiders. I bet some of you will be ready to visit the library to check out this book after you read his facts and see his pictures!

Samuel's report on his book about spiders:
I learned that spiders can kill people with their fangs and its very dangerous. I learned about web builders. Some spiders make trap door webs. That is very cool! The part that I like is that spiders can be very helpful by eating biting bugs. I am happy that all spiders eat biting bugs. I borrowed this book so that I could freak out my grandma.

What are you reading this summer? We would all love to hear from you, too. If you have found some great books this summer, please share with us. Send me an email and I will post your ideas and photos to our crew blog.

Summer Reading

Hey, crew! Have you read any good books lately? In the picture above, I am reading a book for Young Adults called Endangered. So far it is about a girl who helps her Mom run a sanctuary for bonobos (a type of chimpanzee). One of the bonobos has bonded with the the girl so she has to keep it with her all of the time while it is recovering from being hurt. It is a good book so far. I think it might turn into an adventure story soon because a war is about to break out in the Congo in Africa where they live.

What books have you read so far this summer? Did you sign up for the Summer Reading program at the library. (I know at least one of you did.) I would love to hear about the books you are reading. You could write a blog post about them so we can all hear about them.

Send me a picture of you reading some place comfy and I will post it on our crew blog. I can't wait to hear from you. Keep reading!

Summer Reading Gives You Superpowers!

The crew will really enjoy watching this short video about summer reading that shows Dav Pilkey drawing as he talks. Enjoy! If you get this post by email, you will need to go directly to the blog to view the video.