We're Moving!!!

Hi everyone! I hope your summer has been as fantastic as mine has. As always, I hate for it to come to an end BUT I am so excited to get into the new school and prepare for a great school year! Please be sure to come by and visit me in Room 111...to be precise, looking at the building, I am in the same spot I have been in...easy to find me :)

On another note, all of us 1st grade teachers have decided to do a grade level blog so I will not be updating this one anymore.
Be sure to check it out and follow us out @ http://memorialfirstgrade.blogspot.com

I have had requests for pictures from my wedding...here you go (courtesy of Amber Shomo @ Forevercandid Photography):

My closest friends and me.

Mr. & Mrs. Panagiotopoulos!!!

See you soon!!
Mrs. Panagiotopoulos

Last Post

Hi everyone,

I hope you are enjoying the summer. I know I am! The weather's been great and I've been able to spend a lot of time with my family and friends.
I wanted to make a last post as Ms. Grigway. My wedding is on Saturday and I will become
Mrs. Panagiotopoulos (or Mrs. Panag for short). We are heading to Aruba for our honeymoon and I can't wait!! Stay tuned for a few requested pictures from the wedding.

In the meantime, you can check out a blog by Mrs. Weinberg--she's in India with Mrs. Olshaw and Mrs. Jones and blogging about their experiences. Here's the link:
www.memorialinindia.blogspot.com

Namaste,
Ms. Grigway :)

Fun Free Friday Activities!!

Found out about this great opportunity for free admission to many places on Fridays throughout the summer :)

http://www.highlandstreet.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79

The End

Here's to another end of another school year. It has been such a great pleasure teaching all of your children and working with you this school year. It's always such a bitter-sweet emotion--exciting to start summer vacation but sad and nerve-wracking to leave your comfort zone and start anew. Here are some pics from game day yesterday--turned out to be fantastic :)

Be sure to check the blog in late July for some requested wedding pics and look for me next year as Mrs. Panagiotopoulos.

Have a wonderful summer everyone!

Special Guest

Today we were lucky enough to have Colin's dad come visit us and tell us about his job as a U.S. Federal Marshal. We had a lot of fun! The students got sworn in as Junior Deputy U.S. Marshals











Here's one more I thought the kids might enjoy :)

Final Reading Groups

For our final Reading Group work, Ms. Johnson and I split all of the students into 3 groups. Each group chose a play to present. They picked their characters, created props, and really worked as teams to practice and put on a great show for their classmates. They all worked so hard and were very excited! I've never done this to this extent before and will be sure to make it a staple in my teaching. We had SO much fun putting these together. Below are the videos.
Enjoy :)

MIGHTY MAX

Here is the address for the boy Max the class wrote letters to.
His wish for the Make a Wish Foundation is only to receive 1 million letters.

Mighty Max Low
PO BOX 111
Neola, IA 51559
USA

Author's Share

I can hardly believe the end of the year is closing in on us. It's always a bitter sweet time of year. As a teacher, I always look forward to the beginning if the year with fresh ideas and goals of self improvement. However, the end of the year is such an amazing time to see how much my students have grown and learned and I always want to continue to help them flourish.
Our Authors' Share this year was amazing. The students were so proud of their work and excited to share it. Below are some pictures of the practice run with our 4th grade partners as well as pictures and video of the big day.
Enjoy and I hope you had as much fun and were as impressed as I was :)

Tide Pool Field Trip

Our field trip to the tide pools was a blast! The weather was perfect. We found some great sea creatures and learned a lot about ocean life.

In case you are unaware, this was Mr. Papadonis' last tide pool field trip with Memorial School due to him retiring in a few weeks! We will miss him dearly but we are very lucky to gain Ms. Pavlecik as the new Science Center Director. We wish you both the best in your new endeavors!
Thank you for ALL YOU DO and HAVE DONE!!

Planting Cucumbers & Rainforest Animals

We have been so busy in the 1st grade!
As you know, the students planted cucumber seeds and brought them home so you can plant them outside and enjoy yummy cukes this summer.

The rainforest projects came out fantastic!
Enjoy the pictures of both :)

Have you filled out a CORI form, yet?

We are going on our final field trip May 24th to the Marblehead Neck tidepools. We are able to take any parent who wants to come...however, you need to have filled out a CORI and it must come back clean before we can allow you to come. So, if you want to come with us, get to the high school ASAP as the process takes 2-3 weeks.

T-Shirt Time

Every year, the 1st graders attend a field trip to the tide pools in Marblehead, MA. Before the big trip, we tie dye t-shirts to wear that day as a memento. We are asking everyone to send in a plain white t-shirt to decorate: it does not need to be brand new. Please write your child's name or initials on the tag. These are due by Friday, May 13th.

Thank you!

Penguin Pictures

I found this link to some penguin photos from around the world on boston.com.

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/green/gallery/042411naturalworld/?p1=Bottom_Inside_links

Rainforest Project

As you know, we have started learning about the rainforest. We have all ready had some amazing conversations about the different products we get from them, the animals that live there, and how they are being destroyed and what we can do to protect them (reduce, reuse, recycle).
Our final home project is to write a report and create a model of the animal your child chose to research. The majority of the information of the research has been done in school. The project is due on Friday May 6th. I can't wait to see how they turn out!
Please remember, the project needs to be completed by the student with some help from an adult.

Have fun!

More Fun!

Click on post a sticky to write a post about your vacation.

Glogster

Took a workshop on a new way to help keep students and parents engaged in what's being taught in the classroom. This was from me learning how to embed it into my blog. Hope to incorporate it into next year's class :)

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Today is Dr. Seuss' birthday. We had some special readers come from the high school.

Reminders

Just a few reminders for after the vacation week:
An item for our book basket for the wine tasting/Memorial fundraiser is due on Monday the 28th and the Penguin Project is due Tuesday March 1st.
I can't wait to see all of the hard work the students did come together!!
I hope you all enjoy the week :)

New School Visit

Yesterday afternoon, some of us got the opportunity to visit the new school! It was very exciting :)
Here are some pictures from our visit.

Ms. Grigway & Ms. Huebner

First Grade Classroom

Other side of First Grade Classroom

The Lovely Mrs. Burnham

Mrs. Warrino from the LABBB k-2 Classroom

Hip-Hip Hooray! It's our 100th school day!

Today was our 100th day of school which means my students are 100 days smarter :)
Their bottle projects came out great. We had a lot of fun guessing and sharing what was inside of them today during math. Throughout the week, the students will also be working on a list of 100 words they can write.

Happy 100th day of school!