Our #1 Job!

Our #1 job at Barrie School is LEARNING and students are off to a great start!  We have been discussing "Reading is..."  and "Math is..."  and students have generated some wonderful ideas!  During the school year we will be discovering new things about reading and math, as well as recalling all the things we have already learned about each!



Students generated ideas about what reading is and what math is.  They had great thoughts!



Everyone was hard at work with their ideas for math and reading.

First Day of School!

The first day of school is so exciting for students, teachers, and staff.  The hallways are sparkling and the rooms are ready for students!  I did some rearranging and organizing of my classroom over the summer.  Here is what it looks like.

It's That Time!

After unpacking items stored away for the summer, dusting off furniture, putting up bulletin boards, labeling student cubbies, sorting books, arranging, rearranging, and rearranging AGAIN, my room is ready for September 3 and the start of another exciting school year!  Call me crazy, but nothing says the start of school like the smell of new Crayola crayons!! Barrie School "Back to School Night" was tonight and students and parents were visiting classrooms to drop off supplies and meet their teachers, anticipating what the coming year will bring!  I'm looking forward to an incredible school year and seeing my students discover the excitement of learning!

Book Browsing Broncos!

Now that our classroom library is open, students have started to browse through all the bins to see what great books they will have an opportunity to read.  Before the serious browsing began, we discussed what types of bins are in our library, and the different genres of books those bins contain.

Students were given a specific bin and they recorded information about what they saw on the covers of the books in the bins, and also what they saw inside of some of those books.  

Book Browsers hard at work!

 After browsing, the students shared the great information they found and put their recording sheet into their Thoughtful Logs.  What a great way to end the week!



Classroom Library Celebration!!

Today was a big day in our classroom!  We finally got to unwrap the huge, blue mystery package that has been the topic of discussion and guesses about what it could possibly be.  Students thought it could be a couch, a go-cart, books, and even a helicopter!

I wonder what it could be?????

We decided that the unwrapping of our mystery package had a real party atmosphere, so we celebrated with party hats, healthy snacks, and finally----THE BIG REVEAL!!

Our New Classroom Library!!!

We can't wait to hear more about our classroom library and all the types of books we will get to read throughout the school year!



Welcome to Our Classroom!

Our classroom is ready and open for great learning to take place!  I am so excited to see my students and hear about their summer adventures.  Come in and take a tour.

The corner where students can read or choose a center activity.

Area for Read Alouds and mini-lessons.

Small group instruction and student conferencing usually takes place here.  I'm so fortunate to have a SMARTBoard in my classroom.

Independent reading time and listening center areas.

Our classroom library is a work in progress, but so far it is looking great.  Within the next week, students will be introduced to the sections of the library and we will discuss the different genres of books available to them.  

Thanks for taking the tour!  Be sure to check back with us!

Keep on Learning!

Wow!  I had an amazing 4 days in Madison learning about the Comprehensive Literacy Model.  My brain certainly felt full by the end of the week.  But, the good news is that I'll get to implement all the great things I learned into my classroom instruction beginning in September!  I'm also going to be able to team-teach with an awesome 4th grade teacher, Leanne Bongers!  Not that I want summer to be over, but I'm looking forward to beginning this reading journey with Leanne!   I was even inspired this week to create a blog.  My first post seems to have worked!