August 19: The First of Many

What a great first day! I did my best to create lots and lots of opportunities for the kids to be DOING things rather than just sitting and listening to the typical first-day-of-school instructions on every part of the room and the day. This means it'll take us a little extra time to address the procedures and expectations of the classroom but that's okay. We'll get there. 

The kids were super sweet today. They were excited to see one another and their incredible energy sustained them throughout the entire day. I expected to see some yawns in the afternoon but did not. I'm sure you'll see plenty tonight, though. It takes a while to get back in the swing of the school schedule. 

Here are some photos from today...

Completing a "Classmate Scavenger Hunt" to start our day. These are in
your child's backpack. They did not have to complete the whole thing. It was an
opportunity to reconnect with one another and learn a little bit about everyone's
summer.

On the right of this photo is our new music teacher, Mrs. Harding. She joined us
during our scavenger hunt so she could get to know the kids. She also sang with us.

We also created 'Home Folders" to carry our papers back and forth between
home and school this year. It should remain in their backpack at all times - meaning,
it should come back to school each day even when it's empty.

Unpacking all those supplies was an interesting experience. Lots of stuff to
organize and get packed away in various parts of the room.

Buddy Reading

We'll take a few days to get to know the classroom library and all it has to offer.

I asked the kids to bring in a favorite picture book from home. These need to
be here by Friday so we can share them with one another.

You see our class keyboard in this photo. Music is a big part of our classroom. I also have
a guitar. We generally sing songs about three or four days a week and even write
a few tunes of our own over the course of the school year. We also perform at
the Sparkleberry Fair in the spring.

We started learning to play chess today. Some of the kids already know how to
play and the others soon will too. We began learning how the pawns move
and attack.

Chess is often a popular choice during Exploration time. We have Explorations between
8:00 - 8:30 most mornings. This is a time when the kids make choices as to
what they would like to explore.

I love having games in the classroom because they're very engaging and are a great
tool for helping the kids learn how to treat one another with respect and care. It also
offers them opportunities to fail (or lose) without becoming emotionally crushed. Learning
how to fail helps them grow into risk takers who aren't afraid to take on new challenges.

And...games are a whole lot of fun!