First Day Finished!

What an awesome first day!

I am SO glad I didn't spend today going over procedures and rules, because I got to know more about my students by doing what we did! We started with Either/Or, which kind of worked, but wasn't a huge hit in some classes, and that's ok! I ended it at 5 rounds, and some classes seemed a little disappointed, they were hoping to do more rounds. I think this is good, because we can always go back to it if we have extra time!

I totally over planned, but it was fine, because there wasn't too much downtime. Tomorrow we will finish the post-it charts in a few periods (the 28 minute ones), and go over procedures and the syllabus. It won't be the most exciting day ever, but that's ok!

The post-it charts went really well. The students did them exactly as planned, and no one grumbled AT ALL about it. I had some pretty funny responses, too.

Funniest responses of the day:

What can Mrs. White need to do to help me learn this year?

1. Teach me how to Dougie

Our classroom should be ____________ every day.

1. Insane (there was another really funny one, but I can't remember off the top of my head, I will add it tomorrow.)

After they put up their post-its, I divided them into six groups and gave each of them one of the charts. I asked them to analyze the responses from their class period and determine which one was seen most often. They collaborated in their groups and then wrote the response on the poster, removing their post-its. They also wrote their response in the color of their post-its. i.e. The class period with blue post-its used a blue marker.

A lot of students asked where all my owls went, and I let them know I was getting a little tired of them, and they were kind of creeping me out a little bit with a million eyes staring at me, lol!

My LA2 classes worked on their writer's notebooks, and completed the writing inventory by the end of the period, and a few kids even attempted the word of the day! There is just something so gratifying about seeing a student grab a dictionary. :)

Best parts of today:

1. Talking with my new 7th graders about books. Since I have each group twice, I felt like I really got to know them already today. We had a few minutes left at the end of the period so I said, "You could work on the Word of the Day, or checkout my classroom library." I couldn't believe how many students booked it over to the library and were browsing. We talked about their favorite books, and they asked me for recommendations, it was great!
2. Having my 7th graders walk in to my room for class and feeling like absolutely no time had passed. It was just an amazing feeling, and I was looking forward to seeing them ALL DAY!

Needless to say, this was the best first day back I have ever had. I am so excited for this school year, I think I might be dreaming. I did have a nightmare this morning that I woke up and it was 10:30 am and I had missed half of the first day. I was so upset and told myself, in the dream, that I must be dreaming and somehow managed to wake myself up! Phew!!

I will add pics to this post tomorrow, I forgot to take them today of our post-it charts!