Off to a Flying Start

    We are off and flying in second and third grade!  What a great group of students, I am so lucky to be their teacher.  We have 14 students returning (looping) with the combo.  As Huey Lewis says, I'm so "happy to be stuck with you."  We also have 5 new students to our combo.  We added 2 new third graders and 3 second graders.  The new students are not new to Eagle Cliffs so the children all knew each other very well.  Our new students will be great additions to our classroom family.
     We spent the first couple days getting reacquainted and learning more about each other.  One of our activities was called a "Maze of New Friends."  In this activity, students had to complete a maze.  However, every path had a series of doors to "unlock." In order to unlock a door, the students had to find a friend that met a certain criteria.  For example, you might have to find a friend that has a younger sibling or find a friend that swam in the ocean.  The students were interviewing each other and learning all sorts of fun facts about their classmates.  Of course, we also talked about using good eye contact, answering questions with complete sentences, and thanking each other for the information.

Did you know the average person eats over 100 bananas a year?  Because the first few days of school the children seem to need extra snacks and because August 27th is National Banana Lovers Day (really, it is)...we had bananas.  However, before they could eat them...they had to do some math!  Students had to measure the weight in cubes using a balance and measure the length and circumference using a string and a ruler.  Munch and learn.



One last opening week activity I want to share is called "Who is in My Circles?"  For this getting to know us activity, students filled in a tiny center circle with some favorites; favorite subject, favorite book, favorite food, etc.  Then each child left their paper on their desk.  We all traveled around to each desk and put our names in the different concentric circles.  If you also LOVED the same thing, you signed your name in the first surrounding circle.  If you like the same, you sign in the next circle out.  Finally, if it is not something you like, you sign in the outer most circle.  The students made some great connections with the other children that they learned that were in their circles.  This activity went home in your child's Wednesday envelope.  Please look at their circles!