First Day of School

Today was the first day of school! It went really well. I seriously think we have a great group of kids. I was expecting a little bit of a struggle from some of them, but everything went so well. I think it went pretty slow for all of us, because we talked a lot about what we would be doing over the year, the expectations, and routines. My favorite quote of the day was, "If homework is work, when do I get paid?" Yes, he obviously knew he didn't get paid for homework, but it lightened the mood, which was pretty stressful for some of the kids who hadn't been here last year. I can not even tell you how many times I had to open lockers today, and it was great because it reminded me of the time I moved schools and had to figure out my new locker. I forgot it nearly every Monday!

I have to say, I was really impressed with how many kids read books over the summer! We have a bunch of readers!

I can't wait to see how the rest of the week turns out.

We also tried something new that was presented by our speaker, Randy Sprick, over the weekend. He gave us a form to fill out with the acronym CHAMPS. We filled one out for every activity, such as transitions, group work, and independent work. The acronym stands for conversation, help, activity, movement, participation and success. Conversation describes how loud they can be. Help describes what they should do if they need help with something. Activity describes what they should be doing. Movement describes the types of movements are allowed such as sharpening pencils or getting supplies. Participation describes what the teacher should see the students doing and success means if they follow this everyone will be successful. It really has helped to explain the expectations for ever type of activity.

Well, it's getting late and it'll be another long day, I better get some rest!