Welcome!

Greetings from the Memorial School!  I am writing to welcome you to our classroom and provide some initial information to help get us started this year.

This is the first of many informational posts.  Please 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.  You should have already received information detailing the supplies that each first grader should bring at the start of school.  These supplies will be used as needed by everyone. 

The first grade teachers will eat lunch with the students on the first day of school.  With the help of the lunch staff, we will spend time getting the children accustomed to this 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 $2.35 to purchase school lunch, which includes milk or water.  Milk can also be purchased separately for $.50.  Your child 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.  I will ask the children to bring their money to me on the days they are buying lunch.  I will have a designated bin in the classroom to store the money and will pass it out to them when it is lunch time.  Our class will have lunch at 12:15 each day, followed by recess.

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                     Music

Wednesday              Physical Education

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.  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 to meet and learn about the many friends we’ll make together in first grade.  I look forward to seeing you all on August 27!

Mrs. Ravinski

2013-2014 Wrap Up

Well, my first graders and I wrapped up our school year yesterday.  It was a bittersweet ending as we cleaned up the room, packed up the last of their work, harvested 130 more peas (yay!) and gathered together for one more class meeting.  Each year I try to spend the last few moments going around and telling each of my students the ways in which they have grown, matured and learned.  Each child loved when it was his or her turn to hear what I had to say, and I was so pleased to be able to celebrate each and every one of them in unique and special ways.

Please stop by the garden anytime.  For those who are helping out this summer, the hose is on the back side of the garden.  The children know what to do to water and where to dispose of weeds.  Please, please, please eat whatever is ready.  There will likely be more peas this week and next so don't let them go by.  There is lettuce ready too so plan for a salad one day.  As plants go to seed, or aren't viable anymore, please don't be shy about pulling them up.  The garden tends to wind down a bit when we aren't all here to keep up on it, but enjoy whatever you can from it.  It's yours!

Many thanks to all the children and families for my year end gift.  It will be put to good use this summer.  I especially love the cards and other thoughtful gifts I received from parents and children alike.  While we were all excited to say hello to summer yesterday, there were also many tugs at our hearts as we said good-bye.  I was blessed with a very dear class this year for sure!

Best wishes for a wonderfully fun and relaxing summer.  All the best to you!

Kathy Ravinski

Salad Salad! One and all!

Well, what an afternoon we had!  It was a beautiful day last Friday for our harvest of lettuce, spinach, arugula (rocket), peas and MORE radishes.  The children worked in their garden teams to help pick what we needed for our salad celebration.  I commend every child for trying the salad and was delighted to see so many enjoy it.  There were definitely many "thumbs up" and "love it" responses.  I tempted them, of course, with my honey balsamic dressing (made a tad extra sweet for my young gardeners)!

My thanks to Nell Saab, Jen Menard and Teri Keene for helping us wash, chop and serve.  Many hands made light work.  We were pleased to have a visit from Dr. Marsden and Dr. Quigley, as well as our district wellness coordinator Mrs. Cowell (who helped take some pics - thank you!).  

I hope your first grader was able to share a bit about our very fun afternoon.  They've worked hard all spring and were so excited to reap what they sowed!  As one of my first graders said, "Well, it tastes so much better when you harvest it yourself!"  Success!

The Beeman Pays A Visit

Last week, we spent a very fun hour with our own personal Beeman, Mr. Ravinski.  The children were able to share all that they've learned with him (it was quite impressive I must admit!), and he shared a number of cool beekeeping tools and more fun facts, as well as bringing along a few worker bees from one of our hives.  Everyone got to try on the bee suit, observe the bees, work the smoker and use a small extractor.  The pictures tell the story best.  Enjoy!

Year End Open House Fun!

Many thanks to all the family members and friends who visited Room 10 this morning to celebrate all the wonderful work my first graders have done this year.  The children and I had a fabulous time showing you our reading, writing, math, science and art projects.  The garden, as always, has been a motivating and exciting project for all to share in.  

Also, my thanks goes out to all the families who helped provide breakfast treats this morning.  It felt a little like Whoville after my little friends nibbled on all the breakfast treats.  Only crumbs were left!  Thank you!

The link to our sure-to-be-famous bee movie can be found below.  The children worked so hard on this project.  I hope you enjoyed viewing it as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Stay tuned (fingers crossed) for news of our upcoming salad harvest day!  Happy weekend, everyone!

Ravinski Honeybee Movie 2014