I love the first day of school! This year was my first time being in the classroom for the whole first week. The first day was full of new backpacks, textbooks, and the new shoe smell! Student's filled our classroom with nervous, yet happy faces. We started the first day by introducing ourselves and have students create their desk name plates. I love how my CT and I are connected with our teacher beliefs. We both strongly believe in a student centered classroom. There was a lot of teacher talk happening on the first day (going over procedures, rules, and community building lessons), but that didn't stop us from having our students create their own classroom! Our 5th grade class collaborated together to form class rules, jobs, and a list of expectations they have for me and my CT. At the end of the first day my CT read aloud her favorite book, Thank You, Mr. Falker. Our class loved it! I think it important to read books with important life lessons during the first few weeks of school to teach children it is okay to make mistakes, it is okay if you are different, and that everyone is their own unique person.
As the first week went on I got to know my students be observing, group work, and community team building. As a class we created "Me Bags", consisting of tiny items that are all about you, and that really showed our diverse students how this class is a family. We may play different games or be friends with other people, but at the end of the day we are a class who respects each other and who is here to learn! The community building this week was amazing! By Wednesday our class was advancing in their math and literacy group talk. It was really awesome to see our class grow so strong in just the first week!
I taught my first fifth grade lesson on the second day of school. I was nervous, excited, and honestly a little scared. I was prepared for my lesson but for some reason worried my class wasn't going to like it. Luckily, that was not the case at all! My class loved my technology/writing lesson. I first gave a pretest about social media and asked my students what technology they have access to at home. From interning at a Title 1 school I had no idea what my students would have access to with technology. With all of the Florida State Standards testing being on the computer for fifth grade I want to teach my writing lessons then have them publish their writing on the computer. My lesson was a paper Me Blog. After the technology survey I showed my student THIS BLOG to teach them all about blogs and how we could create one for our classroom! They were hooked. Then student's created their home page. I asked them to complete it at home with pictures, tabs, and a page full of what matters most to them. The next day during our ELA block I had students push in their chairs and stand with a pencil and post it notes in their hands. Next, they traveled to every blog posting positive comments. I loved how serious the tone was in the room. They loved learning about each other! This really helped build our classroom family.
Look forward to seeing my 5th grade's class blog in my future posts! Definitely sticking with this writing idea, they love sing technology in the classroom!
Have a great second week of school,
Miss Honey
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