Almost finished...

We have almost made it through our first week of school! Today was a great day-still a little chaotic and really noisy but a little more controlled chaos. We began our day talking about teamwork. We read, Chopsticks and then did a fun race with spaghetti. This took a lot of teamwork! We signed our Teamwork Contracts (A LOT of them need to learn their signatures!) and then read, The Sandwich Swap and found our O'clock partners. We discussed that O'clock partners were a good compromise between them picking partners and my wanting them to work with other people. :) Next, we brainstormed what Reading Is.... Then, we showed what reading looks like while picking just right books and reading independently for a little bit. Finally, it was time for Music, Lunch and Recess. But first, I read, Manners in the Lunchroom to remind them about cafeteria behaviors. Math was the focus of the first part of our afternoon by looking at what Math Is... Then, we compared and decided that math is very similar to reading. Students then picked a math tool and shared its uses with us. Finally, to finish up math, we completed a poster of Me, By the Numbers. What numbers did your kiddo use to describe themselves? Our day ended with setting up new passwords on the laptops and practicing using Google Apps and logging in. We will be using Google Apps and technology a lot this year and quite a bit independently so the more comfortable they are, the better. We cleaned up earlier than usual but then did it quicker than usual so we had a little extra time to answer some questions about our day--What did you do in special today? Pick a classmate and give him/her a compliment. Finally, I read, Going Places to them.