Tuesday, September 3, 2013

     Thank you all for coming out to our 100 Book Challenge Orientation and Open House tonight.  It is great to be able to spend time with our students and their families outside of regular school hours.  It gives us a chance to get to know our families better and answer any questions or address any concerns that you may have.  It also provides an opportunity for you to come in and tour our classroom and explore your child's work.  If you were able to come tonight, you were given a chance to see how busy your child has been in class these past few days.  If you were unable to join us but are curious about what we did tonight, we shared class reading reflection journals, writing journals, poetry journals, and "All About Me" posters created by the students.  We also viewed a slideshow that gave you a sneak peek inside our classroom. We will be glad to share these with you during conferences in October if you missed them tonight but would like a chance to see them.
     We have been working hard to build a classroom community where everyone feels welcome, loved, accepted, and successful for the past few weeks.  After the long weekend, we returned to school this morning to a review of class rules and expectations.  We had fun and acted silly as we explored just what our rules meant and the purpose behind them.  Who knew a chance to break the rules could be so much fun or cause such laughter?  We will continue this lesson over the next few days as we explore what it means to be a peace maker, not a rule breaker.  Students love to read the books about David, a child that always seems to find trouble and break the rules whether he's at school or at home.  We will return to the books about David as we continue our discussion about following the rules and why that is important.  It was nice to begin this morning with a fresh start for everyone, reviewing the rules and then practicing them throughout the day.  Everyone felt successful because they were able to show off just how much they had learned over the past two weeks.
     We are beginning to settle in and be in "school mode."  Leaving summer behind and starting back to school is a big transition for most students, especially those who have never been to school or daycare before.  In a student's eyes, the days are long, the work is demanding, and there are so many things to remember...and all they really want to know right that minute is "when can we eat" and "is it time to go out yet?"  Before we know it these days will be behind us and the students will be old-pros!  It always amazes me just how fast the year passes and just how much the students grow and gain independence.  We will continue working to build a sense of community and foster independence throughout the year.  
     In addition to learning about how to be a successful student, we will also be learning about families and how they fit into the local community over the next few weeks.  If you would like to know more about what we're doing in class, you can view our lesson plans by clicking on the lesson plans link on our TeacherWeb page.  We encourage you to check out books on the topics we are learning about in class to extend the learning opportunities for your child.    This week would be a great time to explore books on families, numbers, and the alphabet.  Your local librarian can help you find books that are a great fit for your child based on what we are learning in class.  Remember to make connections to your own life by asking questions such as, "what does this remind you of and how is this family like/different from our family?"  Thanks for all you do to make your child's year a success!

2 comments:

  1. You all are off to a great start. I can't wait to come spend some time in Room 204!

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  2. I like the detail in your blog! I also like the fact that you used the David books to talk about rules and consequences. Hope you all have a fantastic school year!

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