Even though a certain football team lost this week, it was still a good one in room 210. We spent ELA block goal setting, exploring our classroom library, and getting into our reader's workshop routine. My favorite day was when I 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. It is put in 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 they are interested in. I'm in the process of testing the students to figure out their Guided Reading Level, but it'll take a few weeks.

I had my homeroom for social studies and writing this week. I filled the kids in on one of our missions of the school year: to learn all 50 states. We kicked off this mission with some team-building puzzle making and a "Man in the Map" read aloud. I taught them my silly tricks for remembering certain states' locations. Check out the "For Students" section for some fun games to practice the states!

We picked our first Bucket Fillers of the school year and they were Brent and Cam! Brent has had such an awesome start to the year. He's been on his best behavior and has been working hard on his Quick Writes each day. Cam also has been putting in effort. He has even done some extra homework! He's been participating in class and helping his classmates. Congrats boys!