Thanks to a Teacher

The first week of school is always an adjustment for everyone! Several activities we engage in are drawing self portraits, telling about ourselves, and going over our 4 principles that govern our school. ( Kindness, Respect, Responsibility, and Positive Attitude)

 Working together on a seek and find gets the morning off to a good start!

 Third graders really do love to draw themselves  - self portraits

 We do a cooperative small group activity of our 4 principles. I write each principle on a separate sheet of chart paper. Students are divided into 4 table groups. I ring a bell and they collaborate on words that describe the principle on their sheet. Example: Kindness - looks like: helping someone with a math problem, sharing on the playground... When the bell rings again (3 -4 min.), each group moves to a different table and the process continues. I ask then not to repeat what has already been written down.

 This activity really makes them think and take ownership of each principle.

After all rotations are complete, we get back together as a group and discuss each one. It never ceases to amaze me how right on they are with their comments.

All 4 sheets are posted in the room for us to reflect and add to as the year progresses. Another beginning of the year activity is celebrating our summer reading. Each year our media specialist chooses a theme for summer reading. This year it was Surf into Summer. We celebrated with a Beach Party Celebration.

 All third graders brought beach towels to school and the teachers got leis and popsicles for the celebration. We went outside under our campus center and spread out the towels, sat with friends, and told each other about the books we read over the summer.

It was one big book talk, let me tell you!