Fantastic First Week!

What a wonderful first week of school we had! We have 23 terrific kiddos in the class--11 girls and 12 boys. We spent our first three days getting to know each other and building our classroom community. One of the activities that the children most enjoyed was our "Getting to Know You" bracelets, as pictured above. Each of the kids received different beads based on who they are. For instance, they got a white bead for each pet they had, and a sports bead to represent their favorite sport. The kids then organized their beads any way they wanted. Some decided to wear them as a bracelet, while others decided to tie them onto their backpacks as a zipper-pull.

We also read a variety of great back to school books. One of the class favorites was The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi. It's the story of a little girl named Unhei (Yoon-hi) who has just moved to America from Korea. After being teased about her name, she decides that she will choose a new "American" name, so the children in her class put some suggestions into a "name jar." At the end, Unhei realizes that her name is a part of who she is and decides to keep it. After reading the book, I showed the students a present and told them that inside the package was the first gift they had ever been given. After some guessing, I opened the present to reveal their names. The kids then had the opportunity to go home and interview their families to discover how their parents chose their names. We had a great time listening to everyone's name story the next day, and I plan on compiling their name stories into a class book.

Next week we'll begin establishing our routines for reading, math, and writing, and start delving into our second grade content. Be looking for the weekly newsletter to stay up to date on what your child is learning. I'll e-mail a copy to you Sunday night after my girls are in bed, and also send home a hard copy in the LION binder.