We had another great day. Today everyone seemed a little more tired, which is to be expected. I’m sure you’re noticing this in the evening.

We are continuing to work really hard on recognizing the signals for quiet, and then actually remaining quiet after the signals are heard. Similarly, I am really stressing the importance of raising hands and being called on before speaking. I know both of these will take lots of practice and I would say given we just finished day two they are doing a great job.

Today I introduced the “take a break” space. This is where students will be asked to go if after a reminder they are still not doing what is expected. Children are not “in trouble” if they are asked to take a break, it is simply meant to be an opportunity for them to take some deep breaths and reflect on why they need a break and remember what they should be doing at a given moment. If a student returns to the group and the behavior continues, he or she will be sent to take a break again. If the behavior persists after this, they will be sent to Mr. Van Dine’s room to take a break away from the classroom. If anyone ever gets to this point I will certainly let his or her parents know.

I think lunch truly was glitch free today with everyone getting the correct lunch. A few students are expressing interest in having milk with their cold lunch, which is an option, but I explained they would need to pay for this. I think it’s been a little confusing watching some kids have hot lunch, some have cold, some have milk etc. I told them I would let parents know. More importantly, please make sure the children are really clear in the morning about what their lunch will be so I can accurately record this.

If you found rocks this summer please bring them in any time. We will begin looking at them very soon, once some of the other more timely stuff is taken care of. We have at least one caterpillar so our first science discussions will probably center on that, under the theme of living versus nonliving things, which is one of the science units in the Kindergarten Grade Expectations. Rocks could then flow nicely into this as non-living things.

Please remember green folders. I really want to establish this habit early.