the cpa, the sweetheart and "the queen"

Love the hearts...obviously   there is
"love in the hair"

All he needs is a suit and I would hire him to
manage my investments (once his
teeth grow in, of course).

fashionista, freckles, elvis and toothless

All dolled up and no place to go!

I tried to count the freckles but kept getting distracted by the green nose!

Elvis is alive and well in Room 7...

Hard to know how to smile with so many holes.

self portraits tomorrow

Tomorrow we are going to make self portraits to "enhance" our homework folders!  I cheated...mine was done by Peyton Boeck (now a 7th grader in Zionsville).  Maybe I'll get an updated one tomorrow?


I'll be posting some of our masterpieces tomorrow (if I have your waiver back)!

malcolm the classroom bunny

Last year Tia Pfeifer (formerly a St. Chris student and presently a buddy) and I decided to write a children's book about Malcolm that I could use in introducing him to the new first graders.  I asked Olivia Ruble (now a 3rd grader) to illustrate the book for us.  Be sure to ask your kids to share with you what they learned about how Malcolm spent his summer vacation.

what do all these former mrs. connor students have in common...

@ one who played in a Rose Bowl game for the University of Illinois
@one 2010 Cardinal Ritter Salutatorian
@five cadet teachers from Cardinal Ritter High School
@multiple National Honor Society members
@one 2004 British Open Golf Champion
@numerous teachers
@hundreds and hundreds of productive members of society
@one doctor




...they all had to move a card!!!

emma's new puppies

These are my middle dog's puppies that were born on July 24...aren't they adorable!

meet team connor

Dear Parents and Kiddos,

Welcome to First Grade!  I know that half of you were introduced to Mrs. Evans last spring as your first grade teacher.  As Mr. Schurger explained in his Homework Watcher, current enrollment figures have caused several reconfigurations, with first grade being one of those.

For those of you old and new to my room, I’d like to take a moment to tell you how excited I am about this year and introduce you to my wonderful “team”.

Mrs. Bethany Allspaw will be my full-time aide and right hand “man” this year.  Bethany and I did this two years ago with a class of 27.  We work together on preparation, group instruction and one-on-one follow-up and are a well-oiled machine!

Mr. Mike Van Vertloo is also a valued team member and through his generosity and the generosity of his company, is able to give an hour to an hour and a half of his day for group reading instruction, which we do in small groups.  This is Mike’s third year with me in this role. 

Rounding off the team will be Sarah Gillaspy (a former first grade student of mine) who will be my cadet teacher from Cardinal Ritter High School.  Sarah will be with us two to three days a week depending on the schedule she gets from Ritter and traditionally will be my” go to girl” for small group instruction, grading papers, making copies, etc….my very own Girl Friday!

Additionally, I use Mrs. Stefanciosa and Mrs. Betty Clements to listen to the kids read on a weekly basis (and am always looking for additional weekly volunteers). 

Please be assured that I am a very experienced teacher and your children will have the best educational experience possible…looking forward to August 17^th.

Sincerely,

Susan Connor

P.S. Almost forgot team member Malcolm…my black lop-eared “therapy” bunny!

Ten things you might not know about Mrs. Connor.

@ I have SIX pets and they all shed: three dogs, two cats and one bunny.
@ I always read while I'm brushing and flossing my teeth.
@ I LOVE to watch television.
@ I have one daughter, Molly, who also went to Catholic schools...for 16 years!
@ I have been a teacher at St. Christopher's for 25 years...a quarter of a century!
@ I got my first pony when I was 5 and I think that every kid should have one.
@ I take a nap ALMOST every day.
@ I have the very best friends in the whole world.
@ I HATE the actuality of getting up in the morning...
@ ...but LOVE going to school every single day!!!