Wrapping Up a Great Year!

On Wednesday afternoon, Lily popped our final balloon!

It seems like just yesterday our room had 20 balloons hanging from the ceiling and then we were down to #1! #1 revealed another one of our favorites..... a dance party!

Our last day was SO bittersweet.  We started it, just like we start nearly every morning...... with a song.

Next, our families joined us for Meeting for Worship where we listened to the story, What do You do With an Idea?

We also enjoyed a reception with our families, friends, and teachers!

After lunch and music, we enjoyed some Afghani ice cream (vanilla ice cream with cardamom and rose water) made by Mrs. Etemadi-Cusic.  Most of us really enjoyed this special treat.  Then we headed back to our classroom where we listened to the story, Last Day Blues.  In the story, the students want to make a special gift for their teacher and come up with the idea of a special letter.  Reading this story to 1A made me a little sad, but just after the story, I was quickly cheered up!

Many of our 1A students hid themselves in the cubby area and created a very special note for me just like the kids in the story did! 

We ended our day with some dancing, some tears, and LOTS of hugs!  

Parents, thank you so much for sharing your children with me.  They are such great kids, with huge hearts, and amazing personalities.  They will always be in my thoughts and I hope you keep in touch as I'd love to hear about how they are doing. You and your family are always welcome to stay with us in Colorado should your travels ever take you that way.

1A friends, thank you for making this last year such a memorable one.  We grew, we learned, and we had a lot of fun!  I hope you always look back on your first grade year with fondness and I hope you keep in touch too (if you click on the envelope to the right, your message will get delivered right to my email).  Good luck to all of you! I'll miss you!

Have a wonderful summer!

A Couple of Final Mysteries

Last Wednesday, we enjoyed TWO pop-up Mysteries.  See if you can guess who our first special guest was:

• I was a "new" teacher this year.
• I coach soccer.
• Once upon a time, I used to have a pierced eyebrow.
• I write a blog about the Baltimore Ravens that has been featured in the Baltimore Sun as well as some other sports' websites.
• My significant other teaches at Friends School, I have two kids that go to FS, and two cats that stay home.

Can you figure out THIS mystery?  It was a little tricky for the friends in 1A too, but we were super excited to see Mr. Hanes waiting for us outside.

Mr. Hanes shared one of his favorite books titled, You Are Special by Max Lucado.

This is such a great book and we all enjoyed the message!

Thank you, Mr. Hanes!

Later that same day, we had another mystery to solve.  This one was much easier.........

• I have worked at Friends School for 9 years.
• I work in the Upper School building.
• I live near the school.
• I have a child in 1st grade.
• Some mornings you will see me in the carpool line.

Have you figured this one out?  Our room was a little bit of a mess, by the afternoon on Wednesday, so we ventured over to Mr. Micciche's office.  Instead of reading to us, Mr. Micciche listened to a few first graders who had stories of their own to tell.  

 Mr. Micciche also shared a bit of Make Way for Ducklings that his son, Peter, recited when he was three.  We stopped by the library to find this book and read it the next day in our classroom.

Thanks for sharing your time with us, Mr. Micciche, and for listening to our stories!

Thank you to everyone who was a Mystery Reader in our classroom this year.  It was such a fun activity!

Watermelon Day!

Balloon #3 was Watermelon Day!  On Tuesday afternoon we enjoyed a delicious and refreshing slice of watermelon.

First graders, what other summer foods do you enjoy?  Post a comment to share with all of us!

Math Buddies

Our second grade math buddies joined us for a final gathering on Tuesday.  They've recently been learning about multiplication and wanted to teach us a bit about it too!  We quickly figured out that multiplication was just like repeated addition or skip counting, two things we've worked on all year!  Learning from our buddies was a great time!

 We celebrated our growth this year with some Italian Ice!

It was a lot of fun working together this year!  Thank you, Mrs. Meagher for organizing this activity for us.

First and second grade mathematicians, remember to practice your math skills over the summer!  Feel free to contact your child's math teacher if you need some suggestions.