It's great to be in grade three!

Hi, everyone!  We just wrapped up our first week of third grade.  It was a hectic week, including a birthday, a few tears, lots of hugs, and a broken arm, but despite the ups and downs, we all survived the first week of school.  I spent most of the week teaching rules, procedures, and expectations, peppered with several getting-to-know-you activities, a lesson about tattling vs. reporting, and some activity-based "brain breaks."  We also worked on becoming "bucket fillers" (based on the book, Have You Filled a Bucket Today?) and we ended our week with a celebration where we recognized students who were kind, helpful, and caring bucket fillers.

During our second week, we will continue to work on classroom procedures and we will try a new desk arrangement: groups instead of a horseshoe.  We will also continue to focus on the school code (be safe, be respectful, be responsible) in a variety of settings, including the classroom, bathroom, hallway, cafeteria, playground, etc.  Hopefully by the end of the week (after lots more modeling and practice), students will understand and be able to follow the routines and expectations of our classroom and our school so that we can begin working on our academic learning targets during week three.  It may seem crazy to spend the first two weeks of school focusing solely on routines, procedures, and expectations, but when you consider how many little routines and transitions there are throughout the school day, you may be surprised!

I have LOVED getting to know each student over the past week, and I can't wait to see what week two has in store for us! :-)