Week 3... check!

Wow, we are done with week 3!! This week was really great! I finally got to see some routine in place and expectations being understood. (It was questionable there for a bit!) Thankfully, by Thursday, the weather cooled down some here and we were able to end our day in happy moods! It has been so hot the past couple weeks. With no air, by the end of the day, I usually had 30 cranky first graders.

Minus the heat, there are a ton of wonderful things occurring in Room 107. Check it out:

First of all, we learned the 7 Habits of Happy Kids. I tell you what... it's INCREDIBLE! If you are unfamiliar with this program, check out the book by Stephen Covey. While teaching in Florida, my school started to go through the program for becoming a "Leader in Me" school. However, I moved and only received some of the training. I have taken what I did learn here to my classrooms in Illinois and have had an overwhelmingly positive response. This week, we finished learning about all the habits. Hearing a 6 year old talk about how they "synergized," or "sharpened the saw" is AWESOME! These are habits that we all use each day, so why not teach them while they're young!

As a part of our Daily 5, we have been doing a lot of monitoring of comprehension. To help the students do this, we have used post it notes to write down thoughts and "Mr. Check-in!" The students love having this bookmark next to them while they read. I have modeled how to complete this and they are really doing a nice job catching on!

During math time, we have been completing a lot of review. I am so excited to start math workshop soon. I think it is so beneficial for the students and will be eager to differentiate my instruction. Some of my 1st graders are on 3rd grade levels, so it should be interesting! Check out this cool game we played to compare numbers: 

The students used decks of cards to flip over and create numbers. Then, they recorded these on their sheets and compared them. It was great because some students were able to use single digit, while others were going up to the thousands. They loved it! 

Although there was a lot of other stuff going on in our classroom, these two things are important too: 

I don't usually treat myself to Starbucks, but last night I was SO tired, I skipped the gym, went to bed at 6:30 and was asleep by 7:30. Yes, I slept until my alarm went off!!! Needless to say, I didn't get my lunch, coffee, breakfast, or anything ready. So figured, I should treat myself!! Then the picture of the Coke Zero and donuts are from my teaching partner. You see, she's about 26 weeks pregnant and had a craving today, so stepped out to get something. Because she's wonderful, she also thought of me and brought me back a treat! As I mentioned in another post, remember to take care of YOU! It's simple things like this that "fill my bucket." 

Finally, there are two exciting things coming up:

September Facebook Frenzy and Friday Fall Freebie! Be sure to head over to our Facebook page for more details. You will need to like the page to get a freebie! 

Have a blessed weekend everyone!

Crystal :)