Friday, August 21, 2009

The Big Day.

Today was the Big Day! It was the first day of school! I greeted my 14 fourth graders with a smile and a handshake this morning, trying not to let on to them that I was way more nervous than they were. Breakfast was a little hectic, but I've got a great group of well-behaved kids, so it really went fine. It was hard for me to prepare for this just because I wasn't quite sure what to expect! They were all very quiet at first, even though their activity involved talking to their classmates. After a little encouragement, they were finally up and moving, for which I was thankful!
I introduced Morning Meeting, which could not have gone much smoother! The kids seemed to like it and had fun with our activity, focused on finding similarities among our class members. I joined in this activity also, which I think inspired a bit more participation. I will definitely keep this observation in mind!
My favorite part of the day was when we created our Writer's Notebooks and had our first Quickwrite! :) Coming from classes where they did little writing before, they were, needless to say, very hesitant and unsure of themselves. With questions about spelling and lack of topic, I simply encouraged them to write. I also allowed small pictures along with their writing. Going out on a limb (and very unsure of myself) I asked the group if anyone would like to share what they wrote (hoping for at least 1 to volunteer) and I had 8 hands go up! I was so excited! After my ethnography during OSUWP about the community that quickwrites build, I was hoping to have success using it in my classroom, and I feel like it started off on the right foot! That was the highlight of my day. :)

There was one activity that didn't go quite as planned, in which the students just seemed bored. I'll be throwing that one out for next year! I also realized some unclear directions during one activity also. I'm just learning as I go along!

We managed to get to specials, lunch, and dismissal on time, which, I think, allows me to call the day a success! Whew!

I'm so pumped to do this again tomorrow! :)

Praising God for a wonderful day,
Miss Davis

1 comment:

  1. do you know what this means??


    PICTURESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS please please pleaes OH PLEASE POEASE PLEASE i love kids!!!!!

    im SO excited for you! you hve no idea! my chest like sweellllledup with happy reading this! im so exccciiitteedd... an di cant wait to hear about stuff!

    im in a ahurry so i gtg... ill elaborate later AND i promise i havent forgotten about your emails-- ive just been SUPER swamped.. lotsa surprises and things going on

    KEEP UPDATING! i will live vicariously through you my dear

    ~Karen

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