Running Back to School Tomorrow

The big question for today was how I create an atmosphere where students want to come back tomorrow. At the end of today I asked who would be returning and all students said yes. Our first day was not one where students sat at desks and listened to rules and routines all day. Students can choose where they want to sit in our classroom. Some students were standing at tables; others chose to sit at tables. Several were on the floor using small stools.

Students discovered they can have snack at their own choosing (except when near a hard cover book, tech tools, or someone is giving directions), gum chewing is allowed as long as it is not a distraction and does not end up on furniture, and they can go to the bathroom before and after lunch without asking.

Many marveled at all the choices and others were overwhelmed with having the freedom to make those choices. We work diligently the first few weeks of school building relationships and community.

Students received their agent numbers today, and these numbers chose them. Think about Harry Potter and his sorting hat if you have read the movies or seen the book. Each child comes up to the agent sorting mug and chose a stick. Some were anxiously waiting for the number that popped out. We read over our classroom creed, which was a powerful experience. I love discussing each item with students as they begin to ponder where they fit into our classroom and the universe.

Students got a tour of our classroom, discovering our room jobs and reading corner. We also saw we have a bothering box and smile o gram box. The bothering box is for students to write down problems they are having (they can email me too), and the smile o gram box is a place for compliment writing when we catch classmates doing something nice. We reviewed classroom guidelines and consequences. Click here to see what we discussed.

We came together following lunch for our first read aloud - Everyone Poops and The Gas We Pass. We then had a serious conversation about bathroom etiquette, as well as what to do when you have to pass gas in school. The words excuse me are great and the rest of us continue with whatever we are working on. There is no need to laugh or wonder where it came from.  Students can also use the bathroom in the nurse should they have to go and want to be in a more private space. Tomorrow students will hear The Holes in Your Nose. 

Students created shelf markers for our library. They are allowed to take out two books to leave in their book boxes and also have a classroom library card to take 1 book home. Please make sure your child returns the book when he or she is finished. If you ever need book suggestions please do not hesitate to ask. Students received a whole lot of materials too! Everything your child should need was provided to him or her.  

We had to activities today to create our hallway bulletin boards. The first asked students to create a visible selfie. You might be wondering what that means. Click here to learn more! We did some goal setting and discussed what it means to be successful in school. We created paper tweets of our goals, learning about how many characters Twitter actually allows. They learned about their agent hashtags and began to see social media as a tool to connect with others and enrich their lives.  I hope they all reach their goals by June! Thank you for sharing your most precious gift with me and welcoming me into your lives. I look forward to seeing all our agents tomorrow. 

Photo taken from Creative Commons