Today began the end of school.

We often talk in parent-teacher conferences how times of transitions are difficult for young children. Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret. Ms. Purdin struggles with transitions too. I don’t like them. That old cliche – change is hard – is really true. Especially in a profession like this.

When you work closely with a group of students, learn what makes each happy or sad, and what each has faced to find success, it can be difficult to let them go. Yesterday, I counted how many school days we have left. I now have a little picture of me pushing back a door ready to open that says, “First Grade” running through my head. Time goes quickly during these last few weeks!

So today, when one of our Kindergarten friends looked up at me before our “Run-A-Mile” event, and asked, “Ms. Purdin, Aren’t you coming with us?” I had to say yes! How can I not take every opportunity to make memories, enjoy these incredible individuals and rejoice in our hard work that we have accomplished this year.

As the starting whistle blew, the class raced ahead of their teacher and blew her away in the wake of their efforts.

Just the way it should be.

Always,
Ms. Purdin 🙂

Share this:

We started a day today with a poem. A poem I got from a Kid President post. I loved it so much I have decided to keep in my wallet as a daily reminder to myself of the power one person can have. I had the children repeat each line after me. Enjoy. I promise to blog more over the weekend. I’m on a deadline tonight! 🙂

Written by Brad Montague – reprinted with permission from Kid President.

Share this:

This week happens to be Children’s Book Week (May 4-10, 2015) and we are celebrating by continuing our author study of Mo Willems. I hope your child has shared with you at home that we have been reading his Knuffle Bunny series. THE KIDS LOVE THEM! Ms. Purdin can barely get through a reading without excited hands and voices wanting to explain, predict, connect, share and question all that is going on in these books! They are relatable, fun and insightful about a child’s perspective on the world…no wonder our little friends are so engaged in reading what happens next!

We have also been having some introductory literature circles. Last week, we broke up into small groups to look at books. Each group got many different kinds of books to look through. We talked about what books we liked and why. The kids could have done this activity all afternoon! They were excited talking about literature! (NOTE to Parents: Get a library card this summer if you don’t already have one!)

We have also been learning how good readers need to summarize, question, clarify and predict when they are reading. We are doing this with lots of guided practice and today during literacy centers, I worked with small groups to have a literature circle about the book, Knuffle Bunny, Too. To make this concept easier and more fun for our young learners, I have headbands they wear when they are “Sammy the Summarizer,” “Quentin The Questioner,” “Clara the Clarifier,” and “Paula the Predictor.” (Pictured on left.)

Enjoy the wonderful Spring Weather!

Ms. Purdin

Share this: