"Ms. Carlberg, we should wait for him to finish washing his hands because we are all in this together!"

It really is truly wonderful when our kiddos take to heart the things that we are teaching them. Yes, academically it's satisfying but watching them grow and learn how to take care of each other and treat each other is, for me, the most rewarding part of our days. When we were taking a bathroom break I suggested to a student who was moving slowly to meet us in our classroom. How humbling is it that a student reminded me of yet another way we could live up to our class motto! If you have not noticed huge academic growth in your student, which is normal because we've been in school for 1.5 months, take a look at how they interact with others- you will find huge growth! We have some great kids!

Mrs. Olin, a retired first grade teacher from Highland, came to read to our class today. Mrs. Olin is a master teacher whom is respected not only by peers but also by students. When she reads everyone, including adults, have a hard time not becoming fully entranced. She came today and read to the kiddos and they loved it! Hopefully she will have more time to come and join us, we all love when she does!

We also learned another way to be assertive today. It's called the "Stop, Walk, Talk". We learned this by role playing scenarios in which someone is being hurt, they ask the other person to stop, and the other person refuses. After asking them to stop, the next step is for the student to say, "Stop", walk away, and then tell an adult. This is valuable to students for two major reasons: it teaches them that even if they are assertive and it doesn't help that they don't have to be hurt and it also teaches them that if someone is hurting them they need to tell an adult to get help. The students responded really well to this tactic. This would be a great thing to practice at home!

I was absolutely floored by how responsible our kids were today! They had a very hard time listening, following directions, and learning in music today. When I found this out, we came back to our room to talk about it. Through our discussion, our students were able to identify what went wrong, why it was not ok, and what they were going to do to fix it. They decided that we need to make rules for music and then go to Mr. Rosas (the music teacher) and tell him they're sorry and how they are going to do better next time. Isn't this incredible! It takes a huge amount of gumption for anyone to admit they were wrong and be able to amend their behavior! I was so impressed and proud of our kiddos! 

Books We Read Today:

The Cat in the Hat - Dr. Seuss (we're learning about rhyming words so it's great!)

Night Creatures - Gallimard Jeunesse (This week we're learning about owls and this is an incredible book! More about owls tomorrow!)

Interesting Tidbits From Our Day:

"Next time in music, I will do better by listening and not talking to my friends." 

[very concerned] "What if I try to walk away and they just keep following me and then I have to run and they can run faster?" (A legitimate concern and one that was addressed.)

"I'm going to miss this class." (Me, "are you leaving it?") "Well, no but for the night I'm going to miss it."