First Day of School - Round 2

The first day of school at Maquatua Eeyou School has come and gone.  It was a total success and I am SO happy with my class so far.  They came ready and eager to learn and I could tell they have retained much of what they learned last year, both academically and socially.  I am confident now that this year will be very successful and we will get to do so many fun things together! 

It is clear that Marsha and Carmen did a fantastic job preparing these kids for Grade 2.  My students are used to routine, following directions and becoming active members of the classroom.  I have a helper in each student and enthusiasm will not run dry in this room I can tell you that!


Today we made our desk groups by passing everyone a plain white ball of playdoh in a ziploc bag. In each ball I made a slight hole with my finger and deposited a different color of food coloring and then sealed up the ball to hide the color. The kids had to mix the playdoh until the secret color was revealed and then they joined their desk groups. (Awesome idea care of Monika!) I was going to do puzzle pieces where they had to complete their puzzle with the kids in their desk groups but this was way cooler.

We played "This is not a _____________" (I used a scarf) after reading the book "Not a Stick" as another ice breaker.  This icebreaker helps the kids be creative and use their imaginations.  Instead of a scarf, it was a blanket, a pillow, a ball, an umbrella! At the end of the day we read "Have You Filled Your Bucket Today?" which is about filling each others "buckets" with kind words or good deeds. We went around the circle and asked each other if our buckets were full or empty and then gave compliments or said nice things about each other, filling each others buckets, and our own.  It was really sweet and it helped set the tone for a positive and loving classroom environment (Thank you to Melanie for the awesome part of my daily routine and my very own copy of the book!!)

I also have a bunch of "back to school" activities they worked on/will work on such as coloring in portfolios (white cardboard stand-up file portfolios) for their best work to show at Parent Interview Night. We also read a David book (David Goes to School) which helped us think about classroom rules and consequences and rewards which was really fun.

This week we will be doing a classroom scavenger hunt (how many doors do we have? where is the school flag?, a classmate scavenger hunt (like find out who has a pet, who has 3 brothers etc.), a "Get to Know You" mini booklet and some other fun activities to do while I get testing taken care of.

Anyways I am in a super good mood and can't wait for the rest of the school year to unfold and see what we can get up to!