First Day Fun!

We had a GREAT first day today!  The kids started off by completing a "How I get home" graph by coloring in a picture of their transportation method.  We then graphed them as a class.  They also colored a "I have people who care about me" picture.  I'm holding on to these to give them back at the end of the year.  We will gradually make these into a book this week and next, which the kids will get back at the end of the school year.

We went over cafe rules and playground rules.  The kids used their listening ears and were very respectful of all the teachers who were giving directions.  After lunch we read the story First Day Jitters and we talked about how even teachers can be nervous on the first day.  The students were making text to self connections to the story and to the teacher in the book.

The students received their poetry folder today and tomorrow we will read through our first poem of the year - The First Day.  We will dig deep with this poem this week and look at vowels, consonants and interpreting what the poem means.

The kids really got to know each other through a "get to know you" grid they had to fill out. This came home with the kids.  They got most of it done on their own, and then we finished the rest in group time.  I was able to learn a lot about the boys and girls.

We did a small reading workshop time (about 15 minutes) with the Back to School books and the books on the tables.  I can tell this group is going to be awesome for reading time!  They loved ALL the books available to them and can't wait to see the others that are still "closed" to them at this point.  We open up a few tubs at a time so we can focus on the authors and topics at hand.  This allows them to really get to know the books and the authors.

At the end of the day, we did a writing piece.  My prompt to them was "What Do You Think Second Grade Will Be Like?" They had some pretty interesting answers, but over all they believe 2nd grade will be the best year yet and they are excited to have fun!

Tomorrow and the rest of the week, we are going to be looking at the habit, Beginning With The End In Mind.  We will focus on our goals for 2nd grade and what we expect to learn.  I will hear the children's expectations of me and vice versa. The beginning of the school year is a lot of practicing and repeating to get positive behaviors enforced right off the bat.  Thank you for your support with this!

This week, too we will be slowly transitioning into our normal schedule and routine.

Again and always, please let me know if you have any questions.  My door is always open!

anhurak@marysville.k12.oh.us

Mrs. Hurak