Welcome to Mrs. Reefer and Mrs. Miller's Classroom

My name is Mrs. Reefer. Mrs. Miller and I are co-teachers in a first grade classroom. Co-teaching is fun and has many benefits to all students. With two teachers in the classroom, it is easy to provide remediation as well as enrichment. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs. Miller or me. I also help Mrs. Shriver out in second grade. I may also be pulling some students for Learning Support. I am looking forward to a great school year!

Classwork and Homework

Notes and Reminders

Week of September 15 - September 19

Some information about your teacher!

I have been teaching elementary school for 31 years. Thirty of those years have been here at Richland. I spent 12 years teaching Intermediate Learning Support with children in grades 4-6. For the past 18 years, I have worked with children at the primary level in grades K-3. Mrs. Miller and I have co-taught first grade for six years. I have also taught Emotional Support and Autistic Support. This year, my primary placement is in the First Grade Co-Teaching classroom, but I will also be pushing in to Mrs. Shriver's second grade and may service some students in a pull-out model. I am excited about this new change. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns regarding my role or your child's performance. My goal is to help all children learn to read, love to read and to become proficient with math skills.

It is easiest to contact me through my email as I move about the building throughout the school day. My email is mreefer@richlandsd.com. I can also be reached by phone through the office at 814-266-5757. It is easiest to contact me in the morning between 8:00 and 8:25 or during my planning period which is 2:45-3:25. Let's work together to ensure your children have a fantastic school year!

Mrs. Shriver's HFW, Spelling words, Vocab and Skills are found on her web page. (I will be supporting these concepts as needed within her classroom. )

Hello Everyone. You can find all you need to Know about the upcoming weeks right here!!

Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Reefer's classroom information:

For Your Planning Purposes:

Next week is Homecoming Week. We will have Spirit Day at the Elementary.

Monday - Pajama Day

Tuesday- Country vs. Beach Day (Wear cowboy hats, flannels and belt buckles or beach attire)

Wednesday- Team Spirit - Wear clothing representing your favorite sports team.

Thursday- Stuffed Animal Day (must fit in a bookbag)

Friday - Red and Blue Day

Your child has his or her Student ID and Login for the Chromebooks inside their folder. Please continue to practice logging in on the keyboard sent home. Mrs. Miller and I understand that this will be difficult at first and we will continue to help and practice here at school. This Login is used to access several amazing apps and websites such as Reflex Math and Prodigy.

We currently have 22 students in our classroom. We have 13 boys and 9 girls. What a wonderful group of kids!

Our special schedule is as follows:

A Day - Tech (Thursday, 9/18/25)

B Day Phys Ed (Friday, 9/19/25)

C Day Library (Monday, 9/15/25)

D Day - Art (Tuesday, 9/16/25)

E Day - Music (Wednesday, 9/17/25)

Schoolwork

ELA Info

We are very excited to begin our Wonders Reading Series this week. The Spelling, Vocab and High Frequency words are found below as well as the Grammar and Phonetic Skills we are working on each week. You will also see several selections we will read as a whole group below:

Main story: Nat and Sam

Listening: This School Year Will Be the Best

Shared: Schools Around the World

Paired: Jack and Sam

Phonics: Short a as in aaaaaple and found in the words: bat, cap, ran and tan

Structural Analysis: Rhyming words

Grammar: Sentences and Capital Letters

HFW: does, not, school, what

Vocab: learn, subjects, common, object and recognize

Spelling words: man, can, nap, tap, cat, hat, hot, not, does

Math Info

We will be working in the Everyday Math Curriculum. We are also learning how to log into our chrome books and will be working on the Math program called Reflex Math which introduces even very young students to math facts. We will also be using a program called Prodigy and the Seesaw Platform to work on Math

Monday, 9/15/25

Unit 1 Math Assessment

Tuesday, 9/16/25:

2-1 Introducing the Strategy Wall

Wednesday, 9/17/25:

2-2 Decomposing Numbers within Ten

Thursday, 9/18/25:

2-3 More Decomposing Numbers within Ten

Friday 9/19/25:

Reflex Math/ EM Games and Scholastic News

HOMEWORK

ELA homework (given as a packet on Friday, Sept 12 is due on Friday, Sept. 19th.

Math Homework is due on Friday, September 12.

Facts about Apples

We know that you are quite familiar with the phrase “An apple a day keeps the doctor away” but what else do you know about the humble apple? To help you appreciate just how incredible the fruit that has been dubbed “nature’s perfect snack,” is, we wanted to share some amazing apple facts with you.

Apple trees take 4-5 years to produce their first fruit. A standard size apple tree starts bearing fruit 8-10 years after it is planted. A dwarf tree starts bearing fruit in 3-5 years.
Apples will ripen six to ten times faster at room temperature than if they were refrigerated.
It takes about 36 apples to create one gallon of apple cider.
There are more than 2,500 varieties of apples grown in the United States, and they come in all shades of red, green and yellow.
The science of apple growing is called pomology.
Bobbing for apples? 25% of an apples volume is air, which is why they float.
Pilgrims planted the first U.S. apple trees in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Most apple blossoms are pink when they open but gradually transform into white.
It takes the energy of 50 leaves to produce one apple.
One of George Washington’s hobbies was pruning his apple trees.
Apples come in all sizes from just a bit bigger than a cherry to about the same size as a grapefruit.
Most
apple picking
is still done by hand.
The largest apple ever picked weighed in at 3 pounds 2 ounces.
Johnny Appleseed (real name John Chapman) was yes, a real person, and yes, he planted apple trees all over parts of the United States, and he wasn’t poor. Back then, land could be claimed if you created a permanent homestead, and one of the ways to do that was to plant 50 trees to start an orchard. Chapman planted trees, and then later would sell “his” land to people.
Apples contain 0 grams of fat or sodium and have no cholesterol.
At 4 grams per average size apple, they are an excellent source of fiber.
Apples are members of the rose family.
Thanks to their high levels of boron, apples can help improve your memory, mental alertness, and electrical activity of the brain.
The average person eats 65 apples a year.
Most of the antioxidants found in apples, including quercetin, are located in the skin.
The most popular varieties of apples in the US are the Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, and the Granny Smith.
Apple trees can live to be about 100 years old.

Some Quotes about Apples

If you plant crab apples, don't count on harvesting Golden Delicious.
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. -Martin Luther

A few bad apples is no reason not to visit the orchard.

-Lauren Weisberger

“The apple never falls far from the tree.
A bad apple can spoil the bunch.
The best thing to do with the best apples is to eat them.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Ben Franklin

Please remember to wear gym shoes on B Day, return library books on C Day and to bring an Art shirt (if you have not) for E Day.

A little about Mrs. Reefer

My name is Melanie Reefer. I have been a teacher for 31 years. I have been at Richland for 30 years. I earned my BS in Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with dual certification in Special Education and Elementary Education. I also completed my Masters Program at IUP receiving an MA in Community Counseling. I love teaching young children and have especially enjoyed sharing a co-teaching classroom with Mrs. Miller for the past six years. I live in Johnstown and enjoy spending time with my husband, Greg, and my son, Zane. During our free time, we love going to the beach, cooking, gardening, reading and finding new adventures. I am excited to work with your child this school year!

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