First Day Fun!

The first day of school is always an exciting time! Today 15 smiling faces entered our classroom and spent the day getting to know one another. The first few weeks of school will be filled with experiences meant will build up our classroom community and show students the expectations I have of them in first grade. I will spend much of my time getting to know each and every child, their strengths and areas for growth, their likes and dislikes, and the ways that they learn best. We will complete crafts and begin our learning in each subject area. Students will begin to internalize our routines and classroom procedures, and will always know what to expect. 

Now on to some of what we did today...

• We played POP! - This is a math game that we will play often in our class to reinforce skip counting concepts. Today we reviewed counting by 10s!
• We read Chrysanthemum and then made stick puppets to help us talk about friendship and kindness. We brainstormed possible responses to some basic social problems that might arise in our own classroom this year.
• We read First Day Jitters and students completed a short writing activity about their feelings on the first day of school today.
• We learned some of the attention signals that we will use this year, I introduced morning meeting and calendar time, and we reviewed our classroom rules. I have included our 5 rules below to reinforce and discuss at home. If students spend time in any other classroom on our 1st grade team, these rules will remain the same!

Classroom Rules/Expectations:

RESPONSIBLE

1. I will listen and follow directions the first time.

2. I will use my brain and always do my best.

SAFE

3. I will keep my hands, feet and objects to myself.

RESPECTFUL

4. I will respect and care for others.

5. I will raise my hand to ask or answer a question.