A great School Visit!

Dear Class 1 SW:

Today I got up early and drove out to Far Hills Country Day School with Mrs. Ogden. We visited the lower school, and I spent a lot of time in a first grade classroom and the reading specialists room. I also visited their science and Spanish classroom. Did you know that they have science class IN SPANISH??? Isn't that cool? They even had a poster of penguins in Spanish!!! I learned lots of new things, and am excited about coming back and showing some of them to you.

The first thing I did was go to their morning meeting, but they call it a community meeting. It was the first grade class I was visiting who did the presentation. They did it on the book The Gingerbread Boy, and read it for the whole Lower school. It was very good and they did a terrific job reading aloud in big, strong voices.

Then I went back to the classroom with them and saw their morning routines. They are very similar to ours - they have someone who does the calendar, the weather and the number of days they have been in school.But, they have a special greeting that they do each day and I am going to show it to you on Monday.

I looked in their cubbies and guess what I saw? They have the book Words I Use When I Write! They were excited to know that you guys had them too. They have all their classmates names in them and lots of Spanish words too!

The classroom I visited was called 1 S and they wanted to know what you guys were studying. When I told them Antarctica, they were very, very excited and wished they were learning about all that happens on the frozen continent! They also wanted to know what book I was reading aloud to you and I told them The Many Adventures of Pengey the Penguin. They are going to read Mr. Popper's Penguins, which is another book I will read you. So, we do have lots of things in common!

I will post pictures from my visit very soon. I have to make Lloyd some dinner now, because he is hungry, so I will post them afterwards.

Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday! If you check the blog tomorrow I will post the answer to the poll. I hope everyone had a chance to vote!

Love,
Ms. Smith-Willis

Hello Sophie!

Dear Sophie,

I missed you all too, and I am glad to be back. I am looking forward to all the fun penguin things we are going to be doing in the next few weeks! Next week I will let you guys pick penguin names out of the bucket and then you will begin doing your research projects. It should be an exciting week! I also can't wait to find out what happens in The Many Adventures of Pengey the Penguin!

Glad you had a chance to vote on the poll... I'll post the answer very, soon...

See you Monday!
Love,
Ms. SW

Hurray for being back!

We missed you very, very much. I'm going to make eight pictures of penguins, all different kinds.

Love, Sophie

Snacks in MY BIG CHAIR???

Dear Dorothea,

I am glad you had a chance to have a snack in my chair. If there are any crumbs in there on Monday, I'll have to put you to work with a broom and dustpan! Just kidding... I am glad you all finished the penguins and the researchers. We will make sure everything is up and ready for open house on Wednesday! Lots of visitors will be there checking us out!

Have a terrific weekend and I will see you on Monday! I have posted a few more pictures.

Love,
Ms. SW

Hi Andrew!!

Hey, guess what???

I am on my way home! My suitcase is packed and under the bus in the luggage compartment. The only thing I am keeping with me up top is my laptop because I can play Diner Dash, blog and eat my poptart on the way home!!

We have had a great time. I love Boston! We had fun at their aquarium and I can't wait to come back and see it. A school was there visiting when we went and we had to rush through because it was closing at 5 pm and we didn't get there until 4pm. Then, there were TONS of kids there with their class!! It was crowded and I didn't get to see everything. Oh well, maybe next time!

I'm feeling a little sleepy so I am going to sign off, listen to my iPod for a bit and then take a nap. More later... I will add some new pictures for you to see from the aquarium and from the convention.

See you on Monday!
Love,
Ms. SW

A terrific Day THREE!!!

Dear 1 SW:

We have had another really fantastic day listening to speakers and doing a student/ teacher workshop with all the kids from the state of NJ. The students led us in a great diversity workshop that made us think about our interactions with students and how we can better support them on this journey.

We also had a chance to meet lots of new people who teach right here in our great state of NJ!! I met some nice people from the Dwight-Engelwood School, The Hun School, Princeton Day School and Gill St. Bernards. Our upper school students also met lots of new friends from these schools as well.

It has gotten really cold here in Boston... we even heard something about SNOW??? We are all hoping for a snowday at home! Let's see what falls from the sky on Sunday night! Remember to bring you boots if something white and fluffy is on the ground on Monday!

Now, we are on the bus and heading home! We're really, really tired, but inspired and excited to come back to our schools. I miss everyone and look forward to seeing you on Monday!

Love,
Ms. SW

Hope you come back soon

Hi Ms. Smith-Willis:

I hope you had a good time in Boston. My aunt Susie lives there. She used to be a teacher too. I hope you come back soon.


From,
Andrew