October Calendar

Thank You!!!

I just want to say how very thankful I am to have such an amazing 

group of parents and children this year.

You have all been so supportive with all of your donations and kind words .

Every time I ask for something you are on it.

I am so grateful for your support.

Thank you for all your amazon wish list items, 

classroom donations,

leader snacks 

volunteer sign ups

and Laps for Lincoln Support. 

You are all appreciated!

Week 6 October 2-6

Week 6 - Apples Apples Everywhere

This week we will celebrate apples.  We will be reading about apples, singing about apples, 

tasting apples and pretending that we have an apple orchard in our classroom. 

 Looking forward to this fun intro to our Fall season here in Michigan.

In Math we will be focusing on number sense and writing numbers 1-5.

Print to use at home:

Classic games for at home include: Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, and Hi Ho CherryO.

 For more ideas see below 

Click here for some ideas to use at home.

Last Week we really had a great time learning all about How we are alike and 

how we are different as well as  2D shapes.

Here are some of the books and songs that we enjoyed last week.

Most of these can be found on youtube.

* Hooray for Hair  and All about Eyes - Dr Seuss

*Little Critter - My Family

* My Family Book by Todd Parr

*A House is a House for Me.

* Frog Street Sing and Read Shape Books

*Square, Circle and Triangle Books by Mark Barnett

                              Leaders this week:

Monday - Wynter

Tuesday - Nikki

Wednesday - Leland

Thursday - Eston

Friday - Klay

Volunteers and Donations Needed

Every Thursday from 10:25 -11, We will be using our computers in the classroom.

I could use 1 or 2 parents to come on Thursdays during this time to help students 

sign in and to help problem solve as they get used to this new activity.

Here is a document to sign up to help in the weeks to come.

Sign Up Here

Thank you.

The first week in Oct, we will begin a week long unit on apples. 

 I could use some donations of apples and related items. 

We will also be creating a farmer's market in our classroom 

and I could use some small baskets.  These will be returned.

Please drop off at school on Friday Sept 29th.

If you are able to donate please sign up below.

Click Here to Sign Up

  

  

Week 5 9/25-29

Week 5  Shapes

Mon 9/25 Circle 

Tues 9/26 Square

Wed 9/27 Triangle

Thurs 9/28 Rectangle

Friday 9/29 Oval

Children may bring in 1 object each day that matches the shape we are studying. 

 We would like to be able to  keep these objects for our shape museum.

 However if you want object back: Please label with a piece of tape with your child's name 

                      and it will be returned on Friday

We will also be doing All About me activities to share how we are alike and how we are different

Monday - Hair

Tuesday - Eyes

Wednesday - Age/Birthday Month

Thursday - Families  if you can email me or send in a family picture that would be great.

Friday - Homes - if your child has 2 addresses if you could send them in.  I will be using google earth to zoom into see the aerial view of each child's home.  They find this magical.

Wednesday September 27th is a School wide Pajama Day - 

Children may wear their PJs to school on this day.  

Please do not send stuffies, blankets, pillows or slippers.

This was a reward for earning $15,000 so far with Laps For Lincoln

Friday 9/29  is Laps for Lincoln. 

5-7 St Joe High School Track

Please plan to attend if at all possible.

Donations can still be made online via the School website.

Back to School Night Slideshow

 

Here is the slideshow presented on Back to School Night.

Click Here to View

There are active links that you can click to read more about some of the topics.  

I am sorry that I was not able to record it.

Please contact me with any questions.

Andrea Confer.

Google Classroom/ Student IDs

I am not sure how much we will be using the google classroom this year, but it is another way to get information about our classroom and find our google meet link if we need to meet virtually.   Your child's ID number is on their Home/School Folder.  It is a 5 digit number.  This number followed by @stjoebears.com. will be their school email during their whole school career and you will need to know this number.

Click below to join the classroom

https://classroom.google.com/c/NTI0NDk2NDM4NjYx?cjc=6cqbwag

class code is  -6cqbwag

Click below to join a virtual meeting

meeting link  - https://meet.google.com/xti-kpdy-jcz

Donations to Classroom

 

Donations:
Parents often ask about what to buy for the classroom. 

 I will post occasionally on the blog if we are in need of items for a special project. 

All year long,  we will be using toilet paper/paper towel rolls,

                                                    tin cans, 

                                                    styrofoam/plastic egg cartons, 

                                                    kid appropriate magazines to cut, and 

                                                    craft odds & ends.  

Feel free to collect and donate these item to the classroom at any time

We can also use facial tissues, paper towels, cleaning wipes and face safe wipes. 

 
If you would like to purchase a special item for the classroom, I do keep a amazon wish list active and updated.

Amazon Class Wish List

Laps for Lincoln

Laps for Lincoln 2023
Friday September 29th

5-7pm
Dickinson Stadium 
St Joe High School

Volunteers needed to help count collections.

We have 6 collection days for Laps for Lincoln where we collect each 
child's envelope, count money, and pass out prizes. 
 It's a fun morning and great way to meet other parents!

*Please note we will meet at 8:30 on all collection days except Wednesdays, 

we will meet at 9:30 on those mornings due to late start.

If you can help

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080A4FAFAF29A6FD0-laps#/

Back to School Night 9/18 5:30

Monday 9/18. 5:30-6:15 

Plan to attend this information filled evening. 

Please be on time as it goes by very fast.

No children allowed.

I will post the slideshow to this blog post after the event if you

can not make it. 

This will be a time for general questions about the classroom 

but not a time for individual parent child conferences. 

 If you would like to schedule a conference with me, 

please email me and I will be happy to do so.

Formal Parent Teacher Conferences will be scheduled 

in the evenings beginning in late October.

9/17/23 Week 4

Welcome to our 4th week of school 

• Books we have read and Songs that we sang last week:

• Little Blue Truck

• Time For School Little Blue Truck

• Lily's Purple Plastic purse

• Purple Stew-GoNoodle

• Sour Grapes

• Brown Bear's Birthday

• Teddy Bear Teddy Bear Turn Around

• Brown Rabbit's Day

• Two Little Black Birds

• 10 Black Dots

• Freight Train

• It Looked Like Spilt Milk

• Pete the Cat - White Shoes

• These can be found on YouTube.

In Math, we continued to work on number sense and 1 to 1 correspondence up to 10.  There are many ways that you can help your child develop these skills at home.

What should children count? Everything!! 

Buttons, rocks, candy, seeds, hair clips, toys, books, pencils, crayons, blocks, etc. 

How can you help at home?  

Count out objects out loud together! 

Provide objects to count: cereal, macaroni, sunflower seeds, pennies

Give your child cups and plates to organize by tens and hundreds

Show your child how much you love counting too! 

Listen to your child count and ask:

-Are they including every number in the sequence? 

-Are they touching each item as they count?

-How are they organizing their objects?

-Can they write the number and draw a picture of what they counted? 

We will continue our learning of colors with the 3rd (Final) week.

Wear these colors if you have them.

Monday - Pink Day

Tuesday - Gray Day

Wednesday - Rainbow Day

Thursday - Rainbow Day 

Friday - Favorite Color Day

We will continue show and tell  for the rest of the year.   

Only our leader of the day brings in show and tell.  

Please limit to one item.

Monday - Soren

Tuesday - Gwen

Wednesday - Theia

Thursday - Myla

Friday - Logan

School wide: Positivity Project - word of the week - Optimism

WHAT DOES OPTIMISM MEAN?

You expect the best from the future and work to achieve it.

Back to School Night 

Monday 9/18

5:30-6:15

This is an adult only night so please leave the kids at home.

Time will go fast so please be on time.

I will try to record this presentation and post my slideshow on this blog.

I am not very techy but I will do my best.

SAVE THE DATE - Laps for Lincoln 9/29

Any questions for me?  Email or text Mrs Confer.

aconfer@sjschools.org

773-968-9657

9/10/23 Week 3

 

Welcome to our 3rd week of school

• Books we have read and Songs that we sang last week:

• Little Mouse and the Big Red Strawberry

• I like Red Best

• 5 Little Ducks

• Wheels on the Bus

• Who eats orange?

• Big Mouth Frog

• Froggy goes to school

• Too Many Frogs

• 5 green and speckled frogs

• These can be found on YouTube.

We will continue our learning of colors with the 2nd week of colorful dressing.  

It is ok if they do not have all of these colors of clothing.  

No need to buy anything new.  

Wear these colors if you have them.

Monday - Blue Day

Tuesday - Purple Day

Wednesday - Brown Day

Thursday - Black Day 

Friday - White Day

We will also introduce show and tell and begin our leader of the day.

Your child will bring home the Show and Tell Bag.  

Please read the Show and Tell instructions in that blog link.

Monday - Wynter

Tuesday - Nikki

Wednesday - Leland

Thursday - Eston

Friday - Klay

Save the Date - Back to School Night 

Monday 9/18

5:30-6:15

This is an adult only night so please leave the kids at home.

Any questions for me?  Email or text Mrs Confer.

aconfer@sjschools.org

773-968-9657

Arrival and Dismissal Reminders

Arrival & Dismissal Procedures: 

I will meet students outside by the playground doors at 8:20.  .

There is an adult supervisor on the playground at 8:10,

so students can be left on the playground as early as 8:10. 

If your child is going for breakfast, they will enter the doors by the gym.

Beginning this week we will need our families to remain outside the gates

of the playground in the morning.

We were told by the police department that this is how we keep o

ur students safe at school!

Staff members are on the playground and will be glad to help get our littlest l

earners where they need to be and keep them safe.

The students have had a lot of practice lining up as a class and are now very familiar with the routine.

If you need to send me a message please text me.  773-968-9657 or 

if your child is having separation issues, please contact me to discuss. 

 Parents that need to enter the building should enter the front door and sign in. 

At dismissal, Y5/K teachers will walk students to the back of the school at 3:40.

This allows us to help our littlest learners get to their families without

the congestion of other grades.

Teachers will not dismiss Y5/K students without seeing the parent/guardian.

Please park and walk up to pick up your student. Thank you!

A teacher will help our Y5/K bus riders get to the correct bus at the end of the day.

Leader of the day Starting 9/11

Leader Day, Show and Tell and Snack
For Show and Tell, your child will bring home a show and tell bag

the night before his/her leader day. One (1) show and tell item

should fit in the bag. Their item can be anything they choose as

long as it is appropriate for school.
Included in the show and tell bag is a notebook. Please sit down

with your child and brainstorm three clues together that would

help describe your child’s item.

Your child will give the class these clues and the class will then

have three guesses as to what the show and tell might be.

Your child will then share and talk about the item.

Three students will be allowed to ask a question regarding the item,

to be answered by the leader.

This works well in helping the students to learn the difference

between a question and a comment. 

This is a time the children love and is a wonderful way to

work on communication skills.

We will all get to know your child better through the

things he/she chooses to share with us ☺.

In addition to show and tell, on this day, your child is responsible

for providing a nutritious morning and afternoon snack for the class. 
Please do not send snacks with peanut, we have a peanut allergy in our room.

 Please send 30 prepackaged items that are individually wrapped.
crackers, pretzels, Goldfish etc...but not cookies
Gogurts, string cheese or fresh food/fruit items are fine if

they are individually prepackaged from a store.
 We know that birthdays and parties are a special time,

so store bought cupcakes or cookies or donuts are fine on

those days only.  

Please email me with any questions or concerns

you may have: aconfer@sjschools.org

Thank you,
Mrs. Confer
           

9/3/23 - Week 2

Last week was great.  We learned about and visited all of the important areas of the school and met a lot of important people around our buildings.  

Principal - Mrs Knuth

Secretaries - Ms. Tiffany and Mrs. Kauffman

Art - Mrs Warsow

Music - Ms Mileham

Media Center/Library - Mrs Hassenger and Mrs Gruchot

Gym - Mr Wilson

Children really settled into the classroom routines and are doing a great job transitioning together as a group.  We are learning to follow school rules and how to use our whole bodies to listen.

• Books we have read last week and can be found on youtube.

• We are going on a Bear Hunt

• Pete the Cat: Rocking in my School Shoes

• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

• How do Dinosaurs go to School?

• Who took the Cookie from the Cookie Jar

• Ten Little Caterpillars

This will be our week to see the whole group together.  Expect some tired kiddos.  We will kick off our learning with 2 weeks of colorful dressing.  It is ok if they do not have all of these colors of clothing.  No need to buy anything new.  

Wear these colors if you have them.

Tuesday - Red Day

Wednesday - Orange Day

Thursday - Yellow Day

Friday - Green Day

Monday - Blue Day

Tuesday - Purple Day

Wednesday - Brown Day

Thursday - Black Day 

Friday - White Day

Any questions for me?  Email or text Mrs Confer.

aconfer@sjschools.org

773-968-9657