First Day of School

Today was our first day of school and it always amazes me how little third graders are at the beginning of the year!  Our school is a 3-5 school, so it's a new school for our students, and by the end of the day I have no voice left, and I don't want to say another word :)  All in all, it was a great day, and as the kids left the classroom they all agreed that they would love to come back! 
     This morning we did a lot of the basics regarding rules, routines, and familiarizing everyone with the classroom and the school.

Then it was time for a few "getting to know you" activities.  The first one we did was the "web."  It is an easy way to get to know each other.  I don't think of it as a super exciting game, but at the end of the school year, students always reminisce about how fun the web game was, so I always do it on the first day.  The kids hold the string and say their name and something about themselves.  Then they throw the yarn ball to another person and that person does the same.  Once the ball of yarn has gone to every person, we play a second round.  It's quick, easy, and involves to prep (other than bringing in a ball of yarn). You can pick a category for kids to share (ex. favorite subject in school or favorite color).

    The second activity we did was a little scavenger hunt BINGO activity.  I call it "Find Someone Who."  I like this activity because it gets kids out of their seats and talking to each other.  Students have to mingle with their peers and ask them questions.  I like to play the game too, so that I can learn things about my students as well. I have made several versions so that we can do it a few times during the first few weeks of school.  If you are interested, I have it in my store here.

     In the afternoon, we set up a photo booth with props and we let the students in both of our classes take a photo.  I printed the photos and sent them home with my class so that they could share them with their families.  It was a huge hit for the students!  They loved the glasses and the mustaches the best!   Of course we had to take a photo as well!

During the summer, Stefanie and I met and decided that we wanted to work to incorporate more STEM activities into our teaching.  We generated a list of different activities and planned on doing one or two of them a month. I am glad we did!  Today we did the Marshmallow Challenge

where students have to work together to build the tallest structure  they can using 20 pieces of spaghetti, a yard of masking tape, a yard of string, and a marshmallow.  It was so exciting to see students working together, planning, problem solving, and evaluating their ideas.  It was a huge hit! 

~Heather