Not "Goodbye", but "See you later"...

I'm struggling to find the words to capture this first year, this first crew...

Nothing but LOVE comes to mind.  Well, maybe, if I'm honest, exhaustion comes to mind too.

Worth it?  Definitely.  My peers in literacy thought I was insane to go into the classroom.  Yes, maybe I am insane.   But insanely in love with growing young learners is a badge I will wear with honor. Forever.  Forever your children are written on my heart and I am truly their forever friend now.

I am so grateful for you.  I was a new teacher.  You didn't know me.  As those of us who have been in literacy for many years would agree...first grade is the hardest year to teach.  Everything pivots off of this year.  It is the year to learn the foundational skills that will support all future learning.  Whew...

Such a huge responsibility.  I have not taken it lightly.  Not for one day.  And your support helped me do my job.  Thank you.  Thank you for sharing your most beloved possession with me.  We have been great partners. Together we have grown, learned, and loved.  What a gift!

Please keep me in your life.  Let me know how your child is doing, how you are doing.  I am invested in your child's life.  Forever.  I will be waiting to hear great things, from all of you. You have a piece of my heart. x

With deep devotion, 

Mary Beth

 

Wrought with love...

Written on my heart are the memories from this school year, in indelible ink.
Each little one has blessed my life in countless ways.

Thank you crew, for this incredibly special necklace that will remind me forever of my first crew. 
And thank you for the gift cards too.  You spoiled me this week.  I loved it. I appreciate you all!
A special shout out to Jennifer Harding for coming along side of me this year as my crew parent!
With gratitude, Mary Beth                                                                        

A Day at Castlewood Canyon

It's a long way up!

I still get goosebumps thinking about how each crew member personally challenged themselves to take that one more step up on the rock wall!  So brave!  Enjoy the view!  Be proud!  I am too!

It's Spring...We've blossomed!

I have large trees in my backyard and what seems like overnight, they have leafed out and have come to life.  In the same way, seemingly overnight, my crew has grown and blossomed into almost second graders.  Over the break they all grew at least an inch and each one of them seems more grown up.

You may not find comfort in hearing this!  I know as a parent sometimes my childrens' growing up made me happy and sometimes very melancholy as they headed towards becoming more and more independent from me.

Regardless of how we feel about their maturing,  it is all good from their perspective.  In these last weeks I'm pulling back more and more when I know what they ask for help with can be tackled on their own.  Struggling and persevering are such great challenges for each of us and they help us grow as people.

I'm doing my best to help grow your children.  And our wonderful IA teachers do the same at REMS.
What our crew did during this week's belaying was amazing and thrilling to watch.  They all took on personal challenges and they were so very pleased with themselves when they persevered.

Hooray for them!  Enjoy these pictures of this week's P.E. action.

New Expedition! Dirt and Worms

We all love a good mystery, don't we?  To introduce our new expedition to the crews we kept them in suspense, merely telling them they were going to do some scientific observations in dirt.  In small groups, manned with popsicle sticks, the children poked around and peered into the tubs of soil....and then 
SQUEALS AND OOOH'S AND AHH'S!  WORMS!  What fun!

In the weeks to come our worms will live in a worm farm in our room.  We will make observations in our worm journals and we'll learn how earthworms help make our soil rich for growing food.  (by the way, worm "droppings" are called "castings" not "poop".  I'm going to refrain from saying the "p" word at the risk of loosing the crew daily to such discussions!  Ahh...first grade.  That kind of talk is inevitable and hilarious to them.  

Second to this we will learn about soil and how our earth's resources are limited.  

Enjoy the pictures from our first day with the worms!

 

ASM

What fun we had at ASM today!  The children really enjoyed themselves and all of us came away happy and pleased with our performance.  I totally teared up watching them during our sharing time.  They are truly amazing little people and I'm so proud of each one of them!  

A special shout out to Bella Ford who was too sick to come to school today after practicing her list of b-day names so hard over break and to Macy Key for stepping in as her under study at the last minute.  Those birthday names were tough to tackle without practice! (where were all of the Jones' and Smith's when we needed them!) 

Here are a few pictures to enjoy!

They talked us into a goofy photo at the end.:)

Proud Parents!

Hi Crew,
As you and I celebrate the beauty of your child at student-led conferences, I just couldn't help celebrating  my own daughter.  Megan was chosen as her school's Apple Award winner for this school year.  I was so proud of her last night at the award banquet! She teaches 4th grade and is just in her second year of teaching.  I'm amazed at how deeply loved she is by her parents, peers and students!  She teaches mom lots about classroom teaching!  Trust me, once a parent always a parent...and how lovely it is to watch your child grow into a beautiful adult.  Heart-melting.

We have SO much to celebrate every day in our crew.  I am usually in the middle of it and I often forget to grab the camera.  But I was able to take a snapshot of our crew this past week! The children are very excited about studying non-fiction.  We are making non-fiction convention notebooks as we learn about the look of non-fiction and how we go about reading it vs. how we read fiction books.

As soon as I say "It's time to do some animal research", the crew whips into a frenzy of learning!  I hear about ten children at a time call "Ms. Mary Beth!  Did you know that..."  They just can't contain themselves! What fun!  What engagement! Together we are researching using books and websites like Creature Feature by National Geographic and Kid Rex, a kid friendly search engine.  This week we will begin writing our All About books with the help of graphic organizers.

THE 29 FOOT ANACONDA...
is finally finished.  One of my reading groups read a book titled The Encyclopedia of the Rain Forest.
That inspired us to think about how long an anaconda can actually be.  This group decided it would be fun to create their own snake.  It was a great project that included using measurement, perseverance and working as a team.  Great job kids!  I'm trying to figure out where we can safely display this in our school.  Look for it to be up somewhere this week!

Don't you just love the "I'm done" sign? That was Sam's thought:)

Last week before Spring Break!
We are all ready for some more time outside and for some time to rest.
I hope you all have a wonderful time with your families.  When we get back we will only have 8 weeks of school left and those weeks will fly by.  Please find time for your child to read and write over the break!  
Joyfully, Mary Beth