I survived another Open House.  I tell you what.....you can put me in front of 500 children, tell me I am in charge of sharing information and I am fine. I must admit that adults make me nervous- especially parents.  It is the same with singing in front of a crowd at church. I am fine until it is just me and 25+ sets of eyes. I talk fast and hope my message is clear enough. It was nice to share my thoughts and ideas and meet the parents. I am glad they did not eat me alive.  I am excited for another great year of learning in room 115.  
I introduced the class to our new travel buddy. I was germ shamed into getting a new buddy. The last one made it through about 5-6 years.  It was time. We now have a kangaroo and joey. I also found a new backpack.  I hope families find it a fun learning experience.  Students share the adventures in a journal when their week of visits end.  I love the language and conversations it brings. The kindness and memories are a bonus.
On my mind today.....
- ugh to grading in 1st grade.....we have our first spelling test this Friday- fingers crossed that it does not make me feel like a dentist pulling teeth
- ugh to grading in 1st grade.... interim reports are due in two weeks.  
- Storm Florence has come and gone, but my mind drifts back to my  Carolina friends- praying for strength and healing and receding water
- #SLESKindness is kicking off well at school
- I found a cache of eggs out at recess- thinking they are turtle eggs, buuuuuutttt my resident herpetologist is suggesting they are snake eggs.  I may need to relocate them from the playground to not the playground- currently wondering the gestation period.
JMG

We will have our eyes on the skies this week!! Looks like some historic weather is heading our way. I pray all the families stay safe both near and far.
We are learning our rules and routines this week. We do have some diagnostic testing this week.  Students read to us, repeat and play with sounds in words (phonemic awareness), practice ABC and writing first and last names. We will practice a spelling test and dictation as well. Those will begin next week.
Our school is in the third year of our inclusive education program (MCIE)- we have a very diverse group with some coteaching and IA support.  I am looking forward to collaborative planning to see how we can best use the time and resources we have to help all students soar.
There are some sweet and kind students in my class this year. They have been loved and cared for and it shows in their kindness to others.  I cannot wait to see this grow throughout the year! 
Things on my mind:
-#SLESKindness
-hoping parents will be able to make it to Open House next week
-looking forward to reading notes about kids from parents

Welcome to a new school year! We met many students and families this past Friday at Greet your Seat.  Thank you for bringing in supplies!  We are ready to get things started and learn new things to prepare for second grade.  We will learn about positive self-image, good character and no bullying at school with a focus on our #SLESkindness initiative. We have a field trip to Cypress Swamp coming up the first part of October. We will be learning about bugs.  Part of the field trip is collecting bugs and spiders to research. If you are not a "bug person", you might want to skip this one. If you would like to come, make sure to sign up as a volunteer right away.
Things on my mind...….
- so excited for another great year in room 115
- they are installing doors for our safety in school
- looking forward to co-teaching again
​JMG

We are plugging right along in Room 115. There is a lot of learning going on. We have mastered place value and short vowels. We are moving on to advanced vowels in both reading and spelling. We are learning to look at the entire word for clues of how to sound out the words. We are also looking for words that break the laws and need to be memorized by heart.
​We have had many school fundraisers lately. We appreciate your support. We have a special fundraiser coming up this week to benefit two families in school with medical needs.  One of the students is in our class.  We hope you will like a day off of dinner duty and come join the SLES family fun.
​Good things are happening in our class. It is a very special group. We are skyping in our virtual classroom about 10 hours a week. We have found some interesting ways to share information and include all.
Things on my mind:
​- I am still living the dream after seeing Hamilton in NYC for my birthday!!
​- Is winter weather over yet?
​- Excited for the amazing learning and acceptance of all going on in our room.

​-JMG

We are blazing into the new year!! We have had some weather delays, but it is not stopping the learning.  There was this amazing moment last week where everyone was being challenged and the work was tough, but each and every student gave all they had and gave the big effort.  I praised them and mentioned that what I think my job is for all of first grade beyond the content--to create a love for learning and a purpose for school.  I saw it in action.  I felt it.  It was beautiful.  We rediscovered the power of "yet" with the growth mindset.  It is truly a powerful notion that you are able to learn more.  It seems so obvious that this would be obvious- you learn more when you open your mind to more learning and apply it. However, the children are often overhead saying "that is too hard" or " I will never be able to do that". Truth is that it is there for the ones willing to work for it. Ask any talented musician who can memorize entire songs or works or anyone learning a foreign language.  Daunting at first, yet satisfying once learned.
​We have also begun our virtual classroom for a student at home via skype.  It is a challenge for all, but the benefits are truly a blessing. We hope to continue to make an impact and increase time. 
​What is on my mind?
​- How to better adapt the virtual classroom for small group work?
- Increasing differentiation to reach all
​- Keeping an eye on the weather.
​JMG

Hello to December!! We are into our 13th week of school.  We are knee deep in diagnostic testing for reading and math.  We started our writing unit on Personal Narratives.  We continue our reading unit on Teamwork. Student have requested a classroom elf from the North Pole.  The hallways of school are being festively decorated for the holidays.  We earned 3 of the 4 awards for good behavior in the resource class. We are building houses for PTD, bridges for reading and instruments for science the end of the month. We are collecting recycled materials to create these.
​~JMG

Will the butterfly emerge this week? What will it look like? We are preparing for our field trip in October by learning about bugs and how they are important to our world.  Lots of cool things in science to learn.
We are working on getting our daily schedule set once our beginning of year diagnostics are complete. All this while giving the big effort to be a whole body learner and a good citizen that enables all students to learn.
We will have our first spelling test and dictation this week. I have high hopes for great success there.
There are great kiddos in our class with good hearts and love and caring within.  It is a beautiful thing.
Things on my mind this week:
- what other hurricane events are heading to the US coastline?
- life is short- love hard and live
- sunsets are awesome - especially reflecting over the water
 JMG

Getting into routines this week.  Students are learning rules and how things work in our school and classroom.  We had Open House last Thursday.  Was nice to get that out of the way and information to parents on the front end of the month. We tried a new format.  We have 20 students right now.  Good things are happening in Room 115.  
I planted certain plants to invited specific butterflies to our garden about 4 years ago.  No luck getting them to show up in the spring months.  However, they were there when we showed up in August.  It was like an egg hunt having students look outside on nearly leafless plants for caterpillars.  Oh, the joy when they found more than 5 and the scientist in them were talking about camouflage and scat.  We brought one inside and observed.  It took 2 days for it to create a chrysalis.  We learned they do not spin it, but their outer skin sheds and it is within.  Looking forward to the changes to come.
What I am thinking about...........
- Hurricane Irma has made landfall in Florida. Hoping friends, family and strangers alike stay safe from harm
-Migraines are no joke and need heed my evacuation notice forever
- There are 20 sweet little kiddos in Room 115 ready to learn so many new things- let's not test them to pieces...........
- be kind to others
​JMG

Here comes another school year!! I called families today to invite them to the meet the teacher event on Friday at 2:00.  I love the excitement of the beginning of the school year.  So many new faces! I love it when the students bring drawings or pictures they colored and put them up in the classroom. I think it is comforting on that first few days to see something familiar.  
School doesn't start until after Labor Day.  This is a new deal for us.  Hopefully, it all levels out this school year.
What is on my mind....
- prayers to those impacted by the flooding and storms in Texas and areas nearby
- been thinking about new friends that are on staff this year
- missing some of the friends that are not at SLES this year
- hoping 2017-8 brings awesome times 100
- the caterpillars finally showed up outside the classroom

- JMG