The first two days of school focused on establishing our classroom rules and procedures. We described “expected” and “unexpected” behavior for group work and applied this to a several icebreakers, content from Youcubed.org, and the introduction of Confidence Buddies. Student completed job applications and signed their rental agreements.
We did our first Number Talks, Juicy Sentences and learned the basic of annotating complex text. In short, it has been a great two days!
It was a whirlwind of activity beginning Tuesday when we finally got into our classrooms. All told, 55 boxes were unpacked, 29 student desks built, a bean table and rectangular table constructed, and a whole lot of Activboard troubleshooting completed.
Those brown walls should soon be covered with student work and artifacts of their learning. That work begins day one!
Throughout the school year students will have opportunities to spend their money on items donated to the class. The number of things donated continues to grow and I cannot overstate how impressed I am when a company is willing to contribute to the culture of the classroom.
Our first auction will likely be in October after students have paid rent for use of their desks in September.
I had a chance to peek inside the classroom and take a look at where we will be working next year. Hard not to get excited by the upgrades including an ActivBoard Touch, new whiteboards, and ample space to share student work.
Room 360 