Five For Friday: Back to School

I thought this Friday image would be fitting! :O)

 

I'm sooo exhausted! It was our first week back to school with students and I'm worn out! I have a nice bunch, but you know how mentally and physically draining that first week is!

 

Time to recap my week with Doodle Bugs Teaching!

 

Here's a peek at my classroom:

My reading corner! Yes...those are high heels chairs! Shut up, right? Love them! (The kids do too!)

This picture is taken from the back of my classroom.

My colors are black and white with splashes of bright colors.

 

I got this package all the way from Canada from my sweet friend AMC at Looking From Third to Fourth! I just loved her post about Terry Fox, it was so inspirational and moving and I can't wait to use this biography with my class-check it out here-it's a must read! She also included the book Only One You, perfect for the beginning of the year, and beautiful decorative tape!!! I so lucky to have her as a blogging friend!!!

I always have my class make their own class rules so I get buy in from them-they're usually better than anything I would come up with and it gives them ownership. In cooperative groups, they make a list of all the rules we should have for our class. (They need to be written in a positive manner and should be different from procedures). After each group makes their list, they have to star their top 2-3 rules, which is how we compile our class list of rules.

***Every year since I've been teaching, there's always at least one group that will say something about "Respect"...respect each other, respect the teacher, respect each other's property, etc.

This is where I break out in song and dance to Aretha Franklin's R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

I always get a little nervous to get too crazy that first day because I'm trying to be structured, but I can't hold back! My students in high school still ask me..."Mrs. Miller, do you still dance on the desks the first day of school?" hehe

At least they'll remember the "Respect" rule if nothing else!

 

We did the Save Fred activity/introduction to science process and they LOVED it! They were screaming, cheering, and high-fiving! (It was loud, but it was awesome!)

Thanks to Gary from Scrappy Guys who was so nice to share

 his activity sheet with me!

 

Before my students left today, I had them write on a post-it their favorite thing about this week for an exit slip. I love to know what they think was the "BEST" part of the week!

 

They loved the Save Fred experiment! My favorites of course were being with Mrs. Miller, seeing u Mrs. Miller, and dancing on the desk! LOL!

Don't forget to link up with me tomorrow for Spark Student Motivation! Share ideas, tips, incentives, strategies, a lesson that got kids excited....anything! Hope to see you at my party!