Wow!

W have had such a great year so far.  I thought I had been updating the website, but apparently I was clicking on save instead of publish.  Oops!   Here is what we have been doing so far this year!

 The students have been working hard on learning their letters, we did some practice with our letters in shaving cream.  This is one of their favorite things to do!  We are running low on shaving cream, and always appreciate the donation.  The cheap stuff works great! The students have also been working on numbers 1 through 5, sorting things that are alike and different, and 2 dimensional  and 3 dimensional shapes.

We also have our first Letter Olympians.  These students have demonstrated master of all uppercase and lowercase letters, including the typecast a and g. We have a few students who are really close to being Letter Olympians!

We have also had a couple color days! The kids always love when we come dressed in the same colors!  

Yesterday we had Pinwheels for Peace.  The students all made a pinwheel in art class, then on Thursday we got to plant them.  We talked about ways to spread peace and ways to be kind to one another. 

Yesterday we also learned about germs from our school nurse.  We learned how to stop the spread of germs and when and how to wash our hands. Then we did an experiment where the kids put on "germs" (lotion) and washed their hands.  Then they came back and checked how they did under the germ finder (aka black light).  It's safe to say, we still need practice washing our hands correctly. 

Finally, today we had Unity Day.   This is such a fun day for our students.  I don't have many pictures of friends in our class because the students are split into mixed grade level groups.  They complete team building activities with minimal help from adults.  It is so much fun to watch them problem solve together and come up with different solutions to the station problems.  Some of their favorites were the Sponge Bob water balloon toss, where they had to use tarps to throw a water balloon over a wall and then catch it on the other side, the egg drop, where they had to build a contraption out of tape and newspaper to protect their egg that they dropped from an 8 foot window, and Giant Kerplunk, which is exactly what it sounds like!

We have had so much fun in kindergarten this year.  Thank you for sharing your child with me.  This is the best job in the world!

First Day 2016-2017

We had an awesome first day of Kindergarten.

We learned a lot of rules and procedures today and we had a lot of fun!  I can't wait for another day tomorrow!

FIRST GRADE HERE THEY COME!

Dear Parents,
I give you back your children, the same children you confidently entrusted to my care last fall. I give them back pounds heavier, inches taller, months wiser, more responsible, and more mature than they were then. Although they would have attained his growth in spite of me, it has been my pleasure and privilege to watch their personality unfold day by day. I give them back reluctantly, for having spent nine months together in the narrow confines of a crowded classroom, we have grown close, have become a part of each other, and we shall always retain a little of each other. Ten years from now if we met on the street, your child and I, a light will shine to our eyes, a smile to our face, and we shall feel the bond of understanding once more, this bond we feel today. We have lived, loved, laughed, played, studied, learned, and enriched our lives together this year. I wish it could go on indefinitely, but give them back I must. Take care of them, for they are precious. Remember that I shall always be interested in your child and their destiny, wherever they go, whatever they do, whoever they become. Their joys and sorrows I’ll always be happy to share.
Love,
Mrs. Laue

While I am not the author of the above letter, truer words have not been written about how I felt today saying good bye to your child.  I will always be interested in what your child is doing!  When they are on top of the world, let me know!  When they are struggling and need an extra hug or two at school, I WILL FIND THEM!  Let me know!  When they are just their regular self but think of me at the dinner table, let me know!  I love getting notes and emails from my old students.

All in all, we had a great last day!  It was a lot of fun seeing my grown up students who came to visit one last time before heading to the middle school!  This young man stopped by to see me today.  I had the pleasure of being his kindergarten and first grade teacher a few years ago, and then his sister is in my class this year.  It made my day that he stopped by to see me on his last official day as an elementary student!  Good luck at the Middle School next year!  I will be checking in with your sister to see how it's going!

This afternoon I gave each student a class award.  They loved hearing the awards and guessing which student they thought was going to get each award.  They were pretty good guessers!!

The end of the day was a little rough, I am really going to miss teaching these students every day next year!  My eyes may have been a little watery as they all got their good bye hugs! 

I hope you all have a fantastic summer!  I can't wait to see how much everyone has grown in the fall!

What a Fantastic Week!

We had such an awesome week!  On Wednesday, the high school hosted a petting zoo for the elementary school.  It. Was. Awesome.   We rode to the middle school in style!  The animals were so cute and each student got to plant a marigold and feed and pet the animals.  

This dog was the cutest little thing!  All the kids loved him/her. 

We also got to work in the garden on Wednesday.  Mrs. Vandevoorde was there, along with some awesome parent volunteers, to help the kids stuff a scarecrow and plant in the gardens.  We planted in the raised gardens.  Check out the PTO facebook page.  Information will be posted this summer of dates when the kids can come and help pick the garden!

Today, we got to have track and field day. It was such a beautiful day and the kids were AWESOME!  They all participated and cheered each other on.  I even got in on the fun in a couple of the game stations!  

A little impromptu "dab" dance party.  Crazy kids!

When we got back from track and field day, some students had the opportunity to PIE A TEACHER/PRINCIPAL!!!!

All in all, it was a super awesome week to be a kindergartner in Pecatonica!

Kindergarten Concert

WOW!  I am so proud of the kindergarten kids for their hard work and dedication to our kindergarten concert.  I am amazed at how hard they all worked and how grown up they are all getting.  11 more days and they will walk out of my classroom as a kindergartner for the last time.  While I'm not sure that I am ready for that,  I know my kids are more than ready.

Just a reminder that we are performing our concert songs one last time on Wednesday at the Stonewall Cafe.  Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately.  

With the end of the year quickly approaching, we have been having too much fun in our classroom!

This week is the last week that students will have homework.  From now on, there homework is to play outside and have fun!

Monday night is our Kindergarten Concert.  They have been working so hard and I am very proud of them.  Students should arrive to the band room and the high school no later than 6:15.  Please make sure that ALL KIDS HAVE GONE TO THE BATHROOM BEFORE REPORTING TO THE BAND ROOM!