Routines...

I have always been told it takes 20 days to build a habit.  We are on day two of learning some first grade routines.  It is always challenging at the start of year to help our new students learn the routines of a new classroom and for some of a new school.  We practiced a lot of our routines during these first two days of school.  Not because they are fun and exciting, or because they are super educational, but because learning them now will help us to have more time to learn later this school year. 

We continued to learn about Chester from The Kissing Hand.  Today we talked about the setting of this story and how we could relate to some of the feelings Chester had about the first day of school.  We read a second book about Chester today.  This book was called Chester and the Big Bad Bully.  Our class will continue to talk about how we can be a good friend to one another.  We have some other books that we will read during the school year to reinforce friendship.

We also began to do some of our beginning of the year assessments.  Our school is very lucky to have a number of para educators who can assist the classroom teachers in getting these assessments done in a timely manner.  Please don't be alarmed if your child tells you they had to take a test at school.  We are not taking them for grades, but to help us to learn where to begin with instruction.