A new start meeting new friends, new schedule and teachers, and so many new possibilities- 2013-2014  school year has begun! The first week of school has past, but the excitement of it all is still lingering.  Students are getting the hang of their schedules, A and B days, the expectations, and of course, opening their lockers.  In reading and LA we started to establish our Learning Community.  We jumped right into it concentrating on COLLABORATION and DISCUSSION.

We opened with the Talking Ball- ( A ball with questions, statements, or a dare) Students stand in a circle and throw the ball to each other.   They answer the question that their left or right thumb lands on.  I like to give the students choice in case they do not have an answer for one of the questions. This is a get to know more about you activity.

Students worked together to define COLLABORATION and DISCUSSION.

COLLABORATION:  working with a group of classmates, sharing, combining, and building on ideas in order to create something better.  All students are participating and are respectful to each other.

DISCUSSION:  a group of people talking in order to gain an understanding about something,.  They may be stating ideas, combining ideas, or deepen their understanding of a topic.

The students had to answer the following questions on Post Its and work collaboratively in order to figure out the trends- in other words what were the top three answers from their class.  Here are the overall results from my LA classes:

Language Arts/Reading is important because……….

• it helps us get a job.
• get through life.
• stay fluent in reading, writing, and speaking.

My goal for Language Arts/Reading is………….

• read more than SEVEN books.
• read a book series.
• read at a higher level.
• get good grades.

What will Mrs. Emerick need to do to help you this year?

• help pick new genres of books.
• introduce new vocabulary.
• understand books better.

Our classroom should be…………EVERYDAY!

• respectful
• fun
• clean

What should students in our class be doing to make sure our classroom runs smoothly?

• be respectful
• listen
• follow directions and listen the first time so you are respectful to other people and your teacher

Students learned about the expectations of the class, materials needed, and classroom routine. I will leave you with this:

 

You’re off to great places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting!

So get on your way!

                       Dr. Seuss

 

I look so forward to all the new places we will go together!