Wonderful Start to the Week

The children had a great day back from the long weekend! I was surprised at how much they remembered about our daily routines from last week. I love to watch all of the new friendships blossom! These first six weeks of school are spent getting to know each other, learning classroom routines and expectations, and participation in guided discoveries of classroom materials. Guided Discoveries help students to understand how to use and care for classroom materials so that the materials can be readily accessible for academic activities later. We have begun to weave our initial Social Studies Unit called "The Story of Me" into these beginning weeks. In this unit, the children will learn about how people have unique qualities that make each and every one of us special. I have begun initial assessments in literacy and math. This will help me begin to gather information on each child so that I can begin to group children for small group activities in math and literacy. Activities for small group work may include students being grouped by ability and at other times by topic interest. I always try to integrate our theme topic throughout the curriculum as I am planning for instruction (currently "The Story of Me"). Please be sure to ask your child about the following: The Marble Reward Jar, Chee Chee Cha, Razzama Tazzama, Hopes and Dreams Clouds, Calendar Math shape patterns, our new classroom Elmo and projector, Choice Time Centers, and our classroom expectation that the children worked together to create which they identified as "Be your best self"! I will post photos from the first 5 days of school tomorrow. Have a relaxing evening.