Tuesday, August 11, 2015

First Day and Donor's Choose

Hi all,

Today was an eventful and exhausting day. It will take us (students an teacher =)) a couple of weeks to get back in routine.

Last night with the rain the school had drains backed up and some of the rooms flooded. Unfortunately one of the rooms was a third grade room. =( We delightfully took in another class and had about 42 third graders and two teachers in our classroom this morning. We tried the morning meeting circle and we did not fit, but it was still nice to hear everyone's yucks and yays. We did not get to start out how we planned but it was a good lesson about how things do not always go as we anticipate but it all works out. =)

If you came in this morning, I promise it is not usually that chaotic!!!

We went through several procedures today and had music in the library (Music room was also flooded), took a math pre-test, two recesses, and a writing activity!

Our writing activity started with students picking a gum ball. They got together with a person with the same color and got to know one another. Tomorrow as they come in they will turn their planning page into a writing piece and create this little craft!














We also needed to discuss how moving and sitting on a ball is helpful for our brain. We discussed ball expectations and we are all set! This is my fifth year using balls and the kids and I absolutely love it more each year!

I wrote a more lengthy post about benefits a few years ago.  You can read by clicking here.


One of my teammates let me know of another amazing seat that has the same benefits as the yoga balls. They are called Hokki stools. You can read all about them here. And more about the benefits here.

I wrote a Donors Choose grant to get some of these in our classroom for students who would prefer a stool with the same benefits. I put about 600 dollars on it from gift cards and because they are so expensive it only took about half of the price. The good news.....this week only, any donation you make to my project will be doubled! No matter the size (seriously, every little bit counts). Just use the code SPARK at check out!!!! YAY! If you can't donate anything at this time, no worries... just share this information with anyone who you know is passionate about education. Your donation will have a direct impact on at least 20 students this year and you'll hear back from our class about your impact! Any donations towards this site is also a tax deduction. You can click the stool to get to this project!


I was a little ambitious (maybe too ambitions)  this weekend and thought I would write one for two more iPads. We have several more kids in our room this year than last year and I REALLY liked loved how we had one iPad for every two students. This allowed for students to personalize the iPad and keep projects safe while they worked on them. They were able to stay logged in to their google accounts for easy access and it made projects run more smoothly. Nothing is worse than vigorously working for an hour on a project and the next day it is gone. This was a major time saver for our class, especially because we use these tools for so much through out the year! This project can also be cut in half this week by using the code SPARK!!! Thanks so much for your consideration! Click on the i Pad to get to this project.


Lastly, I will leave you with my favorite part of the day! After ALL of the procedure lessons that will last what seems like forever, we took a break to play a little "get to know you" game. We threw a ball around the circle saying hello to friends and then did a little speed round. They were giggling and joyfully throwing the ball to one another.  Something so simple made these wonderful third graders pep right up! It was a good day and I can not wait for 


Have a great week!



No comments:

Post a Comment