How is it already October?? Now that the school year has gotten into the swing of things, time seems to just fly by.

One of my favorite things in the world is handwritten letters. I love the personal touch they add. From the time they took to write the letter, to getting to see their handwriting, to the stationary, the sweet words in the letter - there is so much I love about them! This year, I decided to write letters to each family in my class. I've always thought about doing this. It seems like our conferences, which are in October, don't happen until the school year has been going for a while and I really wanted a way to let the parents know how things are going before then. 

I wasn't sure if all the effort would be that worth it in the end. For me, it was nice to reflect on each child. For the parents, they LOVED this! I got so many nice notes from the parents about how much the letters meant to them. I will definitely be doing this every year from now on! 

Just Like Me!

During our morning meeting this morning, I LOVED our morning meeting activity. Some background: Yesterday, we made mini-versions of ourselves and learned that no 2 people are alike and that our differences make each of us special! So this morning during our meeting, I had the students go around in a circle and share something that made them special. For example: I have 1 sister. Then everyone who that statement was true for too would sit up, point to themselves, & say "Just Like Me!" Literally, such a sweet way to start the morning! 

My next favorite were these scientists we made. I always wish my science lessons had a craft to go with it to work on those fine motor skills.  Well after reading about sweet Ada Twist, we talked about what a scientist does. The students then made themselves as scientists and wrote a wondering they have. 

DISASTER MASTER

So after lunch, the students came into the classroom to a HUGE disaster. Tables were flipped over, books were knocked out everywhere, papers were just thrown about, all of our math materials were dumped over, etc. We soon discovered that our class mascot Stripes, had had some fun while we were at lunch.

We decided we needed to make some classroom agreements so that everyone would know what the expectations were and we wouldn't have this happen again.  The students were more than happy to do this as they did not want to pick up another mess left by Stripes, or anyone else for that matter. They even signed their names at the bottom of the agreement to make sure of it ;)  

Bonus: At some point today, one of my firsties raised his hand several times & asked several questions in a row. After asking them he commented loudly to himself "I sure ask a lot of questions." #selfawareness #bless

  Wow - long time no write, huh?

Where has all the time gone?? As I put up our balloons for our ABC Countdown last week it didn't really even feel like the "end" yet. But either way, it is here.

I wanted to quickly highlight one of my favorite routines/activities I have set up in my classroom. Usually, I set this up around October but this year it took me a little longer. Once I finally got to doing it my thought was "Why did I put this off?? Now everything is easier, better for the students - it's just the best!!" 

Here's to hoping I remember how wonderful this set up is at the beginning of next year!! ;)

Having plenty of purposeful activities for the students to do is so important in the classroom - they learn, they stay engaged, it's just great! Here is what I have set up for my students who finish their work quickly. 

Each of the sticks (in the blue cup) have a student's name written on them (I took this before school started so I hadn't written names yet).  When a students finishes his/her work, they can be creative and choose an activity to do: their anything & everything journal, a math tub activity, computer work, a word work activity, ipad work, or work on writing.

When they pick an activity, they can put their name stick in the pocket that corresponds with the activity. There is one rule though: there can only be 4 people at a choice.

The activities on this board are ones that are differentiated & that the students also do during other times of the day.  For example: work on writing also happens during literacy stations. This is great because the students can work at their own level & they don't need any instruction because they already know about them.

Typically, I wait until the 4th week or so of school to introduce Creative Choice. Before then, I have the fast finishers work in their anything & everything journals - they can do anything (school appropriate) in these journals: write a story or poem, practice their handwriting, create math problems & solve them. 

Q: Why do seagulls fly over the sea?

A: Because if they flew over the bay, they would be called bagels!

{Who doesn't love a good cheesy joke?}

I decided to incorporate a Classic Joke Tuesday into my classroom (based off of Ellen Degeneres' Classic Joke Wednesday) and the students LOVE it!

Each Tuesday morning I write a joke (with many grammatical mistakes) on the board.  During the morning meeting, we work as a class to correct the joke.  Once the joke it written on the board correctly, it stays there until the end of the day (rewritten in a small corner so it doesn't take up too much space).  

Before they leave for the day, we take a few minutes to guess what it could be and then I share with them the answer.  

Today was the day my group of firsties have been waiting for! Class Jobs day! We spent the day filling out applications to see if we can get "approved" for these jobs.  The room let out cheers when we were all approved to help with our class jobs.

You can get the free printable by clicking on the picture above! Enjoy :)