Anywho....
The first week of school went SO well! I LOVE my kids! So far they are really well behaved and the "problem children" I was warned about are not a problem at all. Teaching procedures is going really well. The students love the group-points system, and I have a really easy time getting their attention and transitioning from one subject to the next.
I am especially proud of my Morning Routine. If you are (or are going to be) a teacher and haven't read "First Days of School" by Harry Wong, you need to get on that because it is absolutely amazing. I implemented his morning routine to the letter and it is absolutely awesome.
Every morning, my students come in, check in, take out their homework and start working on the assignment layed out on their desk in absolute silence. For the first twenty minutes of school, not a single word is spoken in my classroom. Literally! My students do practice work quietly at their desks and this gives me time to do attendance, check homework, and prep other things we are going to cover that day.
The first day of school, we practiced the routine.
The second day of school, I gave a few reminders to some and rewards to others for completing the routine successfully.
The third day of school, I watched in awe as the entire class followed the procedure to the letter. Seriously, I am so proud!
Not everything is going perfect of course. I am still a first year teacher after all! My main problem so far is organization. There are certain procedures that my co-teacher introduces that I haven't, for the simple reason that I don't even know what I want! The other class spent 15 minutes learning how to title, name and date every single assignment they turn in, and where to turn it in. I did not teach that, and currently have everyone turning everything in in just one inbox. I just haven't quite decided how I want everything yet!
But I am not too worried, as I feel that this can come with time. I have all of the most important classroom management procedures in place, so even if my classroom will be a bit cluttered, it will be a "in-control","quiet and focused", "cluttered" classroom. I am ok with that (for now) :-)
Anyways, on to some pictures! I will go in order of some of the days.
#1 Welcome Day!
Monday was Welcome Day! Students came in with their parents from 9-11am just to meet the teacher, see the classroom, and get acquainted with the school. I think it is an awesome idea and every school should have it. Welcome Day took the edge off of the first day of school for both my students and myself as we had already been acquainted with one another.
This is what students found on their desks when they came in. All of their workbooks as well as their first "Mission" to be completed that day in the classroom.
One of their missions was to answer the "Did you know?" question on the bulletin board. I was initially worried that students might be too scared to admit that they didn't know something, but that was clearly not the case! On Friday, I had students write a refection on the first week of school including 3 things they had learned that week. Many chose to put this fact as one of their learned things. I am planning to use the "Did you know?" feature for actual curriculum and facts, so I am really excited that it seems to be working.
#2 First Day of School!
Our first day of school was a half day, so it was pretty much just packed with procedures.
One of my students made my day and gave me a bucket full of candy! I mean literally, an entire bucket! I love pinterest and use it for ideas all of the time, but this is the first time I have been on the receiving end of a pinterest idea. It was a great start to my day :-)
My students absolutely love the group points! They get very competitive in trying to earn points for their group, which results in a very quiet attentive class and very quick transitions. Love it!
After I introduced the class rules and main procedures, we did a sticky note activity to get students excited about the year. I loved reading the insights students had to give on the first day. Some of those "What I am excited about" stickies even said "That my teacher is really nice", which was of course lovely to hear for this pretty nervous first time teacher :-)
Finally, we ended the day with an "About Me" art project. This is something I found on a "Bulletin Board" site and then pinned on Pinterest, which then got repinned hundreds of time. Obviously it wasn't my idea, but I like to think that I had some influence on it being done by lots of teachers ;-)
Students were supposed to draw things about themselves onto the puzzle pieces. Some students chose to draw what their hobbies were, others drew foods they likes, and still others just decorated their puzzle piece with things they enjoyed such as rainbows or flowers.
I haven't added it yet, but I plan to add the quote "We are all unique but every piece is needed to complete the puzzle" to the puzzle which is currently on my door.
If you are interested in doing this with your class, it is SUPER EASY! Just super-impose a blank puzzle (images found on google) onto either a projector or overhead, and then trace the individual puzzle pieces on a piece of paper (I used card stock). It took some prep, but this is also something that a parent volunteer would do an awesome job at.
Here is my puzzle piece. Of course it wouldn't have been complete without a reference to ultimate frisbee :-)
#3 The Rest of the Week.
The rest of the week was spent in several different ways:
1) We practiced our procedures.
2) The students took a few pre-assessments so that I would know where they were at skill-wise coming into the year.
3) We did several "Beginning of the Year" activities
4) I scaffolded my students through writing a "Highlight of my Summer" essay, which was probably the meatiest (in terms of hitting standards and objectives) assignment of the week.
5) I taught several "Community" lessons, which focused on creating a positive classroom community by teaching teamwork, social skills, and how to address bullying.
One of my classroom community lessons focused on bullying/respecting others feelings. I had students cut out and decorate hearts without telling them what it was for. Then students had to pass their heart to the right (we were sitting in a circle), where that student crumpled it while saying "I don't like you". We then talked about how that made each student feel, watching their hard work get crumpled. Next, students tried to unfold their hearts while apologizing to it, and we talked about how even though they tried, they were not able to completely get that heart back to normal. We discusses the effects our words have on people, and how saying "I'm sorry" doesn't completely repair the damage. Finally, students went to their desks and wrote this poem onto their hearts. The hearts are now on a bulletin board in order to remind students to treat each other kindly.
Students also wrote a newspaper about themselves, including their favorites, their hero, and a story about themselves. On Friday, we sat in a circle and every student presented their newspaper to the class.
Sorry for the black smudges, but that is what I did in order to get rid of the pictures that the students brought in to add.
For Social Studies, we started curriculum while also making it fun, by making compass roses on posterboard. We first discussed the cardinal directions and how a compass works, and then students got to work creating their own. I think they turned out really nice.
Well, that is basically it!
Overall it was a fantastic first week! I feel energized and excited for the rest of the year. Real curriculum starts next week!
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