I type this blog post from an airplane...on my way back to cold, wet Boston from the sunny, warm weathers of Florida. Yup, the kids had a substitute today (hopefully I'll get a good report...), as I booked this trip towards the beginning of the school year as a quick getaway to look forward to during the often-hectic months of September and October. I don't like being out, but taking a personal day once or twice a year is a necessity.

It was great getting the chance to check in with so many parents/guardians during round two of conferences on Thursday. Though the meetings are brief, their brevity allows for the opportunity to meet with more families, which is especially important as kids progress through the grade levels and have more than one teacher.

We started our nonfiction unit this week, and we kicked things off with a variety of activities to activate student's prior knowledge of this genre. We played Kahoot on our Chromebooks, did an online scavenger hunt, and explored the assortment of texts in the nonfiction section of our classroom library. While we will primarily focus our reading lessons on strategies for understanding nonfiction texts, I'll do my best to make sure we still find time for students to read their fiction independent reading books. We also started reading the book Wonder as a class, which I try to fit in most days, even if it's just for a few minutes. It's important that we're continuing to explore the elements of fiction, particularly when it comes to understanding characters in a fiction text.

Our Bucket Fillers this week were Logan B. and Jack. Logan B. is one of those kids who can make you smile on the hardest of days. He is just so genuine and kind, and he really impressed me with his participation during our nonfiction lessons and discussions this week. And Jack's skills when it comes to all things technology? Also incredibly impressive. He is a computer whiz. Between his Youtube channel, knowledge of Scratch, use of QR Codes, and just overall natural understanding of how to navigate a Chromebook, he has become our classroom's go-to support when computer issues pop up. Not only is it helpful having a Chromebook expert in class, having an expert who's willing to help others is even better. Great job, boys!