This morning I introduced the Smart Board, which was very exciting. Students used the board to create butterflies and caterpillars. We then counted them and organized them. We made rows of caterpillars and columns of two different kinds of butterflies. I got this idea from another teacher's web page and thought it was a great way to introduce the Smart Board and teach the concept of rows and columns.

During work stations I introduced our sand table, which has new Jurassic Sand. This is dust free very kid friendly sand.

I have revised our schedule and now realize that you may not be able to access the link to it without my permission. For now I am sending a hard copy of it in students' green folders. Please know that it may change throughout the year as new things crop up.

I will not be in the classroom on Wednesday. I will be in the building working with students one on one to begin the Primary Numbers Observation Assessment. This is a time consuming assessment that needs to be done in the next few weeks. Sarah Hughes who spends a lot of time in the building will be my substitute and I will be in and out of the room as I take individual students.

It's hard to believe we have completed three weeks of school. Math is well underway, work stations are established, and we have done two days of writer's workshop. This is a program that focuses on phonemic awareness and hand writing. Next week I will be introducing Fundations to the class. This is a program that focuses on phonemic awareness and letter formation/hand writing.

It has become very apparent that I will need to change the schedule that I made prior to the start of school. I am trying to balance our time before specials/ snack / recess with the time that follows this break. Trying to do both work stations and math at the end of the day will not work, it just isn't a big enough chunk of time. I have been experimenting with various sequences the last few days and I will revise the schedule some time next week.

I created a sharing schedule today. Your child may bring something to share on his or her sharing day. This is not required, but it is a good opportunity to practice speaking to the whole class. I have told the children to please not share toys. Special objects, books, pictures, or stories about something they have done are great things to share. Below is the schedule:

Monday: Emma, Kai, Rachel

Tuesday: Tyler, Ciera, Nate

Wednesday: Amalia, Cody, Amy

Thursday: Molly, Brooke, Gabe

Friday: Damon, Zeb, Beckett

Have a wonderful weekend!

We officially have three rules for our class: be nice, be safe, be responsible. Not everyone knew what responsible meant at first, but we have discussed the meaning a lot and will continue to do so. This seems like a list that everyone can remember and most every behavior can fall under at least one of these rules.

During snack today one of our caterpillars shed its skin. I forgot what an amazing thing this is to watch. I think most everyone caught a glimpse of the transformation from wiggling caterpillar to still chrysalis. I think we will have at least one butterfly by next week.

We started Writer's Workshop yesterday. I introduced it by telling students they will be writing books throughout the year, then modeling how to think of something to write about, and the process of getting these thoughts on paper. I told them if they can talk (can they ever!) then they can write. They are encouraged to start with a picture to represent their stories. Then they can add writing. This can be words for the pictures, letters to represent sounds, or "driting"- drawing that looks like writing. At this point anything is fine as long as they are working hard on their stories. I read several books about Writer's Workshop in the spring and the one thing they all said was don't wait to start.

We have also spent some time role playing how to resolve problems nicely, so maybe they don't even become problems. Some examples included if someone is in your way when you are packing up, if someone is using something you would like to use, if someone is doing something that is bothering you (eg. shaking a table). We had some wonderful actors and actresses showing very appropriate ways of addressing these situations and then responding. We still need a little work when these things actually occur, but we will keep working on it.

Several students have brought in items to share, which is great. We have seen several bee hives and a snake skin so far. Because 15 students can not all share in one day I am planning to make a sharing schedule by the end of the week so students will have an assigned day to share something if they choose. I have told them I do not want them to share toys. Some great sharing ideas are favorite books, special objects or things they've found (like a snake skin), pictures, or even just a story about something they've done.

Please remember to send in $3.50 for the Flynn by September 17. I have about half of the money so far.

Happy Friday! Wow, the week flew by. I am so enjoying this group of children and the rhythms of each day. We have had many great successes and still some areas where we need a lot of practice (of course). Some things that the entire class has gotten really good at in just eight days are: bathroom procedure, transitioning to lunch and the lunchroom procedure, transitioning from lunch to the bus, listening quietly to books, the calendar routine, and work stations. I am particularly thrilled about how well work stations have gone in just three days as this will be a very important part of our day and I will eventually need to use the time to work with small groups. They have been fabulous during this time.

Some things we still need to work on are: sitting quietly during whole group discussions/ meetings and raising our hands before we speak, transitioning quickly to the carpet or the line, keeping our hands to ourselves in circles or in line, and using words to solve conflicts. We will be working on this last one a lot in the coming weeks

As the week has passed I have noticed that my husband, my own kids at home, and the children in the class have all steadily grown more tired, a little crankier, and quicker to melt when things aren't as they should be! I think a three day weekend and a break in the heat will do us all some good! Have a fabulous weekend and thank you for all of your support.

This morning when I arrived I found that our caterpillar had been squished sometime after I left yesterday. Since we are in the midst of observing the caterpillars and drawing what we see, we went out to the milkweed by the school early this morning and promptly found two new caterpillars. While I know that whatever happened to our last caterpillar was after 12:30 and not done by anyone in the class, we talked about the importance of being very careful when we are around their house as they are quite delicate. We also talked about leaving the rest of the caterpillars in their natural environment, as two will be plenty for our purposes.

Today I introduced assigned seats on the rug and places in line. This strategy comes from Mr. Hubbard and seems to be quite effective. You will notice a yellow line taped to the floor and a blue circle on the carpet. Both are numbered. Students have each been assigned a number and this corresponds to their place in line as well as their place on the circle. I will reassign numbers periodically. My hope is that this system will help make transitions to a line or to circle faster because everyone will know exactly where to go, and will also help define personal space. Thank you Mr. Hubbard!

This morning when students arrived they had the option of going outside with Katie who is with us until 7:50. This worked really well and made the transition to Morning Meeting much smoother. We will keep trying this on nice days until the colder weather sets in.

Today we spent a little bit of time discussing rules, or ways we need to be in the classroom to have a successful year. We will continue this discussion over the next several days and then establish a small list of classroom rules for the year.

We have been doing a little bit of yoga each day to break up our listening times, get children moving, and hopefully help them feel energized and focused! Some students have been reluctant participants which is fine, but if they choose not to join us they need to sit quietly at a table. I am hoping that soon everyone will feel comfortable participating.

Today I began work stations, which is a time when students are working at various tasks in small groups. This will be a critical routine when I need to assess students and when I begin reading groups. One of the stations today was documenting what is happening with our caterpillars. In anticipation of this we read the book ish by Peter H. Reynolds. This is about a boy whose drawings never feel "right" until his sister points out that they don't need to be perfect, they can be treeish, mountainish, or in our case caterpillarish.

Please remember to send in $3.50 for the Flynn.

PLEASE NO MORE BACKOGONS or other toys at school. They are problematic even at snack and recess. Thank you.