September 6th, 2017

What a successful Day 2. The students have been so wonderful and helpful as we have been slowly getting our routines, rules, and expectations into place. Today we started our Mindfulness practice that we will be doing every day. Each day before we start learning, we take some time to do some deep breathing and to relax and focus for the day ahead. You can learn more about Mindfulness by looking at the following slideshow that the students and I started exploring today or by watching one of the videos that we watched summarizing the importance of being mindful in our lives and classrooms. 

We also learned one of the Math games that we will be using throughout the year to practice our Math facts and to improve our Math fluency. It's called the "Noisy Game," and trust me, it's an accurate title! To play this game students share one pencil and one dice. A student starts to write their times tables as quickly as they can. While they are doing so, the other students take turns rolling the dice to see who can steal the pencil. For example, if you are doing your 3 times tables, then the other students are trying to roll a 3. It is actually a lot of fun and a great way to review. 

We also discussed one of the rules of our classroom today: Respect Yourself. Today the students brainstormed together and came up with a list of expectations that we can all agree are important to do our best to use in our classroom. They are:

- Be kind to yourself.
- Be confident in yourself.
- Say, "I can't do this yet" instead of "I can't do this."
- Be positive.
- Talk to someone when you feel bad.
- Follow rules and expectations.
- Take time to "Sharpen Your Saw."
- Be healthy and active. 

Tomorrow we will be coming up with some expectations surrounding our second classroom rule: Respect Others. 

Finally, in Art today, we learned a little bit about Kandinsky circles and then we created some of our own. To do so, students spent time consider some of their preferences and how they best like to learn. I call them, "Learner Profile Kandinsky Circles." Check out the instructions at home if you want to make another one or if you want to challenge your parents, brothers, sisters, etc. to see what their circle would look like. 

Agenda
Language Arts:
- Read 20 minutes

Other:
- Return permission forms (ASAP)
- Bring plastic water bottle; extras appreciated (due Monday)