It's for real this week.....

How crazy is it that our first week of school has already gone by. Last week was the get to know you week but this week is for real. As I sat and worked on my plans today I became more excited because I like the fun stuff but not the rule stuff. I know we will still practice procedures this week but I am looking forward to introducing my firsties to Reader's and Writer's workshop. To me it is the beginning of making authors and readers. I love to see the progress that my students make in a year. This week I am launching my writer's unit with lots of modeling and thinking out loud. My students love to see what I am going to write about. I try to keep it as simple as possible to teach students that any moment can be a small moment for them to write about. Since beginning using these Lucy Caulkins Units of study I no longer have students who whine and say "I don't have anything to write about." This is one reason why I love teaching the workshop method. 

New School Year's Resolution

As the beginning of a new school year is just days away and we have been busy getting our room ready, I began to think about how our profession is not like any other. Our new year begins in August and just like in January, as we make New Year's Resolutions, this year I wanted to make a New School Year's Resolution. This year our school is being merged with a low performing school that was closed by our county. Students from this school will be bused into our area. We want to do everything we can to make this transition as smooth for parents and students as possible. I read a great article from Education To The Core about how to build a successful classroom community. The thing that stuck out the most to me was how listening to our students is very important and I think for us this year more than ever. Students need to know we care about them and by listening to them we show that we are interested and therefore become invested in their lives. I have decided to have a share time each morning as a part of our morning meeting. I will choose different students each day to share something, by doing this I hope to not only build trust within my classroom but let students know that I am interested in more than just their academics. I would love to hear how you build community within your classroom. I've included the link to the article below

Up and Running

Can I just take a minute to say how in love I am with our awesome blog design from Blogs Fit For a Queen!! Thank you ladies. Not only are they talented but they are awesome to work with.