First Day of School

What a whirlwind of a day!  We started out our day on a tour of the playground and lunch room to review behavior expectations and procedures for those places.  We got to practice going to lunch.  =)

We learned a LOT of procedures for our classroom today too.  We started out by learning about how we line up and walk in the hall. We read a book called My School's a Zoo and it was a real riot.  It was filled with craziness and chaos.  This started our conversation about what we want our own classroom to be like.  We learned some new words like chaos and anarchy.  Chaos is when things get wild and crazy and out of control and anarchy happens when someone doesn't care about the rules and does whatever they want.  This of course leads to chaos.  We all agreed we didn't want a classroom filled with chaos. 

We also read The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash.  Jimmy's boa causes chaos on a school field trip to the farm.  We used this story to learn about the four levels of social behavior.  The highest level, Democracy/level 4 is when someone makes the right choices regardless of whether anyone is looking.  They do the right thing just because it's the right thing to do.  Level 3, Cooperation, is when someone does the right thing because they are hoping to avoid punishment or gain a reward.  Level 2, Bossing, is when someone only makes the right choices when bossed or reminded by someone in authority.  Level 1, Anarchy, is when someone ignores the rules and does whatever they want.  The children will be learning to use these levels to reflect on their own behavior.


The children drew pictures and wrote about ways that they could model responsible and respectful choices in our classroom.

We got to go to music class with Mrs. Rynders this morning.  The kids got to sing and play instruments and had a great time.

Lunch was a little chaotic.  There was a little mix up with lunch numbers and this caused some long lines in the cafeteria.  Tomorrow will be much smoother now that children all know their lunch numbers. 

After lunch we had some time to relax and read some of the books they shopped for at Back to School night.  It was exciting to see the kids enjoying their books.  We can't wait to start reader's workshop tomorrow afternoon. 

Later in the afternoon we practiced bus dismissal procedures with the whole school.  We wanted to make sure everyone knew exactly where to go and what to do at the end of the day.  It made the afternoon dismissal time much smoother.  I'm excited about the change in dismissal procedures this year.  It is a welcome change.

Our first gym class was today.  The kids came back just a tad bit tired.  Just a reminder that the kids should wear gym shoes to school on Wednesdays and Thursdays. 

At the end of the day we learned about the items available for indoor recess and the children had a little time to play with friends. 

Today was a day of procedures and rules.  Tomorrow we will be diving into our regular routines and the fun will begin.  =)