Our first full week!

We have had a busy, sweaty, fun, and exhausting first full week of school! All of us are beginning to settle in, just in time for a three-day weekend and full school days next week!

One silly face photo - just for good measure!

Have a great weekend!
Love,
Ms. Conlee

Birthday celebrations, calendar, and shapes!

We have had the opportunity to celebrate several friend's birthdays already this year! It has been a whirlwind of cupcakes and frosting mustaches well before lunch!

During math we have been learning about pieces of the calendar. Each day we sing songs about the days of the week, months of the year, and the weather. One of our jobs each week is to be our "meteorologist." Claire has been an excellent meteorologist this week, graphing our hot and sweaty weather!

Today we played a "Who Am I?" shape game on the SmartBoard. We were given clues about the number of sides, corners, curves, or straight lines, and then had to guess what shape would be revealed. Afterwards we completed a "color by shape" picture!

Thanks for a great day!
Love,
Ms. Conlee

Sorting by attributes!

Today during math we learned the word, "sorting." When we sort a pile of objects we can put them into groups based on something they have in common. Most times we sort things by color, shape, or size. We did a little practicing this morning and we are already sorting stars!

Stay cool!
Love,
Ms. Conlee

We can't get enough PETE!

Today we watched a music video with Pete from the book, Pete the Cat: Wheels on the Bus. After all these Pete books - we HAD to make Pete masks!

 

 

 

 

We also spent some time playing with our new friends!

 

 

 

 

 

 



We had a FABULOUS Friday! Have a great weekend!
Love,
Ms. Conlee

Pete the Cat!

We had a FABULOUS second day of kindergarten! Today we read another Pete story titled, Pete the Cat: I love my White Shoes. In the story Pete walks through many piles of different things, each of which change the color of his shoes. Aftewards we each built a Pete and gave him some colored shoes. Some of us chose to have Pete walk barefoot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our gorgeous creations are now hanging in our kindergarten hallway!

See you tomorrow!
Love,
Ms. Conlee

Our first day of kindergarten!

We had a GREAT first day of kindergarten! We were very busy meeting new friends and getting to know one another!

Be sure to ask your child about our visit from Pete the Cat! We read his book, Pete the Cat: Rocking in my School Shoes, where Pete wrote us a note, leading us on a scavenger hunt all over the school! We never ended up catching Pete, but he did leave us some coloring pages of himself!

 

 

 

 

This afternoon we learned several of our classroom expectations. Sometimes we may make choices that are "Above the line" while other choices may be considered "Below the line" or even "Below the bottom line." We read a short story about a monster who visited school and made several choices that were above, below, and below the bottom line. Afterwards we sorted several monsters who gave us examples of choices we may sometimes make at school or at home.

 

As a class, we decided what Ms. Conlee should say and do when we make choices in each of the areas. When a choice is considered "Above the line" all of our friends may feel safe and happy and Ms. Conlee might say something like, "great job", "I'm proud of you", or "you're a rock star!" Should a choice be considered "Below the line," some of our friends may feel a little worried, nervous, or uncomfortable. If this happens, we may need to take a short break and Ms. Conlee may say, "I can see you've made a choice which is below the line. Please take a short break on our thinking log." After taking a short moment to consider your choices on the thinking log you may approach Ms. Conlee and say, "I can fix it!" and she will be very glad to have you jump right back in with your friends!

 

 

Should a choice be considered "Below the bottom line," some of our friends may feel unsafe and scared. If this happens, we will need to leave our friends and take a break in a neighboring classroom or possibly the office.

 

 

It was a fabulous first day! See you tomorrow!
Love,
Ms. Conlee



Welcome to our classroom!

Dear students and families -

Welcome to Kindergarten at Van Allen Elementary! I am very excited for our upcoming school year together!

This classroom blog will be used to share our days with you, both in stories and pictures. Please feel free to visit often, leave comments, and use this as a tool to talk with your child about their days at school.

I look forward to learning with you!
Ms. Conlee