Our first full week of the school year is behind us! The kids are doing a nice job getting settled into the routines and expectations of fourth grade, and it was great meeting many families this week at our back-to-school Open House. In reading, we're almost done with our launch unit. This brief unit gets the kids acclimated to the reader's workshop model of instruction. We went over what is expected of students during interactive read-alouds, classroom discussions, and independent reading time. I also got to show off my classroom library to the kiddos. I'm so proud of all my books and the way the library is organized. I have colored bins according to genre, with each book labeled to match the bin it belongs in. All of the fiction chapter books are also leveled by Guided Reading Level, which is an alphabetized system based on complexity. I loved hearing the kids react to and jot down books that they are interested in checking out this year. During intervention, I've gotten started assessing students' Guided Reading Level. While doing so, students have been working independently or in small groups on challenging tasks that encourage them to use growth mindset self talk. These tasks include brain teasers, Sudoku, and tongue twisters. I'm really trying to emphasize the importance of positivity and perseverance in the classroom, and we'll be exploring and reinforcing the idea of having a growth mindset throughout the school year. 

Right now, I have my homeroom in the afternoons. This week we learned the steps of the writing process (brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, publishing) and put these steps into action by writing our own "Where I'm From" poems. Usually, carrying out the full writing process takes a lot longer than one week, but we used this hybrid version to get kids familiar with the five steps needed to produce a strong published piece of writing. They're almost done typing their poems, so we'll get to finish and print those out this upcoming week! Both homerooms also started yoga with our instructor Jess, who happens to be a former teacher. Mrs O'Keefe's homeroom had 40 minutes of yoga at the end of the day on Monday and Thursday, while my homeroom participated on Tuesday and Friday. We get to take part in this program for four weeks, and it's a really nice way to teach students how to access their inner calm and peace amidst the noise, and even stress, of the school day. For more information, check out their website at https://www.yogaforgood.net. 

Our Bucket Fillers this week were Shay and Miqueais. I was fortunate enough to spend time with Shay this summer as her reading tutor. She's wonderful, and I've been really impressed with her participation and attention in class. Miqueais has also been participating a lot, which is fabulous. Not only that, but he has almost always been the very first fourth grader to line up when we come grab the kids from the cafeteria after lunch. Now, if only we could start lassoing the rest of the herd just a tad quicker...