Hello December!

With three weeks to go until the holiday winter break, Room 10 is buzzing with anxious anticipation and excitement!

Trimester 1 has come to a close and with that I've wrapped up our first round of literacy and math assessments.  I am looking forward to meeting with families this week to discuss each child's progress.  Progress reports will come home to you on Tuesday of this week.

Please know that I consider these meetings collaborative in nature so don't hesitate to bring your questions and/or concerns along.  The conferences are scheduled for 20 minutes and I do my best to keep to that timeframe.  Please know that on occasion I may run a few minutes behind.  If that is the case, I thank you for your patience.

At the reading table, the children are learning about a wide range of reading comprehension skills and strategies, including how to orally retell the sequence of events in a given fiction text they've read, or the key information in non-fiction.  We have been exploring "character traits" and how to describe characters based on their actions, behavior and feelings. Additionally, the children are learning how to respond to broader, more complex questions that focus more deeply on "why" and "how" questions.  They are learning how to locate "evidence" in the words and pictures to make predictions and to support their understanding.  Reading comprehension is a long, multifaceted learning curve for all young readers and one we will continue to focus on all year.

In terms of reading fluency and word attack skills, I am encouraging the children to "make it match" and closely attend to be sure what they've read looks right, sounds right and makes sense.  This type of questioning encourages readers to think carefully about their reading, and it raises their overall independence and efficiency in self-correcting their errors.  We use this same language during writer's workshop to be sure our writing reflects the meaning we hope to convey.

During math, we have continued to work on addition/subtraction story problems, including a range of tools and strategies for solving problems in an efficient and accurate manner.  You may not see as many math "papers" coming home, but please be assured that through hands-on learning, games and paper/pencil practice we are doing LOTS of math each day.  I will share the children's math journals with you at conference time to give you a better understanding of where we've been and we're heading with math concepts.    Some key concepts we've focused on for solving addition and subtraction story problems include:

• Understanding the overall concept of Part / Part / Whole
• Use of various tools:  counters, tens frame, part-part-whole mat, counting on/counting back strips, number lines
• Use of various strategies:  counting on, counting back, thinking addition to subtract or subtraction to add, using a "close fact" to solve another one, using "doubles" (4+4, 3+3, etc.) to solve a related fact

We are also continuing to learn about place value and coins during our daily morning meeting time. 

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Last week, we spent time digging into the history and traditions of Thanksgiving.  The children were surprised to learn that Pilgrim children were asked to wear a hat and stand during meals, and they were not allowed to speak unless spoken to by an adult.  We talked about the ways things have changed since then!  I challenged the children to "eat like a Pilgrim" during snack.  Despite lots of quiet giggles, they were eager to give it a go.  

Pilgrim Snack Time

We wrapped up our week with Crazy Hair Day.  It was a silly day all around, despite some of the blank looks on a few faces!

Crazy Hair Day!

Here's to making our way through the next three weeks of growing excitement!  Happy Hannukah to those celebrating this week!

Veteran's Day 2018

Veteran's Day Remembered...

Last week, the children attended a special Veteran's Day program hosted by Chief Wilson and her son Cadet Wilson.  These two amazing people have come to Memorial for a number of years and always do a wonderful, and age-appropriate job of conveying the importance of honoring the men, women and animals who work so selflessly in the armed forces.  

Here are a few snapshots from their program, including images of the children learning how to follow key commands such as attention, about face, and at ease.  The children loved it!

Cadet Wilson and Chief Wilson

Cadet Wilson singing "Proud To Be An American"

Goodbye October! Hello November!

Happy Friday to all!  We made it through a VERY busy week with lots of excitement and festivities all around!

Below you will find a few sneak peaks at the Halloween fun here in Room 10, as well as during music class with Mr. R.  Many thanks to our room parents and other volunteers who joined us for the Halloween party on Wednesday.  The donations of food and supplies were much appreciated.  It was a fun celebration for sure!

We have sent our pumpkins out to the garden and will be wondering, noticing and waiting to see what will become of them over the next few weeks and months.  Our "pumpkin patch" will surely change and we can't wait to see how it all unfolds... rotting, mushy goodness to come!

Next week, your child will bring home his/her Booktime Home Reading Book Envelope.  A detailed letter is enclosed, as well as a print out of the key reading strategies the children have been learning about.  Booktime will take place every Monday and Tuesday night, followed by Poem Notebooks on Wednesdays as usual.  Please take a moment to read through the letter as it explains Booktime in much greater detail.  Your questions / comments are welcome at any time.

I've received several bright, shiny half-dollar coins (thank you!!!).  A few more would be great to have so feel free to send them in if you come across any more.

We are excited to learn about Johnny Appleseed, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving and LOTS more in the days ahead.  Happy weekend!

Halloween tunes with Mr. R!

Pumpkin Art!

Pumpkin Art in action

Pumpkin Art in action - Part 2

Halloween parade here we come!

Room 10's Pumpkin Garden... what might happen?

Cruising Along!

We've hit a nice rhythm here in Room 10 the past few weeks.  The children are doing a great job managing their weekly centers, both math and literacy.  Their independence with troubleshooting questions about the process of these routines is building too.  Our community of learners and friends is showing growth each and every day.  Exciting!

Last week, we kicked off our Small Moments writing unit.  Thank you for helping your child brainstorm ideas for the writing topics list.  These will come in very handy in the weeks ahead.  These lists generated lots of excitement (and laughs) when we shared our ideas. 

The children are learning how to take a small moment from their life, break it up into parts and tell it across several pages until the whole story is complete.  They are learning how to be in the "driver's seat" of their own writing, learning how to judge when their story need more, and when it is finished.  This is all a long process, and one we will engage with all year.

The concept of Part  -  Part  -  Whole is becoming common, content-wide, language for lots of our learning tasks.  In addition to writing, the children are seeing parts and wholes during math (3 + 5 = 8; part-part-whole), as well as during word study (/sh/ and /ut/ are two parts that make the whole word shut).  We will continue to find ways this concept threads through other content areas such as reading, science, social studies and more.

Halloween is a hot topic of conversation each day.  Information regarding our parade and party on October 31 has gone out from the front office.  If you have any questions, please let me know.  Many thanks to our room parents for coordinating what is sure to be a fun celebration that day!

I am all set on supplies from my last request, with the exception of still hoping for some half-dollar coins.  This week, if you are able, I could use an assortment of pumpkins for a project.  I have one medium-sized orange pumpkin, and one white.  Any other kinds... smaller, larger, lumpy, striped, etc., would be welcome so feel free to send one in or drop it by the office for us.  We are always appreciative!

Enjoy the week ahead!

September Wrap-Up

It's been a busy place here in Room 10 this first month of school.  You'll find a few photo highlights at the bottom of this post... lots of happy, hardworking faces for sure!

It was wonderful to meet so many of you at Parent Information Night.  A giant thanks to Kaitlyn Kay and EB Larson for volunteering to be our room parents this year.  If you've not yet had a chance to include your information on our classroom directory, please try to do so as soon as possible.  This allows the room parents to reach out for help for classroom parties and other activities here in Room 10.  We'd love to have a complete directory out to all of you soon.

Next week I will be sending in specific login information so that you can view the work we've done on SeeSaw, our classroom portfolio system.  The children are very excited about the work they've shared so far.  This link to the SeeSaw Intro will give you a sneak peak at what SeeSaw is all about.  Look for more information next week, including specific login information.

October brings our kick-off of Guided Reading and Writer's Workshop.

During Guided Reading I will be meeting with small groups of children to work on reading fluency, strategies to employ when we get stuck, reading comprehension, phonics/word study, and lots more.  I've begun one-on-one check-ins with the children which is helping me zero in on their "just right" independent reading level.  "Just right" means a child can employ and demonstrate various reading behaviors BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER reading with both fiction and non-fiction texts.  We have lots to explore and learn, and we will be tackling it all one step at a time.

During Writer's Workshop the children will be building upon what they learned in Kindergarten as we engage in our first unit, Personal Narrative Writing.  This is a time when children will write Small Moment stories about things that are happening (or have happened) in their own lives.  We will work hard to think about and generate ideas, orally share them first to help us plan out the sequence, and then engage in the steps of writing and illustrating.  Children use various writing strategies to flex their writing "muscles" so that their stories come to life on the page.  We also attend to lots of writing mechanics such as spelling, spacing and punctuation.  Again, there is lots to learn and explore!

In Math, we will build upon our foundation of accurate/efficient counting as we delve into addition and subtraction problems.  The children are learning language such as Part, Part, Whole to help them think about numbers as wholes that can be broken up into parts.  We will engage in lots of math talks, peer problem solving and sharing, so that we find multiple ways to think mathematically and represent our thinking.

As part of our Morning Meeting routine, the children are keeping track of the number of days we've been in school using ones and tens place value blocks, and also with coins.  Learning to identify the names and values of the penny, nickel, dime and quarter, and count combinations of coins, is part of the first grade curriculum.  This can be an abstract concept for many children, and one that takes lots of practice and repetition.  Feel free to begin practicing at home too. 

I have a good collection of real pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters, but could use some half dollar coins too.  I know these are harder to come by, but if anyone has some to share I'd love to wrestle up one for each student to use this year.  Any and all donations are welcome!

From time to time I will put out a request for classroom supply donations too.  Please contribute if you are willing and able.  I always appreciate the contributions, but fully understand if you cannot help out.  There is a "Supply" tab on this blog so feel free to check back from time to time to see if anything more is needed.  Right now, I could use the following:

• Gallon and Quart size ziploc bags
• Rolls of paper towels (better for big spills than the ones the school provides!)
• A ream of bright yellow printer paper
• A new game of checkers (our existing one is well loved and missing many pieces at this point!)
• Two packages of Mr. Sketch markers (the fat ones, not the thin ones!)

If you are able to send something on the list please let me know so I can let other families know we are all set.  Thank you!

Enjoy the weekend.  October here we come!!!

Busy First Days!

Welcome to Room 10!

Greetings from Room 10!  We are officially 11 days into first grade and off to an amazing start! 

I am looking forward to meeting parents on Thursday, September 20 for Parent Information Night.  I have wonderful things to share about the incredible learning community growing here in Room 10. 

In case you've missed communication from the front office, the schedule for PIN is as follows:

6:00 - 6:30:  Kindergarten Parents meet in the gym with Dr. Bilsborough, 

and then proceed to classrooms to meet with K teachers until 7:15pm.

6:45 - 7:15:  Grade One Parents meet in the gym with Dr. Bilsborough, 

and then proceed to classrooms to meet with Grade One teachers until 8:00pm.

Here are a few highlights of some of the things we have been working on these first few days of school. 

Our Word Wall is underway...

Our Museum of Fine Works has begun thanks to inspiration from the book, 

Taking a Bath with the Dog and Other Things that Make Me Happy, by Scott Menchin...

Many of our Daily Routines for the year are up and running...  with lots more to come!

Stay tuned for lots more information in the coming days!

A warm welcome...!

Greetings from the Memorial School!  This is the first of many informational updates.  Please continue to stay tuned for lots more information as our year gets underway.  

Many children wonder about the kinds of things they need to bring with them on the first day of school.  To start, a small snack (including a drink) for the morning and a backpack are “must-have” items each day.  

With the help of the lunch staff, we will spend time getting the children accustomed to (or reacquainted with) the daily lunch routine  -  how to line up, where to sit, what kinds of food they can buy, and how to go about paying for it.  For those of you new to the lunch program, the cost is $2.75 to purchase school lunch, which includes milk or water.  Milk/water can also be purchased separately for $.50.  If your child is paying with cash, he/she will need a change purse of some kind (even a ziploc bag), labeled with his/her name on it, to keep the money safe and in one place.  Our class will have recess at 12:15 each day, followed by lunch at 12:40.

If you would like to make the lunch buying process easier, you can sign up for the online payment system My School Bucks to prepay.  Information for the My School Bucks program can be found on the district website under the Food Services tab or right here: MySchoolBucks

Our classroom schedule for the year will vary slightly from day to day.  The children will, however, have special instruction in specific areas on a set schedule as outlined below.


Monday                     Physical Education
Tuesday                    Physical Education
Wednesday               Music
Thursday                   Library / Health (alternating weeks)
Friday                        Art

The first few days of first grade will be full of many new and exciting things to learn.  We will work together to make sure everyone settles in, knows where things are and what our days will be like.  I will help the children find their seats, coat hooks, cubbies and mailboxes.  We will take lots of time to adjust to our new room, schedule, friends and activities.  Our classroom is in Room 10.  When children come off the buses on the first day of school they will simply walk straight down the hall in front of them where they will find me in the last classroom on the right.  There will be lots of adults helping to direct children the first few mornings so that everyone finds their way.  No worries!

Enjoy these last days of summer.  I hope you’re as excited as I am about connecting with old friends, meeting new pals, and taking part in all the amazing learning we will do!  I look forward to seeing everyone on August 29th!  Yay!

Mrs. Ravinski

Summer Update

These summer days are surely whizzing along.  I'm hoping everyone is enjoying lots of time with friends and family, doing many of the things they love!

I'm already thinking about plans for Room 10 and look forward to seeing my new crew of first graders very soon.  

Stay tuned for lots more information as we get closer to the end of August.  Stay cool!