While it was an organizational day for the most part, we did get to do some actual work today! We started by doing a mini-reading and writing workshop where we focused on thinking about how a story can be meaningful for an author and for us as readers. The kids then did a great job looking for meaning in stories that they chose from the book shelf to read independently. For writing, they continued thinking about meaning and spent some time coming up with ideas for meaningful stories that they wanted to write. I can't wait to see how they develop these ideas into full stories later on!
We were also introduced to our class's patron saint, Saint Cecilia! Rather than just telling the kids about her, the students were given the task of learning as much about her as they could by researching her on the iPads. I was very impressed with the teamwork and the quality of the information found. Picking out the most important facts can be a tricky skill, so I'm glad they are already great at doing this! I actually learned a few things today too!
This afternoon was also super busy! We started with a math pre-assessment after lunch. Most of the students made it about halfway through before we ran out of time, so we'll finish that up tomorrow. I can already tell that we have a lot of great thinkers, so math should be a breeze! We also talked about First in Math, which I am excited to be using again this year! This kids also seemed excited, so I can't wait to get started with that too (we're waiting on the usernames from the company, so as soon as they come in we'll get going on that).
We also quickly discussed social studies and science before the end of the day. One really exciting event this week is a "Mystery Skype" that we'll be doing on Friday for social studies. Throughout the year, we'll be Skype-ing with 50+ classes from all the different states in our country. Part of the mystery is discovering where the other class is from using just yes/no questions! I'm pretty excited and the kids seemed really interested too! I'll be sure to post some pictures when we are done on Friday.
So, that was our super busy day! It was very hot, so I recommend holding off on the sweaters until it cools off a bit. Even in the winter my room tends to be warm (sweltering really), so it is wise to dress in layers so adjustments can be made if needed.
I think that's it for now - I'm a bit exhausted! Let me know if you have any questions or if there is anything I can help you with!