Today was another great day in Room 240 (and a good day for a post, as the meeting that I had after school was a short one).

Today, after Independent Reading Time and Morning Meeting, we had Reader’s Workshop. Today we began a “Story Study” on the various versions of the Gingerbread Man story. We will read and compare them, culminating in our making gingerbread houses next week. This is the book that we read today. We talked about setting, characters, plot, and connections to the text today. The kids also had individual reading time, and I had time to conference with kids again, to listen to them read, and evaluate their levels.

After that, we had our daily song – Down by the Bay, which the kids loved. It got pretty spirited, and we all got a bit carried away with making up new verses for the song for tomorrow. The kids should be thinking of new verses to bring in tomorrow for us to sing!

Then we had Writer’s Workshop. Today we had a summary lesson of the skills that we have been emphasizing throughout the last unit – zooming in on a small moment to tell, stretching that small moment out across several pages, and writing the outside of the story (what happened) as well as the inside (what they felt when it happened). Their stories are incredible – it is a joy to read them and to have them read to me.

After that, it was off to lunch and recess, then back up to the room for Read Aloud (Mr. Putter and Tabby Pick the Pears), and then up to the art room for class with Mr. Fairbanks.

When we got back down to our room, we had Math Workshop. Today we were working on solving word problems using ten frames instead of counting on fingers. The ten frames are a part of our Morning Meeting routine as we count how many days we’ve been in 1st grade, and they are the springboard into having the kids do the math in their heads, and then to have the facts recalled with automaticity.

After that, we had some more excitement. We had a large (6 feet by 4 feet by 5 inches) delivered to our room, and the kids all tried to guess what was inside it. They came up with some really good ideas, but I think that they were initially disappointed when I opened it and it was empty. Their smiles came back, though, when I told them that all of that cardboard will be made into something for our classroom for tomorrow. I told them to think of ideas of what it could be overnight, and they will see in the morning.

At the end of the day, instead of Science Lab, we did a little practice with penmanship and the proper way to make letters (the order and directions of the pencil strokes). This will help them greatly both now as the write and even more as they learn cursive writing in the coming years.

After all of that, it was time to pack up and head home!