1st Day of School

I survived my sixth 1st day of school teaching 4th graders.  I must say, I am one lucky teacher.  My class is amazing!  They are lively, energetic, full of personality, and loads of fun.  This is going to be a great year.

Here is a play by play look at our schedule for the day:

8:40  Students arrived - I anxiously stood in the hallway to greet my new fourth graders.  When they arrived, they read the morning message, found their new desk, hung their backpack off their chair, and quietly started their morning work.

9:00  Announcements

9:05  Morning Meeting / Get to Know You Activities - Our school follows Responsive Classroom.

9:30  Supplies - I created labels for each student with their name and subject.  It makes labeling their belongings a lot easier.  We just go through what they were suppose to bring, slap a label on each item, and I collect them or they place them in their desks.  If students are missing an item I use this time to provide them with it.

10:00  Student Ice Breaker - Find Someone Who .... activity.

10:25 Read Aloud - First Day Jitters (One of my favorite books)

10:45  Bathroom Break

10:55  Lunch

11:25  Read Aloud - Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing - Chapter 1 (Another one of my favorite books)

11:45  Ice Breaker - People to People Game

11:55  Reading - I taught a mini lesson on how to find books in our classroom library and how we use our book bins.  Students selected books and spent 20 minutes independently reading.  Then we grouped back together to share one good book we found in the library.

***I pulled students aside during independent reading to snap a quick pic of them holding our 1st Day of 4th Grade Frame!***

12:40  Snack - "Nuts and Bolts"

12:45  Math - Our first unit is place value.  I have lots to share about math so I am going to save it for a future post.

1:55  Art - I used this time to send a quick email to parents containing the pics we took during independent reading!

2:40  Lockers - Our school was once the middle school.  Each student, in 3rd - 5th grade, is provided with a locker and locker combination.  We spend the first few days just practicing how to open the locker and then by the end of the week we start using them to hold all our "stuff".

3:00  End of the Day Routine

3:24  Bus Dismissal Begins

Although it is hard to tell just by looking at the schedule above, a huge portion of our day was spent going over classroom routines, expectations, and practicing procedures over and over!  The hard work we put in now will definitely pay off in the end!

Congrats to my giveaway winners:  Kristin Adamson Buford, Heather Bevington, and Meghan Franklin Bennett.  You will all be receiving an email from me shortly!  Thanks to every one who entered!

I hope tomorrow turns out to be just as fabulous!  Now for some much needed rest, relaxation, and comfort food!  Can we say Pizza Hut?