Thankful, Thankful, Thankful!

Hi penguins,

I love this time of year! Of course it's fun to see fall changes all around (the leaves, the weather, the fuzzy sweaters), but what I love most of all is the reminder to be thankful. We are so busy all the time, and sometimes I forget how lucky I am. It's important to remember all that we have and all that we can do. I am thankful for SO many things, but here are a few:

- my caring and fun-loving husband
- my sweet and gentle son
- my bright and brave daughter
- my parents, my siblings, my grandmother, my aunts & uncles, my niece and nephews.....my family that loves and supports me
- my hard-working and fun teaching partners (that's Mrs. V. and Mrs. Dorn!)
- my friends, both near and far
- all the smart, silly, creative kids in the Galapagos Village
- my home that keeps me safe and warm
- the food that I eat and that I feed to my family
- my health and the health of my family
- the chance to live in a country where we have choices and opportunities
- natural beauty - animals, plants, trees, flowers, lakes, oceans, mountains
- books, beaches, music....all the things that bring me joy

I think I could go on forever, but I'd love to hear your thoughts too. For what are you thankful?

Love,
Mrs. Barboza

Welcome to Our Team!

The theme for this year in K/1 is TEAMWORK! We like to say that the word TEAM stands for Together Everyone Achieves More. That means that we can learn and grow more if we work together and support each other. Everyone has special talents and skills to share. Please write a blog about your personal talent or skill that you plan to share with your teammates, in order for us to learn from you and achieve more!

Time for Goodbye

This is always a strange time of year for me. I love summer (it's my favorite season!), and I look forward to spending more time with my husband and kids. Yet, it's also very sad for me. After spending two years with you little penguins, I have a very hard time letting you waddle away!! Our first graders will be moving on, and I know each and every one of them will have GREAT success in second grade....but I will miss them SOOOO much! I hope they all visit us next year. To my Kinder penguins, I am glad we will have another year of fun together!
I will try to update our blog a few times over the summer....but this is our last one for this school year. You can write anything you want this time. Here are some ideas:
- What are your summer plans?
- What will you remember from this year?
- What are your hopes for next year?
Thanks for being such a TERRIFIC class! I was lucky to be your teacher!!
Love,
Mrs. Barboza

April Adventures

Easter Fun....Tanner, Carlos (being silly), Colton, Maya

Welcome back! I hope you all had a fantastic April Break! I spent lots of time playing with my kids (very fun!) and cleaning my house (not so fun!). I saw two movies, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" with Carlos (he used to LOVE ninja turtles when he was younger) and "Meet the Robinsons" with Maya. Both were good! I also planted new flowers in my backyard, volunteered in Maya's classroom, went to lots of soccer games, spent a day with my grandmother, and played with my two nephews and one niece. How did YOU spend the April Break? I would love to hear about what you did.....so write a blog entry!

Happy Spring!
Mrs. Barboza

March Memories

Hi Little Penguins!

March has been full of fun so far! Isn't it weird that we've had so many "lamb" days, and so few "lion" days? I wonder if the saying will be true.....since March came in like a lamb, will it go out like a lion? We'll have to wait and see!

Have you enjoyed learning about penguins? I've been a Portal Penguin for six years, and I didn't know ANYTHING about real-life penguins. Now I know all about six of the different kinds of penguins. I can't wait to learn about Galapagos tomorrow!

Your March question is.....which is your favorite penguin so far, and why? Make sure to post your comment before the end of March!

If you want to read more about penguins, click on this link.

Thanks for reading!
Mrs. Barboza

February Fun

This month has been full of excitement in the Galapagos Village!

The February festivities started with Phil and Groundhog's Day. Despite the fact that he saw his shadow, spring was nowhere near!

We celebrated the 100th Day of School. It is hard to believe that our year together is more than halfway over. We had a great Dinosaur Assembly on Friday, as well as Valentine's Day today.

I thought that it might be fun to start a "Question of the Week" for all the K/1 kids to respond to... another way of sharing our thoughts/opinions with each other.

Question #1
What is your favorite memory (so far) this year?

Welcome!

Hi Room 18 Kids and Parents!

Mrs. Viswanatha, Mrs. Dorn, and I thought it might be fun to try BLOGGING!

We are new to this, but we thought we could all learn together. We can chat about things we think are cool or exciting or important. We can share our ideas and what we've learned.

What do you think?

Mrs. Barboza