Our First Week of First Grade
What a Great First Week!
The "Me Bags"
We spent our first week getting to know one another. All students brought in a "Me Bag." This bag contained a few items that were special to each student. We all learned a lot about each other. We saw lots of trophies, pictures of family, and games and toys that students like to play with. This was also a great activity for students to begin practicing their active listening skills.
Leader in Me Begins
As we slowly transform our students, staff and building into a "Leader in Me" school, students spent portions of our first three days beginning to learn what "The Leader in Me, " is all about. We began by learning about our school mission statement "To inspire learners to be leaders every day!" We then created a class mission statement. Students helped brainstorm words that they felt will help inspire them to be learners in our classroom. Our end result is this Room 5 Mission Statement: "The first grade learners in room 5 are kind, helpful, and respectful students who listen, work hard, and have fun every day!"
The First Habit - Be Proactive
Students learned about the first habit of Highly Effective People. This habit is "Be Proactive!" Students learned that they are in charge of themselves, and they need to take initiative. They are responsible for their mood and their actions. They learned about not blaming others for their wrong actions, and to do the right thing without being asked. As part of this lesson, students worked on developing an "I Can" attitude. We launched our new "I can" attitude by each writing down the words "I can't" on a piece of paper, crumpling it up and throwing it away. Students had fun cheering each other on as they all got rid of their "I Can't" attitudes.
Diving Into Work!
After three days of school, students have already written about what they would like to learn in first grade. They also did some math about themselves by counting people and pets in their family, writing number sentences about their favorite numbers, identifying how old they are and writing their birthdays. Students even had some time to sit and read a book!
Playground Fun!
We of course all enjoyed our recess time. It was a beautiful week and we got to enjoy the playground each day. We are loving only having kindergarten and second graders outside with us.