Essential Agreements and first week fun...

It has been a smooth start for the kids of 4LB, thanks to my Teaching Assistant, the amazing Eddie Lee, who had things so well under control that we did not lose any time at all while I was sick. I have never, ever in all my years of teaching missed the first day of school, let alone the first two!  I think I am finally over the double whammy virus and bacterial infections and have thoroughly enjoyed my first two days with the kids.  I hope taking the sick days will keep your kids from catching what I had.  As you know, international school classrooms are a great place for spreading germs from all over the world so we try to combat spreading illness by using our own equipment (each student was given a pencil bag full of supplies),hand sanitizing as needed, staying hydrated, and respecting our bodies' needs for recovery time!

This week we began getting our classroom "system" up and running.  The kids did a beautiful job coming up with their Classroom Essential Agreements and deciding what sort of classroom they would like to have.

4 LB Essential Agreements:

Be respectful, caring and helpful to others –

Treat others the way you want to be treated

Think before you speak

Take responsibility for your actions

Be honest with yourself and others

Everyone is equal and you need to be respectful and open-minded of any differences

Speak with kindness, politeness and respect

Be respectful to school property

Follow the leaner profile and mission statement

Set a good example for others to follow

Everything has a place and there is a place for everything

Use materials wisely

Keep your hands, feet and objects to yourself

Follow directions – ask for help from classmates and teachers

We also spent some time getting to know one another and are beginning our unit on narrative writing by interviewing one another.  We have begun our first unit of Eureka math and you've probably seen some of the pages coming home.  The language is very new for all of us and is going to take a little getting used to!  Right now we are working on place value and the concept of each place being ten times greater than the one coming after it.  Our first Unit of Inquiry is How We Organize Ourselves with a focus on Systems.  It is a great unit for getting the classroom system up and running.

4LB looks to be a class full of very nice and respectful students and I'm looking forward to a great year!