As I walked down the hall after lunch duty today, I overheard a first grade teacher saying, "I hate the first day of school!" No doubt, first grade is definitely harder than fourth. By the time I get them, they already know the rules and how to walk in the hall (they just forget after the second week...) But, I honestly had the best first day of school that I can recall! I have one of the brightest (if not THE brightest) class I've ever had. If you're a frequent reader, then you know that I am teaching reading & writing all day this year to two classes. By the end of the day, I had seen both classes, gone over procedures, did our getting-to-know-you activities, and -I kid you not- my students were asking, "Can we read now?"
O-M-G!
Some facts about this group of kids, and you can make a judgment about whether or not things are correlated:
1. This class was our district's first group of all-day kindergarteners.
2. Last year, our entire building taught Daily 5/CAFE.
3. All but one of my students attended our school last year.
I am just so excited about where things are going to head this year! My hubby reminded me tonight when we were talking that I say this every year, but I am not only saying it, I am feeling it this year!
And in case you are wondering, I did allow my students to pick out books and read, even though we ran out of time to talk about good-fit books and the 5-finger rule. That will come tomorrow, along with the official launch of Daily 5.
Do you read Goldie Socks and the Three Libearians when teaching the 5 finger rule? My 4th graders loved it and then they practiced it with their books they chose. I had a few students abandoning books because they were not good fits for new books.
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome about the reading! I envy you!
ReplyDeleteHope your second day was a great one!