Hello Families,

It has been a whirlwind week, but it has been wonderful to begin getting to know this very lovely class! We have been working hard on learning classroom routines, figuring out who each of us is and what sorts of things we like and dislike, and learning how to work together as a team. We have discussed kindness and belonging, and of course we have worked hard to make sure each member of our team feels included and safe.  It has been a lot of fun!  We haven't done anything "acadmic" yet, but that will come soon enough!

One of the things we have done quite a bit of in these 3 days is team building. The students worked in teams to make a spaghetti and marshmallow tower that could hold a penny. They LOVED this!  They also worked together to make a stucture out of index cards that could hold books off the table. Some teams made simple structures that held 30 or more books! Finally, we all worked together to create a "TEAM" puzzle out of magazine scraps.  The students were amazed when we put the pieces together!

I know you have been inundated with paperwork. Don't worry too much about sending in photos for the writing journals as we probably won't get to that until the week after next. If possible, please send in a photo for the Cheetah Den bulletin board so all can feel they belong.

The easiest way to stay connected to our classroom is follow this blog.  I will send out emails for the next few weeks with a link to the blog, but I am hoping you will all "follow" using  your email eventually so you can automatically get notified when I post something each Friday.  Let me know if you have any problems with that.

Please feel free to be in touch with  me about anything I need to know about you or your child, and to ask any questions about what is going on in the classroom. I love to communicate!

Enjoy the long weekend!