Week 1

Week one was a blast!  I am so proud of my students.  (You've done a great job parents.)  This week we've done a ton of practicing routines (such as walking in the hallway, handing in papers, going to the bathroom, etc).  If they were too noisy or didn't do it right this week, they got to try again.  However, they all know that starting next week if they have to try again, their practice will be during recess.  We have tried to squeeze instruction-particularly reviews-in between practicing routines.  Here's what we've covered:

Behavior: Students have learned over and over and over in various ways that in Mr. Smith's class, we're all friends.  If I say, "What are we in Mr. Smith's class," they all know to fill in the rest of the sentence with "FRIENDS!"  Our morning routine includes a saying with actions.  To keep things engaging, every day we say the saying in a different voice (high, low, spooky, etc.) The saying is "I'm awesome. You're awesome.  We're awesome."  We've drilled them and read stories and role played and done other activities over and over and over regarding how to behave at school in general, at recess, on the bus, in the hall, etc.

Math: We've been reviewing counting, calendars, +1 facts, and writing the numbers 1, 4, and 5.  They have started and will continue to have a short math sheet for homework most nights.

Reading: Reading groups will start next week.  This week we've mostly read stories and reviewed letters.

Writing: We reviewed letters, and we've incorporated writing into science this week.

Science: This week, I've been introducing them to the concept of thinking like a scientist.  I'll introduce a question, and then they'll make a hypothesis.  Then we'll find out the answer.  We started by doing this with rocks and seashells.  (We also talked about how each rock and shell is special and unique, just like each person.)  I asked them what they thought would happen if a shell was covered in dirt for thousands of years.  They made hypotheses, and then I showed them a fossil.  Later in the week, they made hypotheses about what a rock looks like under a microscope, and then we got to see rocks under a microscope.


I took advantage of a natural learning opportunity when two students (I'll never name student names on this blog for privacy and safety reasons) caught a grasshopper at recess.  I let them keep it as a class pet.  We checked out books about grasshoppers, and now we're learning how to take care of our pet, which we've named, "Grassy!". . .Gotta love it!