It's our first post of the 2018-2019 school year! We've been back to school for a day and a half, and so far, so good. Despite the stifling heat, the kids have been really well-behaved and engaged. The beginning of the school year always has to include classroom rules, routines, and expectations, which can get a bit dry at times. But we tried to integrate some fun get-to-know-you and team-building activities to keep the kids up and moving. We even dove into some school work with our first Quick Write of fourth grade.

I sent home a notice with some important information about our upcoming year together. One of the included items is our daily schedule, which looks a little bit different than third grade due to the departmentalized structure of our grade level. Friday Folders were also introduced in this letter. The kids were provided a daily homework folder, but have a separate folder for Fridays. Their Friday Folders will contain any school forms and handouts given that week, as well as corrected schoolwork. Part of their weekend homework will be to bring their Friday Folders back to school on Monday empty. We encourage parents/guardians to go over the feedback on any corrected work with their child, and of course to look over any notices sent home from the school/classroom. This system makes things a little more organized in the classroom, and makes it a routine to sort through any materials sent home once a week, rather than every night. That being said, if there is a notice that needs to be sent home urgently, it will be put in their daily homework folders the day we get it. To get us started with this weekly routine, students took home their Friday Folders prior to the long weekend with a few handouts from the school. Next week I'll be sending home a letter discussing some of my classroom routines and expectations.

On this weekly blog, I generally include photos from throughout the week. Well, my summer brain is clearly still alive and kicking, because I only took one picture over our first two days together. Below is my homeroom participating in a team-building activity that had them accomplishing a task without speaking. It was fun to watch them figure out ways to communicate outside of their voice! 

I'm looking forward to getting to know my new students, and I'm excited to work with them to foster their strengths as well as gain confidence and success when it comes to their areas of need. What's so nice about each new school year is that with a new year comes a fresh start. I'm super optimistic that we'll have a wonderful year together filled with not only academic learning gains, but also social and emotional growth.