First Day of School!

The first day has come and gone.  There were moments when it seemed like time stood still.  There were moments when it seemed as if time were flying by. But all in all, I survived.

Responsive Classroom approach seemed to have gone well today.  I am guilty of having a few more "You"s in my directions and corrections rather than "I"s.  The morning meeting seemed to have run a bit long for the kids and they were quite antsy by the time we were finished.  I, personally, felt a little bit disorganized with them.  I will try to have a smoother approach tomorrow.

The students did some guided discovery of crayons and pencils (regular & colored) today.  Tomorrow, they will do some guided discovery with pens (fat & skinny markers), and that should take care of our introduction to supplies.
It was a rainy day, so the students had limited play outside.  But I needed them to be out there since I didn't feel like I could let them have free reign over the classroom during an "indoor recess" time. We just hadn't gone over how to take care of all of the materials (ie. computers, art center, loft, dress-up, etc) just yet.

We began launching Daily 5/CAFE, with our discussion of how to read a book.  I read and discussed "Good Dog, Carl" to emphasize reading the pictures, and read "The Kissing Hand" to emphasize the words - and also to make a text-to-self connection for the first day of school.

The students also wrote the first part of "The First Days of School" class book.  They will finish it tomorrow. 

Well, the students are gone, I'm wiped out.  It's time to head home to lovingly do my other job - being a mom!  =)  Have a great day!

-jt-