I'm so excited to share....

  All about my first week of school!

  I'm lucky enough to have stayed in the same classroom AND the same grade level. This is a first for me! That didn't calm my nerves at all. Sleep was my enemy that night!  

    Let me tell you that I was as nervous as the kids. I could see the anxiety in their sweet faces. I hope they couldn't see it in my face!   That Monday morning went well and quickly. We sorted all of our supplies (they get to keep their own things). We even got in some Kagan team building activities. If you walk into my room, you will rarely see my kiddos at their desks. They are always up and moving.  

 
Besides getting to know each other, the procedures, the rules, etc, we also started building our classroom community. We read The Juice Box Bully. We took the Bully Pledge. Each student signed their name and received an adorable card. I used ribbon to hand up the cards. You can find this activity in my ELA Resources for The Juice Box Bully product.

   That Monday ended with everyone smiling and going home the correct way! YES!!!!

Day 2 included the introduction to ELA centers. My ELA Resources for The Juice Box Bully was the perfect way to introduce centers. Everything I needed was there. That includes a technology piece. Students were able to scan the title page and it brought up a video to The Juice Box Bully. My vocabulary cards were also scan-able. This allowed the students to check their work right there and then.

 Centers went smoothly all week! SCORE one for the teacher. 

We also started math. Each day we started math by writing in our math journals. These are from Ashleigh's Education Journey. They are perfectly aligned with what I teach. The kiddos really enjoy writing in them.

I'm a firm believer in building a strong classroom community. I want my students to know they are cared about, not just by me, but by everyone in the classroom. We spent lots of time building classroom community. 
We watched Brave by Sara Bareilles. I didn't tell them why I was showing this video. They discussed the reasons together and then told me. It was eye opening for a lot of them. The lesson was to let the kiddos know that in OUR class, it is okay to be themselves and to show their creativity!
      We also completed activities from my Get Your Kindness On pack.  Included in this pack is a piece about Kid President.
    Never heard of Kid President? Google him and watch his videos. Grab some tissues. Some of his videos are beyond powerful. The kiddos really really really LOVED watching him. They asked each day to watch it. So we did.    All in all, it was the perfect week. I'm blessed with great kiddos that are eager to learn.   How was your first week back? Leave comments below to let me know.    SMILES!