What a First Week!

To top off our hot and humid summer, we welcomed in the new school year with a few more hot and humid days!  WOW!  Despite the warmth, the students were great!  We have a nice community forming already and I have noticed that the lily padders are warm and welcoming to the students who are new to the Lapham/Marquette community!

We spent much time this week forming guidelines for our classroom community, deciding our classroom responsibilities, getting to know each other, forming community and doing some quick assessments.  Ms. Wimmler and I are excited about working with the students and forming a kind, caring and safe learning community.

We have completed about half of our ready-set-goal conferences and have sent home a schedule to families who have not had a chance to sign-up for a conference.  If the times that are listed do not work for you, please send a few alternative times that would fit into your schedule.  I can be flexible as needed.  It has been fun for us to meet with families and set goals for the each child.

We are fortunate to have many adults helping to support us in our classroom and with our learning.  Meet the teachers:

Maria Johnson, a student teacher from the UW

Sue Zwart, the Cross Categorical teacher

Melissa Johnson, our student teacher from the UW

Fridays at Marquette mean only one thing to the students....THE SCHOOL STORE.  Here is a glimpse into the treasures found at the school store. The school store will be held every Friday at recess time.  Items range in price from 10 cents to one dollar.

School Store Treasures!

Today students organized their desks and supplies.  This is an activity we will do weekly.  It is so much fun for students to have their own personal space.

Next week is a full school week.  We will begin our writer's workshop, explore with some science lessons and will have a Yoga time on Friday Morning.  We are adding these learning times to our math block, reader's workshop and to our ongoing process of community building which we started the first week.  Check the schedule I sent home (or here on the blog) to know what we in the Lily Pad are up to every day!

Some Upcoming Events for September

• Ready Set Goal Conferences, Monday-Thursday next week
• Wednesday, September 19 - International Talk Like a Pirate Day Arrrrr!
• Third Grade Pancake Breakfast, September 28