EEKK, WE’RE OFF TO A GREAT START!

Hi~ya, Friends!  How are you? Boy, am I missing my little bloggity blog!  These past few days have seriously been K-ruh-aZEE! But, good kinda crazy! After having an amazing first week of school, my sister and I headed off to spend the weekend with our dad-out of state!

I know, after the first week? For real?  Didn’t I need to rest?! Well, YES! But, did I? Nope! We had a wonderful time celebrating my dad’s 30th pastoral anniversary, but this girl is dawg tired!

I wish I could express how happy am I with the progress my class has made over these first few days.  I really could just cry thinking about it! Tired or not, its time to get down to the nitty gritty and this group is ready and willing to dig right in! It’s kinda funny….no matter how tired I might feel or how many times, I hit that snooze button….when I get to school and see my firsties, I feel great!

They did an ab.so.lute.ly phenomenal job of practicing Reading to Self last week!  I told them today that I was so proud of them that we’d move on to learn how to Read to Someone and wouldn’t you know it, those little cutie pies continued to do a great job?!  It’s anchor’s away in Room 113 and this is what our little chart looked like by the end of the day today.

We did the whole bit about my sister seeing a spider and screaming EEEKKKK!!! They loved it. If it were up to firsties, I’m sure many of us would receive academy awards, lol! They love it when we’re silly.

And guess what? Our little CAFE board is no longer empty! {Enter the sounds of heavenly angels!}

Isn’t that just the prettiest little check mark you’ve ever seen?  I created the first strategy card as we discussed what it meant in order to model how we’ll be using the board.  The rest will have student handwriting and illustrations on them. 

I’m sorry, it’s just so stinkin’ adorable, I had to zoom in on it! As we moved to our second round of Read to Self today, we introduced Checking for Understanding.  Initially, I thought of laminating a checkmark, but them remembered *staying in one spot* and didn’t want to imagine them trying to get up and walk around to get one.

Instead, I taught them to make a check mark using their thumb and pointer finger.

I tried not to ease drop on their practicing, but its very hard to stay at my table while their blowing my mind with how well they’re doing at implementing this system.

I was all smiles as I heard one of my student’s say, “I heard you retell what I just read to you.  Good job!” {Content, sigh……cheesy smile}

What?! Are you kidding?  Where has the Daily 5 been all of my life?! Why don’t more people know about it?  If a first grader can lean over and congratulate her reading partner for retelling using appropriate language and voice level after only 6 days of school, I can’t wait to see what we’ll be doing during second semester!

I’m just amazed and so grateful for literally stumbling upon it while blog hopping! I know all things happen for a reason.  Its just one more reason to be excited about blogging!

What’s up next?  Launching Listen to Reading….

Well, its after 12 am and that mean old alarm clock will be screaming at me in a few short hours!  I’ll be back soon with more to share!  Beginning the year has been extremely overwhelming! Hopefully, I’ll find a balanced rhythm {SOON}!!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy teaching!