Good Evening,
Well we just finished our second week. I am really impressed how quickly some routines are falling into place. I was telling the class, as we wrapped up today, how awesome they did this week. One of the things that has jumped out to me is the kindness that so many students are exhibiting. We have one student who was really worried about connecting to so many new peers and I have seen kids guiding, connecting and supporting this individual. This speaks volumes of the types of great kids we have in the classroom.
The overall theme continues to be getting to know our routines, our expectations, and how we function as a community of learners. As part of our school's social emotional curriculum and goals, each class was asked to create a charter with their students. I read the students a book that focused on kindness and how they felt when people were kind to them. I then asked them to describe how they want to feel when they come to school. The kids came up with the words safe, happy, excited, loved and included. I have to say the word "included" jumped out at me. In 28 years of teaching, I've never had a group express this as a need. I thought it was fantastic and kids were able to explain what this meant and why it was important to them. The charter is now displayed next to our fish tank.
The kids have been working diligently on posters that go into quite a bit of detail about themselves. These poster look like owls and ended up being quite elaborate. It's great to see the students taking time to look at their own work but also that of their classmates. These posters are now displayed in the hallway right outside our classroom door.
Yesterday we talked about why they come to school. The kids identified reason like "to learn," "to see our friends," and other reasons along the same lines. The one that made me laugh was when a child said, "to get us out of the house." Today we used that conversation to identify students strengths in school and each child told us about something that they did well last year. I then turned the focus to asking them to think of something they wanted to get better at or learn to do in our classroom this year. I wanted them to think of a goal that each of them would want to accomplish. These goals will be known as their Hopes and Dreams as we start the academic year. We will revisit these goals periodically and students will create new ones as needed. Next week, the students will use these goals to create classroom rules that they feel are needed to allow them to focus and accomplish their Hopes and Dreams.
You may hear your child talk about "shopping for books" and the term read to self. This week I introduced the students to the concepts of finding good fit books for times when they need to read books to themselves. There are three ways that kids can read books:
- Read the Words: This is where kids who are already reading can go page by page and read the words in the stories they have chosen.
- Read the Pictures: This is where the kids can use the pictures and "read them" to gain an understanding of what is going on in the story.
- Retell from Memory: This is where kids can look at the pages and tell you the story from hearing it so many times.
*Parent volunteers will start in October. If you would like to volunteer this year, please use this link to sign up for a slot. You don't have to sign up if you wish to visit the classroom. That can happen anytime (after October). This is more for people who can commit to a weekly or bi-weekly time slot. If you sign up for the math time, that is for 1st grade math. Any 1st or 2nd grade parent can sign up but it will be for my 1st grade math class. 
