First week of school...check!

Well, hello! Thank you so much for sharing your children with me this week. They were just as thrilled to be here as I was, and we had quite a ride. Many of our activities focused on building our classroom community together. As you saw on our first post, we began with our classroom rules and establishing routines, and yesterday and today we have continued to focus on those positive qualities while getting ourselves back into the routines of school. 

Yesterday during our Morning Meeting we discussed Mission (a common goal or purpose) and Vision (what inspires us to achieve our goal), and THE STUDENTS wrote out ours. The wisdom that they have at this age is astounding! Here is what they came up with...

...we decided I need to figure out how to create a huge banner with these to hang front and center above our white board.

Today was day 1 of writing workshop and math. I heard a lot of groaning, but not when I told them that we were going to start math...when I told them that we were done with our lesson for the day! LOL!

Last, but not least...here is a little treat for you in two options!

Blog update...new design chosen & installation on the way! Woohoo!!!

First day of fourth grade 2014!

Hello everyone! We had such a great day!!! I'm going to make you wait for the pictures I took of all the kids until I get them "put together," but here are a few other snapshots of pieces of our classroom that I thought you'd like!

Our room pre-Back to School Night. Just for the record, I'm not behind on setting up. :) I intentionally begin with blank bulletin boards and work with students to fill them with evidence of our learning. It won't be long before we run out of wall space and I start contemplating how to suspend anchor charts from the ceiling!

Our classroom rules are very simple...We take CARE of each other, and we take CARE of our learning. As we talked about what that truly means and brainstormed words that would describe the qualities we each need to have this year, I was astounded by the wisdom coming out of these kids. I quickly realized that the ones listed here are just the beginning, and we will definitely need to add an additional CARES. Once we get that completed I will post an update!

Our morning routine...

End of the day routine...

Our first Morning Message...

First addition to our bare walls...our daily schedule! 

Can't wait for day 2!