My eyes are half-closed. There is drool on my shirt (luckily, not my own!...although, is that better or worse?!?!). And about 30 minutes ago...I was ready to throw in the towel. Exhausted!
And...if it weren't for the goal I made myself...and posting about it (why on earth did I do that?!)...I would have easily given in. However, I know me well enough to know that having put myself out there to all of you, I couldn't quit on day 1. Not after having thought about it ALL. DAY. LONG. Truly...I was thinking about it since 7:30 this morning all the fun stuff I could post tonight. #notaquitter
My goal was to post at least one picture. Got it.
How about this handsome, precious, and smiling guy??
Yes, he is indeed holding a shark. He LOOOVES sharks!
Be still my heart.
One year ago at this time, this stubborn but cute little guy was just deciding to take his first steps. (Had to wait until the first day of school when Mom was not around. #stinker) A year later here he is on is way to his first day of preschool (little guy preschool...not the grueling and task-oriented painting and ABCs learning preschool that my 5-year-old keeps thinking it is). Love.
Still...it was a big day around here. Maybe more for his sisters who were beside themselves at seeing this guy with a big boy backpack and dropping him off this morning. Yes, there were actual tears. From the 8-year-old. That's right. The 8-year old. She was so tickled and happy for him. Oh geez! What will she do when he starts Kindergarten? I better buy stock in Kleenex now. Gotta love how much they love their siblings!!
Anyway, once at school, I had about 5 minutes before the kids came in to get ready. Love those mornings. Got the Smartboard up and running for morning attendance and headed off to make copies.
You can snag your attendance boards ready to be edited for your class here.
There are themes for the whole year plus two extra pages to use for general use...like the Spots above. Many of these can be used from any grades Kindergarten through third. I love it as just one more chance for students to interact on the Smartboard first thing in the morning.
Later on the in morning, I was sooooo excited to do some great word work with my kiddos from my new Super Spelling Packet. However, time got away from me and our morning work took longer than usual. #flexiblelikeanOlympicgymnast
After tweaking our plans, we worked on combining our new decoding skill...Eagle Eyes (more to come later about this skill)...with some word work. We are practicing our classroom behavior during guided reading groups while being introduced to various stations whole group these last few weeks. While students were working at their seats on a future word work station, I took the opportunity to pull some friends to "practice reading" together. For me, this part was more about practicing those behaviors and routines of actually coming to the table and what is expected of the others.
Needless to say, they did awesome! I was able to use my new and improved Dolch High Frequency Word List from my Super Spelling Packet to assess some kiddos. Even though there are 220 words on the list, I found the cleanliness and simplicity of the page, allowed me more room to write notes about student observations and keep my focus on the task at hand.
The checklist and word cards are available in this packet. (Even though sight words are not "Spelling Words" per say, I have included them in my packet because I think it is important to be able to know the word by sight but also exposure to spelling and making words is never a bad thing.)
After school, I found myself with zero meetings on the calendar. WHAT?!?!? I know, it's crazy!! I'm like the meeting queen and time afterschool for me to actually prep for the next day is almost always impossible. I find myself taking oodles and oodles home every night. But today was a whole other story! Today I got to actually do some much needed but quick organizing and hanging around the room. Woo hoo! Yippee! Yeehaw!! #thrilledladyhere
The first week of school my kiddos learned all about our brains and where we store our information...in our hippocampus. That's where we keep it if we need it again long-term. We now refer to gaining information as "stuffing our hippo." I love it! My kiddos feel so proud when they talk brain talk. It's powerful. We made Hippo Books to be able to learn the information and then store it in a written down, quick reference/resource spot. Well, two weeks later, I finally found a space to hang them. Can't wait for the kids to see them tomorrow!
More about the Hippo can be found in my store.
As for tonight...this hippo is stuffed and in need of some sleep.
It was a busy day all around. Tomorrow I have more in store for y'all! It was close though...I thought for sure my exhaustion would win tonight. Glad it didn't. #keptmyword
I'm proud that at least for tonight, I met my goal! We'll see about the rest of the week.
More pics tomorrow and another new goody...
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