Courtney’s Class Overview – September 2014

Themes of the week
(in addition to Montessori Work Time)

8/26 and 9/2: Ground Rules

  • Learning to greet others.
  • Learning to have conservations.
  • Learning to speak to others.
  • Learning to listen to others.
  • Learning to respond to others.
  • Learning to say please and thank you to others.
  • Learning to observe others.
  • Learning to respectfully interrupt.
  • Learning from others.
  • Learning to open door for someone else.
  • Learning to recognize situations in which to help others.
  • Passing in front of another respectfully.
  • Learning how to say excuse me.

9/8: Community Helpers

  • The students will learn about police officers, fire fighters, mail carriers, soldiers, bakers, farmers, doctors, and teachers throughout the week. They will not only learn about these community helpers; they will also be able to explain in detail why each one is very important to our lives.

9/15: My Family

  • The students will illustrate a picture of their family.
  • The students will have a discussion on the importance of families to each of us and the students will be able to identify one reason why their family is important to them.
  • Create a family tree together (Due Friday September 12th)

9/22: Feelings/Emotions

  • The students learn how to identify, handle, and understand the things they may feel and how to act about them.

Letters of the week

9/8: Aa
9/15: Bb
9/22: Cc

Sight word of the week

9/8: the
9/15: of
9/22: an

Things to do at home this month to reinforce our themes:

  • Try to find objects that begin with the letter of the week wherever you go with your child.
  • Encourage grace and courtesy when you see your child displaying it to another or you.
  • Talk about the importance of 911 and when you should call and practice dialing it.
  • Practice dialing your telephone number with your child.
  • Start a family tradition by setting a night a week aside for a family movie or game night.
  • If your child displays an emotion they are unfamiliar with talk about it and how to handle it together.

Mr. John’s Classroom Overview – September 2014

Themes of the Week
(in addition to Montessori Work time)

8/25‐9/05 Ground Rules / Introduction of Materials

  • Ringing of the bell, circle walk, line time
  • Process of working with a materials, rolling mats, carrying trays & work areas
  • Respecting teachers, classmates and the materials
  • Daily demonstration of materials from all areas of the classroom

9/08: Healthy Habits

  • The importance of washing hands, bathing, brushing teeth (eliminate germs, prevent cavities)
  • The importance of sleep. Why we need sleep & sleep cycle
  • The importance of exercise (walking, running, swimming, etc)
  • The importance of eating well (“grow foods”)
  • Preschool lesson– Friendship

9/15: Food Groups

  • Eating Healthy, Moderation
  • Focus on the different food groups, sorting foods belonging in each
  • Servings and examples of each
  • Preschool lesson‐Apples

9/22: Living / Non Living

  • Living things (grow, reproduce, obtain and use energy, exchange gases) adapt to their environment
  • Non Living things, examples
  • Categorization of Living and Non Living
  • Preschool Lesson– Family

09/29: Mammals

  • Introduction to mammals, examples of mammals
  • All mammals have hair, warm blooded, eat mother’s milk
  • All mammals are vertebrates (spine), lungs to breathe, born alive
  • Bats are the ONLY mammal that can fly
  • Preschool Lesson– The season of Autumn/Fall

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.

8/25: Aa
9/01: Bb
9/08: Cc
9/15: Dd
9/22: Ee
9/29: Ff

Rhyming Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

8/25: BAT, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, sat
9/01: BAN, can, dan, fan, man, pan, tan
9/08: BAP, map, cap, gap, lap, nap, sap
9/15: BAG, sag, jag, lag, nag, tag, rag wag
9/22: BAD, dad, fad, had, lad, mad, sad
9/29: BIG, dig, fig, jig, pig, rig, wig

Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:

  • Make a collage with pictures and objects that start with the letters of the week.
  • While eating together, categorize your meal into food groups with your child.
  • Follow this link to find a worksheet to complete together for living and non living things. (Circle the living things and color together)
  • Read a book about your child’s favorite mammal together!

Kristen’s Class Overview – September 2014

Themes of the Week
(in addition to Individual Montessori Work time)

08/25: Grace and Courtesy / Ground Rules

  • Learning Control of Movement-Rolling A Rug, Carrying A Tray, and Carrying A Chair.
  • Learning Grace And Courtesy- How to Introduce Yourself, How To Say Please And Thank You, How To Interrupt Another.
  • Learning classroom rules.
  • Discussing what it means to be kind to others and what are “kind words”.
  • Making a “Kind Words Chain” in pre-school lesson.

9/1: Grace And Courtesy/Ground Rules

  • Reading the book, “The Bear That Was Chicken” and discussing with the children how they felt before coming to school and how they feel now about school.
  • Lessons on saying “Excuse Me”, “I’m Sorry”, and “Thank You”.
  • Singing songs and playing game to review what we’ve learned about classroom rules and manners.
  • Having the children write our classroom rules and display them in the classroom.
  • Read the book “There’s A Bird On Your Head”. Discuss how to speak to someone when we’re frustrated.

9/8: All About Me

  • “ Who’s Baby Picture Is This?” guessing game. (Be sure to send in a baby picture of your child with them this week.)
  • Discussing what makes each of us special: hair color, eye color, likes and dislikes, our birthdays, our names, our emotions, etc.
  • Graphing our differences such as hair and eye color.
  • Practicing saying our full names.
  • Learning our birth dates.

9/15 All About Apples

  • Read the story “Little Bear’s Star”- Story about an apple.
  • Sorting apples by size and color.
  • Learning the fractions of one whole and one half using an apple.
  • Taste testing different color apples and making a graph, as a class, of our favorites.
  • Learning the Apple Life Cycle.

9/22 All About Fall

  • Discuss differences between Summer and Fall.
  • Go on a nature walk outside to find leaves.
  • Painting with leaves.
  • Learning the parts of the leaf.
  • Learning Robert Frost poem about Fall.

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.

8/25: Aa
9/1: Cc
9/8: Rr
9/15: Tt
9/25: Review Of All Four Letters

Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

8/25: at
9/1: cat
9/8: rat
9/15: tap
9/25: Review All Four Sight Words

Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:

  • While reading a book have your child point to all of the letter of the week she/he can find. Have them do this with the sight words as well. Play I-Spy using things that only start with the letter of the week.
  • Go on a walk as a family. As Fall comes, point out the differences you see in nature, now that the weather is changing.
  • While reading to your child, point out the sight words they are learning this month.
  • Find a fun apple recipe to try as a family. Let your child practicing measuring the ingredients, assemble the ingredients, etc. Discuss with your child the other things that can be made with apples

Kate’s Class Overview – September 2014

Themes of the Week
(in addition to Montessori Work time)

8/26‐
09/06 Rules of the Classroom/Respect

  • We respect each other
  • We try our best/we learn from our mistakes
  • We are a team/we celebrate each other’s success
  • Tour of the classroom and introductions of materials
  • Using the words “please, thank you, excuse me, I’m sorry.” Write a class poem to emphasize the use of polite words.
  • Create a kindness quilt to help students think about and how to show acts of kindness.

Preschool Lesson: Craft and Activities to reinforce the Letter A sound. ASL sign for A.Role modeling and practicing classroom rules and safety

9/09: Friendship

  • Work on social skills/ how to develop friendship
  • What are good qualities in a friend?
  • How do friends build community?
  • Create together a class web of friendship words

Preschool Lesson (afternoon): Craft and activities to reinforce the letter B sound. ASL sign for B. Learning about friendship and kindness

9/16: All About Me!

  • Our similarities and differences
  • I’m special because…
  • Our Birthdays
  • Identifying our emotions
  • Starting on Monday Ms. Kate will be sending home a paper bag with each of your children. Please have your child decorate their bag and fill it with three of their favorite things. Please bring back on Friday.

Preschool Lesson (afternoon): Craft and activities to reinforce the letter C. ASL sign for C. What is a family, learning about our families

9/23: Family

  • What is a family
  • Graphing our families/ family celebrations
  • Create a family tree together (Due Friday 9/27/13) 


Preschool Lesson: Craft and activities to reinforce the letter D. ASL sign for D. Pumpkin themed crafts and activities

Letters of the Week: Try to find objects that begin with each letter wherever you go with your child.

8/26: Aa

9/03: Bb

9/09: Cc 

9/16: Dd
9/23: Ee 


Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

8/26: the

9/03: to

9/09: are 

9/16: and
9/23: we 


Things to do at Home this Month to reinforce our themes:

  • While reading a book have your child point to all of the A’s she/he can find. Have them do this with the sight word “the.” Play I‐Spy using things that only start with the letter A.
  • Make a collage with pictures and objects that start with the letter B.
  • Place words around the house and see if your child can find the word “to.” When your child has gathered all of his/her “to” 
cards count together how many cards they have found.
  • Make a kindness jar. Each day pick an act of kindness out of the jar and act on it:)
  • You and your child write a special letter to a friend.

Academic Enrichment Overview for Cuyahoga Falls – September 2014

Our Academic Enrichment time is daily from 12:00-1:00pm.  This time is specifically designed for our Kindergarten students to join together as a group to work and progress through the advanced materials and lessons in the Montessori primary curriculum. Throughout the school day in their classroom they are still working individually with their classroom teacher on these and other materials at their level.

8/25: Continent globe & map

  • Intro to globe & maps
  • Characteristics of globe & maps
  • Identify Continents
  • Review of three countries in each Continent and fun facts!

9/01: Directions

  • Recap of Continents/Review of three countries in each Continent and fun facts!
  • North, South, East & West
  • Work on the directions using Continent Map

9/08: Hemisphere / Equator

  • What are hemispheres? North/South/East/West hemispheres
  • What is the equator? Location of equator

9/15: Bodies of water surrounding North America

  • Review Hemispheres/ Equator
  • Hudson Bay (N)
  • Atlantic Ocean (E)
  • Gulf of Mexico (S)
  • Pacific Ocean (W)

9/22: Ohio and surrounding States

  • Ohio (location, characteristics, facts, abbreviation, flower, tree, mammal, fossil, flag)
  • Pennsylvania (nickname, abbreviation) Kentucky (nickname, abbreviation)
  • West Virginia (nickname, abbreviation) Indiana (nickname, abbreviation) Michigan (nickname, abbreviation)

Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
8/26: go, has
9/01: will, him
9/08: up, so
9/16: see, her
9/22: are, was

Synonyms of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
8/25: FUN, amusing, entertaining, enjoyable, merry, pleasant
9/01: FAST, hurried, speedy, brisk, quick, swift,
9/08: SAD, miserable, gloomy, depressing, downtrodden, glum, unhappy
9/15: SLOW, unhurried, gradual, sluggish, stagnant, lethargic
9/22: BORING, drab, dull, lifeless, mundane, monotonous

Things to do at Home this Month:
Mr. John will be sending homework home to reinforce these lessons. Please turn homework into the orange box outside of Mr. John’s classroom. Please email him if you have any questions: jkotradi@thesmarterkids.com.


Academic Enrichment Overview for Tallmadge – September 2014

Our Academic Enrichment time is daily from 12:00-1:00pm.  This time is specifically designed for our Kindergarten students to join together as a group to work and progress through the advanced materials and lessons in the Montessori primary curriculum.  Throughout the school day in their classroom they are still working individually with their classroom teacher on these and other materials at their level.

8/25: Continent globe & map

  • Intro to globe & maps
  • Characteristics of globe & maps
  • Identify Continents
  • Review of three countries in each Continent and fun facts!

9/01: Directions

  • Recap of Continents/Review of three countries in each Continent and fun facts!
  • North, South, East & West
  • Work on the directions using Continent Map

9/08: Hemisphere / Equator

  • What are hemispheres? North/South/East/West hemispheres
  • What is the equator? Location of equator

9/15: Bodies of water surrounding North America

  • Review Hemispheres/ Equator
  • Hudson Bay (N)
  • Atlantic Ocean (E)
  • Gulf of Mexico (S)
  • Pacific Ocean (W)

9/22: Ohio and surrounding States

  • Ohio (location, characteristics, facts, abbreviation, flower, tree, mammal, fossil, flag)
  • Pennsylvania (nickname, abbreviation) Kentucky (nickname, abbreviation)
  • West Virginia (nickname, abbreviation) Indiana (nickname, abbreviation) Michigan (nickname, abbreviation)

Sight Words of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.
8/26: go, has
9/01: will, him
9/08: up, so
9/16: see, her
9/22: are, was

Synonyms of the Week: Try to find each word in books as you read to your child.

8/25: FUN, amusing, entertaining, enjoyable, merry, pleasant
9/01: FAST, hurried, speedy, brisk, quick, swift,
9/08: SAD, miserable, gloomy, depressing, downtrodden, glum, unhappy
9/15: SLOW, unhurried, gradual, sluggish, stagnant, lethargic
9/22: BORING, drab, dull, lifeless, mundane, monotonous

Things to do at Home this Month:
Ms. Courtney will be sending homework home to reinforce these lessons. Please email her if you have any questions: cowens@thesmarterkids.com.


Courtney’s Corner – May 2014

Tallmadge School

We started off May talking about the Solar System. The children learned the positions of the planets and their relative sizes and distances. They had a blast using 3D models of the sun and planets to place in order. We talked about how the sun is the biggest star and why it is so important. We also made constellations with toothpicks and marshmallows. is solely dedicated to helping you.
We discussed the different phases of the moon and made them using chalk and construction paper. On Friday for science, we made moon sand and the children had so much fun playing with it!

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The second week of May we talked about dinosaurs and what their habitat was like then the children made their own habitat using sand, rocks, plastic plants, toy dinosaurs, clay, and dirt. They learned different physical attributes of dinosaurs and their names. The children demonstrated an understanding of herbivores, omnivores and carnivores. We also dug out tyrannosaurus rex fossils and put the pieces together. For science we exploded the volcano, the children put in the habitat earlier in the week, using baking soda and vinegar.

The third week of May we talked about transportation. The children quickly developed an understanding that transportation means to carry things from one place to another. We named all the different methods of transportation like plane, car, boat, bike, horse, train, bus, subway, helicopter, etc. Students learned safety rules for all methods of transportation and practiced crossing a fake street setup in the classroom. We placed a car at the top of a ramp and asked the children how far it will go. We recorded their answers with tape with each child’s name on it. We did this on the carpet first together then they switched to a smooth surface and tried it with their friends by making their own ramps and using different cars similar to the real cars adults use, and they also learn about the automotive services can be found online at sites like http://www.atloceanside.com.

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The children really enjoyed the last week of May when we talked about sports. The children used their gross motor skills to march, skip, gallop, etc. They learned how to engage in imaginative and creative play indoors and outdoors involving their friends. We played many games that involved team effort and good sportsmanship. We also made balloon powered cars for science this week using balloons, straws, tape, and toy cars, we also got some help on PCH.

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The first week of June we focused on summer games, activities, and experiments the children could do at home. We froze different color ice cubes for the children to put together in a glass and observe as the ice melts to make a new color. We also discussed summer safety rules while playing outside and playing with or in water. The children learned how to make homemade ice cream and enjoyed the tasty treat together!

I hope everyone has a fabulous summer and I can’t wait to see all the smiling faces in the fall!


Kristen’s Corner – May 2014

Cuyahoga Falls School

This last month of school was busy and productive in our classroom! During the first week, we learned about fish and other creatures of the ocean. We started off the week by learning the parts of the fish during morning circle time. We then discussed the characteristics of fish. We learned that fish breathe through their gills and breathe oxygen from the water. We also learned that fish have scales, and fins to help them swim. During preschool lesson, Ms. Kim continued the discussion by teaching the children the names of all five oceans. The children also enjoyed learning about sharks, turtles, and octopuses. We learned that a shark’s entire body is made up of cartilage, just like the cartilage that is in our ears! The children also made a fun jellyfish craft with Ms. Kim during preschool! 1199 In week two, we learned about Community Helpers. We learned that a Community Helper is someone who has a job helping others, such as a doctor, a fireman, a police man, a teacher, or a mailman. We also learned that our moms and dads are community helpers in our homes because they love and take care of us. We also learned ways we can be a community helper in our homes and communities as well. We learned that by simply helping mom and dad with household chores, keeping our rooms clean, helping little brothers or sisters, etc. can help our family in a big way! 1201 Students also enjoyed making a fireman’s hat craft, and police badge craft, and a doctor bag craft with Ms. Kim in preschool. We also had fun singing songs about firemen and policemen during circle time. It was so much fun! During the third week, we studied mammals. We discussed the characteristics of mammals. We discovered that mammals have hair or fur on their bodies, that they breathe oxygen from the air around them, that they give birth to their young, that they feed their young with milk from their body, and that they are warm blooded. 1197 The children also enjoyed learning the parts of the horse, and reading the book, “It Could Sill Be A Mammal” during circle time. We also learned about Lions and Grizzly Bears. We learned that Grizzly Bears live in dens, and that the female Lion is actually in charge of hunting for food. The children also enjoyed making a Lion and Grizzly Bear craft with Ms. Kim during preschool! In week four, we learned about reptiles and amphibians. We learned that a reptile has scales or scutes on their body, they lay eggs, and they leave their young once they are born. The children enjoyed learning about lizards and snakes, and even about Komodo dragons! We learned that the Komodo dragons bite is poisonous, and that Komodo dragon will even eat people! Luckily they live in Indonesia! The children also enjoyed learning about frogs and their characteristics and life cycle. They also enjoyed making a frog craft with Ms. Kim during preschool. 1200 During week five, we learned about summer safety. We learned about safety when riding in our car, safety in our home, when riding our bikes, at the pool, which need to be clean with a cleaning service from http://cortspools.com. We also learned how to dial 911 if there is ever an emergency. Ms. Kim also used the story of Little Red Riding Hood to illustrate to the children why we should not talk to strangers. I would encourage you this summer to take time with your child and practice their letter sounds with them. Even playing simple games such as “I Spy” will help with this. I also encourage you to make a trip to the library to find books on subjects that interest your child. Reading with your child will instill in them a love for reading as well! I have enjoyed this year immensely! I hope your children did as well! It is my privilege and honor to be their teacher!


John’s Corner – May 2014

Cuyahoga Falls School

We started May with food chains, yum yum eat ’em up……we went over 2, 3, 4, 5 part food chains. We learned terms such as predator and prey, and top and bottom of the food chain.

We then went over the seasons and the typical characteristics of those seasons. Spring usually rains a lot and starts getting warmer as we leave winter. We see greener plants and leaves on the trees. Flowers also start to bloom. Summ1190er gets much warmer, flowers are in full bloom and most babies in the wild are born. As the year gets older we move into fall or autumn.
The temperature starts to get colder and leaves change colors and fall to the ground. Winter brings us very cold temperatures and snow. Many animals hibernate or go to warmer climates.

Our little astronauts explored the solar system. We learned Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, Venus is the second planet and is the hottest, Earth is very special to us, Mars is called the Red Planet, Jupiter is the largest planet, Saturn has beautiful rings, Neptune and Uranus are the furthest planets in our solar system.

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We learned about safety our last week and I STRESSED to stay by their safe side adult!!!!!!! I mentioned to the students that I told my own children “If I cannot see you…. YOU are in the wrong place!!!”

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Kindergarten
1188In kindergarten lesson we finished our work with grammar. We went over the preposition which is a ‘where’ word not a ‘where’ wolf. Interjections help a sentence show more emotions, and we went over when to use a . ? ! We then reviewed when we capitalize words in a sentence. We capitalize the beginning word of a sentence, proper nouns and “I”.

Cultural Subjects
My line time and the kindergarten class count to ten in 26 different languages (English, Sign Language, German, French, Greek, Italian, Romanian, Russian, Tagalog, Polish, Irish, Welsh, Hebrew, Arabic w/the Lebanese dialect, Japanese, Hungarian, Swedish, Swahili, Korean, Serbo-Croation, Hindi, Flemish/Dutch, Malay, Cebuano, Latin, and Hindi)!


Kate’s Corner – May 2014

Cuyahoga Falls School

May was such a busy month! Our class dove into water and learned about the sea and jumped into a space shuttle and flew into outer space. Our class also had fun learning about plant life cycles and had a blast during Grandparents Day and at our field trip to the zoo!

The first two weeks we explored the animals of the ocean. We began by defining mammals. I explained they are warm blooded and both land and sea mammals have hair on their bodies and give birth to their babies. The first mammals we discussed were the dolphin and whale. The children learned dolphins can stay under water for 15 minutes, but can’t breathe under water so they have to come up for air. The children learned they live in groups of ten to twelve and there are thirty-six different kinds of dolphins. During this discussion we talked about how the Killer Whale is the largest dolphin.

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The second group of mammals in the sea we discussed was whales. The children learned whales breathe like us and they can only stay under water for a short period of time and then they have to come up for air by using their blowhole on the top of their heads. They also learned there are two types of whales: the Baleen and the Toothed whale. The children were interested in what whales ate and how fast they can swim. Together we looked through books and found out that whales can swim up to 30 mph and that baleen whales eat krill and toothed whales eat small fish along with other small mammals. The last mammal of the sea we discussed was the Manatee. The children discovered manatees were first seen by fishermen who saw the long tails and thought they were looking at mermaids! The children also learned that they could weigh as much as 2000 lbs., and can swim up to 20 mph hour but usually cruise around the sea at 2 to 6 mph. Also, during that week the children made a Venn diagram about fish and mammals. The children did a great job with this activity. They knew that fish do not have lungs, but have gills instead. Mammals are warm-blooded and fish are not. That most mammals live on land, but fish have to stay in the water and both have a vertebrate. What smarties I have!!

1196We then focused on outer space. During this time we learned about the solar system, stars and constellations, galaxies, the eight planets, the sun and moon, the space shuttle, and the first man who walked on the moon. Wow, what a busy couple of weeks! We first stared out by creating a web of the solar system. Throughout our space lesson the children added the information they have learned onto the web. During our lesson, the children learned about the eight planets since the 9th planet is now a dwarf planet. They learned the order of the planets and interesting facts about each one. They loved learning about Jupiter and its famous hurricane like storm. They thought it was pretty cool that Mars is called the “red planet” due to the red dirt, dust and sky.

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We also learned how there are thousands of different galaxies and how the spiral shape is the most common type. The children learned about night and day. For this activity I had one child stand in the middle of the circle and pretend they were the sun. I then had another child pretend to be the earth. I explained to them that the Earth takes 365 days to orbit around the sun, but as it’s orbiting it is also rotating. The kids loved this activity!! During this time we talked about what stars are, the lunar eclipse, the different constellations, and about observatories. We then talked about Neil Armstrong and how if they went to the moon they would still see his footprint. Near the end of our outer space lesson the children learned about life in space, gravity, and astronauts. I showed a video of a launch and what it is like for astronauts up in space. The children loved it!!

We then focused on the plant life cycle. The children learned the parts of the flower, what plants need to grow, and the purpose of the stem. We also had fun placing celery stems into dyed water to show how plants drink through their veins. The children also examined inside of a lima bean and then placed the seeds into a baggie to watch them grow. They had such a great time learning about plants!

Also, during this month we celebrated Grandparents Day in our classroom. The grandparents were able to come in and join us for a special line time, Science class and then a craft. It was such a special day for the children.

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With the last two weeks remaining, the children had a blast learning about different insects. We discovered insects have six legs but spiders and other arachnids have 8 legs. The children were also able to learn the life cycle of the butterfly and find out why bees are so important to us. We also had fun discussing ladybugs and other beetles. During the last week of school the children learned about who invented ice cream, watched a video about how ice cream is made, learned all about camping, you need some implements, you will also find out which type will be best for your particular needs. Do you really need a true refrigerator or will an absorption cooler suffice? sportandoutdoorhq.com has the best camping fridges for you! Also during the last week we had an ice cream party and a mock camp out with s’mores! Wow what a week we had!

I can’t believe how fast the school year has gone by. I have truly enjoyed watching my students grow throughout the year. I will miss them so very much. Also, thank you to all of my families, for everything that you have done this year. I wish the best of luck to those families who are going to new schools and look forward to seeing everyone else next school year! Have a great summer!!!