First Day of School!

9.7.10
Schedule for the (half) day:

8:20 - EMA (early morning activity), read morning message
Answer "Guess Who?" questions - give four clues as to who you are (I have blue eyes, I love math, I love to listen to the Beatles, and I love reading), then provide a code name (emsta).

8:35 - Morning Meeting (literally just completed a final paper about this last night at 11:00 pm)
Students gather around in a circle and greet each other by name and with a high five. Then, everyone goes around and says his/her name as fast as possible. We did it in 13 seconds.

9:00 - Virtual Tour of classroom
Ms. Wink gave a tour of the classroom to the students, pointing out important areas such as the reading corner, the room locater board, and Bubba the class fish. She also dropped class rules as she went along. It was a creative way to communicate expectations, while letting the students explore and stretch their legs.

9:15 - Hopes & Dreams
The 5th graders wrote down goals for themselves like "learn to love science" or (for me) "become a better speller."

9:40 - Guess Who
Ms. Wink and I read a handful of Guess Who answers to the class and the students took guesses as to who the clues belonged to.

9:50 - Lunch Routine
Ms. Wink explained that students are to be silent when out in the hallway because other classes may still be in session. The students lined up and walked down the stairs - one flight at a time (from the 3rd to 1st floor).

10:20 - Recess Rules
All three classes gathered to hear the rules for recess. This was done together for consistency purposes.

10:40 - Recess

11:10 - Class Responsibilities
A list of class "jobs" were offered for students to participate in. Examples include class vet (to take care of bubba), seat stacker, board eraser, and pencil sharpener. Jobs rotate every three weeks or so.

11:35 - End of day Routine
Students shared what the do after the bell rings at the end of the school day: after school program, bus, walk, or picked-up by parents. Students were also give a stack of papers to give to their parents. Ms. Wink kept referring to the paperwork as "homework for parents" - the students got such a kick out of it!

12:00 - PE

12:30 - Dismissal
Ms. Wink and I met students at PE and escorted them out of school to their buses and parents.

Fun note:
To stop people from being "Shouter-outers", Ms. Wink has a stuffed animal duck that is "the ostraciser." It's supposed to be an ostrich, but it's a duck. She places the ostraciser in front of someone who is shouting out too much. The duck stares down the student and serves as a reminder to not shout out answers. If the student continues to shout out, the duck attacks the student, and the student is then sent into the hallway for a time out.

My homework:
Read a few chapters of "Night of the Twisters" by Ivy Ruckman to prepare for Read Aloud tomorrow.