The first day...all over again! :-)

After only knowing these students for three days, it was kind of like meeting them all over again after a three-day weekend! Well, not really...but it did feel like we'd been apart for a long time! I hope that everyone enjoyed the long weekend and was able to get outdoors to enjoy the absolutely perfect weather. Everyone seemed ready to be back and school and eager to do all we did today--which was a lot! As I said in the post below, I think photos often say it best, so here's a bit about our day in photographic form.

We have now finished two major components of our "All About Me" self portrait project. Students have decorated a name plate that will be displayed in the classroom below his/her self portrait and they each painted a background paper for their collage self portrait. Tomorrow, we'll begin the color mixing with paint to create our own skin color for the head and neck for our portraits. It seems that most first graders like to paint, so I'll be sure to include painting in many of our activities and at free choice time in the future.

Mrs. Hughes and I try to get our classes together as much as possible. Today, our classes got together for a read aloud. Mrs. Hughes read The Best Place to Read to help kick off our Reading Workshop. The students were an absolutely AMAZING audience!

I introduced the whiteboard routine during our math time today. We will use small dry erase boards frequently in whole group and small group instruction. Today, students practiced the "write-show-erase" routine. Ask your child for more details. After a warm up activity, students practiced proper formation of the numbers 1 and 2. I was impressed with how many students struggled at first with writing the number 2, but got it after a little perseverance and practice. Hooray, first graders! I used the interactive whiteboard and iPad to help with modeling proper formation of these numbers as well. After our whiteboard practice, students had a chance to "meet" their math journals. These workbooks will be kept at school for independent and guided practice during our Math Workshop. Students seem to like their new journals! 

And, finally, I am SO pleased that this is a class that really seems to enjoy books and reading. When students finish early and at various points throughout our day, students can choose a book to read somewhere in the room. Our classroom library has been a popular place to relax with a book. I hope to keep this enthusiasm going throughout first grade and beyond! (This photo was taken sometime last week.)