"Finally, Ms. Carlberg, you have your camera back! I've been waiting for you to take pictures of me!"

The kiddos were happy to return to school today, but I think even more so were excited that I had my camera back. If only I would have known that taking pictures was such a motivation tool. (I'm kidding of course.) Monday's are an unpredictable day at school; sometimes the kiddos come in rested and ready to learn and sometimes they come in groggy from the weekend. Today, they were excited and ready to work! Their energy really got me going (they will tell you, as I say it all the time, Monday morning's are not really my best time.) I was most impressed by their concentration and work during Read Well! We have spent weeks working on the routines and expectations of this time, and they are finally paying off! There are students working in groups, reading in our classroom library, reading their own books, and doing skill work during this time and all of the students now finally understand how this works. This is cause for celebration!

During math today we played two games: Rock, Paper, Scissor Tally and Top-It. While these two games reinforce math concepts, today we focused on how to play together in groups. Here are the rules we created together for when we play in groups:

1. Use cooperation
2. Share your tools and take turns.
3. Play fair.
4. Use a 2 inch voice

One of the kiddos made a connection after we had finished playing our game. "Hey, that's kind of like what our rules are all the time!" (YES!) We really had an easy time connecting these rules to those in our class and our school, but also to how easy it is to play when we follow these rules. Here are a few pictures of us happily lounging and playing:

Today we learned about how important it is to fix what we break; when it's a toy, a tool in our room, or when we hurt a friend. This not only promotes problem solving and peace in our classroom, but helps students independently take responsibility for their actions and work to resolve issues. We read Enemy Pie to help us discuss this issue, and then we made a list of some things that we can do if we hurt someone with our body, words, or by ruining their things:
make them a card, give them a hug, help them, get them a kleenex, sit by them, play with them, eat lunch with them, spend time with them to prove that you can be a kind friend, and say "I'm sorry for..." but only if you mean it. It's really exciting to hear our kiddos discuss this topic and to brainstorm all of these ideas independently!

We continued to learn about sign language today by finishing reading the book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? I am simply amazed at how quickly these students have picked up on the signs for the colors and the animals in this book! Now everything we do is, "How do you sign this? How do you sign that?" It's exciting to see and pretty incredible how quickly they learn. I am going to start giving directions in sign- not only is it a great way to learn vocabulary, it's a way that requires focus and self control.

Let's hear it for Monday!