Day 4: The First day of School

Yesterday my teacher asked me if I had read The First Days of School by Harry Wong. I know that I have heard that is is an excellent book, especially for first year teachers, but I haven't read it yet. But after seeing my teacher's classroom today... wow! I am going to read that book! She told me she got most of the stuff she did on the first day of school from that book.

She explicitly went through every procedure she wants her class to do, talked them through it before she let them even try. She did a lot of rewarding when people did what she wanted and a lot of warnings for when they didn't do what she wanted. The kids responded so well to the structure of her classroom. She also had the expectation that they knew what to do. And so they tried to live up to that expectation. It was beautifully done.

Also, I wanted to show you the bulletin boards we put up. This year her classroom theme is Jungle Safari. She rotates through a few different themes. Anyway, here are our boards.

I had to take a panoramic for this one so it is a little strange. And there is a monkey and a giraffe in the jeep.

These are the classroom rules. Self Starter. On Task. Active Listener. React. When ever we catch one of them doing one of these we give them a star and they put it on the letter of the one he did. 

Day 3: Bulletin Boards, Bulletin Boards, and MORE Bulletin Boards!

Today was all about setting up the classroom. Starting early this morning I finished what I could of the bulletin board I was in charge of, and then helped my teacher with her other boards. The room is starting to come together, and that is a very good thing because school starts tomorrow!

As I walked around the school I asked teachers how it was going and they all gave me the same answer, "I can make it two days." Maybe the first days of school are always crazy, whether you are a first year teacher or a 20 year teacher.

After school tomorrow I am going to see if I can get together with my teacher so we can finally go over what it is that I need to do in her classroom. I also need to contact my adviser. I bet they didn't think they would need to be working before University even started!