First Day Jitters!

My third year of teaching!  Wow!  I cannot believe where the time has gone.  There are still many firsts in the world of teaching, yet I can say that starting my third year was a lot more relaxing than the other two.  Needless to say I still couldn't sleep the night before Meet the Teacher and I had several "Back to School Nightmares".

First day back, and one day down!  It is always a shock on the first day of how much we have to learn and practice.  I get so accustomed and remember where my last class ended that I forget about the beginning.  It is also interesting to see how different a class can be in between years.

Today we practiced routines, got to know one another, and organized our classroom.  We even had a snowball fight in August!

With getting ready for the new school year I was overwhelmed with ideas, as a result I de-stressed by buying books.

 Check out some of my new buys!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

"A person is a person no matter how small" ~Dr. Seuss

Today in fourth grade we celebrated Dr. Seuss's 108th Birthday!  I started the day asking my students what they know about Dr. Seuss.

Immediately hands flew in the air:

"He wrote a lot of books."
"Most of his books have turned into movies."
 "He rhymes throughout his stories."
"The characters in his stories are really weird."

As a beginning teacher I never thought about using Dr. Seuss's books as mentor texts.  I always considered them "childish".   In the hopes of doing something on March 2nd to celebrate I began to explore ideas and books.  I realized that most of his books send out a deeper message for not only children, but adults too.   Maybe it was my lack of exposure to Dr. Seuss or the playful drawings, but I always seemed to label him with primary classrooms.

After my simple realization that probably should have happened years ago Room 121 began exploring all of the books Dr. Seuss had to offer.  We started by reading "Yertle the Turtle" and relating to an Autocracy.  The language and actions could not have explained Autocracy better!  Later in the day we read "Horton Hears a Who".  With this text we discussed character traits, reflected on the message, and even created our own individual Whoville.  My students' imaginations were flying.  Some of their Whovilles were found on a raindrop and others on a simple piece of dust.  Their buildings inside of Whoville were creative, colorful, and detailed.  I wish I had some to share.

Overall, thank you Dr. Seuss for inspiring learning and creativeness in Room 121 today!

Making Time To Write

I am stuck in between a writing unit and as I search for ideas I run into the blog Two Writing Teachers.  This blog expresses the importance of writing as a teacher.  First I think...yeah right.  Then, I quickly get forwarded to her podcast on Choice Literacy.  She continues to discuss how she makes writing an important part in her life as a teacher.  It seems so simple, yet at the same time amazing.  I feel like at times I am searching for more time, but I guess what I really am trying to do is find a balance.  

As our writing journey begins as a class I am presented with all of these ideas...now where to go?  Where to find the balance?