I'm going ahead and saying it ... I love being back at work
This is such an amazing bunch - they blow me away every day, especially today, our first day back after the winter holidays. They're off in Gym right now and I couldn't help but take a moment just to let you in on it, on all the amazingness that has happened so far today. We sat on the carpet and went through our daily schedule in the blue pocket chart - lots of kids were already confused as to why we weren't doing Daily 5 today? Well, I told them ... how many of you have lots of exciting news that you want to share, that you're really excited about sharing and you just can't wait to tell everybody all about?! There were lots of cheers :) We took over a half an hour, just chatting on the carpet, switching up the partners every five minutes or so, talking all about our winter vacations - who we saw, where we went, what we did, the gifts we got! Then we listened to the read aloud When Winter Comes, because winter is finally here! We shared some similarities with the book - many of us played outside, many of us had family traditions ... After recess, the kids went to work for Writer's Workshop. They used a brainstormed list of Willy Words to describe their holidays: I was excited to go to a playdate with ... I built a gorgeous snowman ... I went to an awesome place called ... I love my nana's house because it is stupendous. They kept writing, and writing, and asking for more Willy Words. I was blown away when I heard one of them say (without my prompting) "Hey, can you read this and see what I should add?" They were peer-editing their work! They were looking at old anchor charts in the room to check spelling! They were sounding out unknown words with the help from their *new* table mates. They were doing Writer's Workshop : ) On the First Day Back. After a two week vacation! Needless to say lots of class gems were earned and a lot of personal droplets were handed out. We took some time at the end for the students to read their work aloud in the Author's Chair; about half of them did - which is a big improvement from the start of the year! After lunch, we played our Gotta Keep Reading Drop Everything And Read, DEAR Time song and got right back into quiet, independent reading. The pillows and stuffies came out, we settled down and got cozy, because coming back to school after a vacation can be tough - so we needed some down time. And now after they get back in from recess, we're going to play a few new Daily Five Word Games (so they can teach the parents this week) and start our new Chapter Book Read Aloud, Charlotte's Web, another fantastic and imaginative story about animals (keeping with the theme; Wind in the Willows, James and the Giant Peach) I'm not sure if I can really convey the vibe that's taking place ... but it's a really good one. Thought you all should know. Happy New Year Room 102! Here's to another exquisite six months!
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In our Room 108 Classroom Community, we foster an engaging, respectful and caring environment. I aim to balance a consistent program with flexible responsiveness to students' individual needs. Archives
November 2017
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