Five For Friday Back to School

It is time for Sleep Five For Friday. We went back to school this week - lots of meetings and setting up classrooms. :)

1 - Wednesday, we had Meet the Teacher Night with Ice Cream in the courtyard. Even though we have kindergarten conferences coming up, several of my new students stopped by to see our classroom : ) and some of last year's class came for hugs and hellos. That is one of the perks of being in the first grade wing.

 

2 - We left our bulletin boards up at the end of the school year so the principal could take visitors on tours to see our class' work. The instructional assistants saw my poor board with its faded paper and decided instead of the roll paper, they were going to use small pieces of fadeless paper to cover my board. It turned out awesome. Now I just have to find a border that works (silver sparkle,

maybe? ) 

3 - I hung my calendar, hundreds chart, graph chart, number/shape posters and Math Talk board. When I was done, I had covered half my board and the back of the cubby shelf.  : )  We have a PYP/Big Idea board to focus on the unit concepts, texts and vocabulary. The kinders use the vocab in different activities but this year I am having another mini-boards as a wonder wall. I did this towards the end of last year and it was a big hit. The kinders could post focused inquiry or during their centers/workstations. They loved to post questions and answers. Do you have an inquiry board of any type?

 

4 - Math took over the week, too. We had a kindergarten Math training by our school district Early Childhood coordinator. Lots of great ideas for the beginning of the year and of course manipulatives we wishlisted. We also learned how our state assessments were changing. Then last night, it was off to DC with our PYP coordinator to see a presentation on Inquiry in Math. The ladies talked about focusing on teaching the concepts and incorporating Math into our central ideas.

 

5 -  My own children met their teachers and are super excited to go to school Monday. This is great because my first grader was getting very nervous and now he says he is ready to go back to school. We made labels and teacups for their teachers to welcome the new year. They also helped me make gifts for the custodians and secretaries at my school who worked so hard all summer.

 

One of my colleagues said today that she could work all night and still not be done...don't we all feel that way and everything goes well. :)

 

Have a great week.

Jenn