"I have an idea! When we are with everyone in our school, let's be role models!"

Not only do I find joy through our kiddos, but everyday I am absolutely floored by something that happens in Room F. The entire day was like that today! I was astounded by the amount of self-control we used throughout the day and how we helped others do the same. We put our problem solving skills (which we are slowly learning!) to use and solved our own problems today either right away or at the Peace Rug. It is hard for our students to know when they need to do this and even harder to do it, so it's impressive but not surprising that we are doing it! We had an All School Morning Meeting in the gym today and one of our kiddos suggested we do our job so we can be role models...and we did! I had two other teachers compliment us on how well we listened, followed directions, sat without talking to our neighbors, and were safe even when I wasn't looking. I wish you could be in here to see it throughout our day!

My absolute favorite part of the day was when Dheqa shared with us about Eid. She was brave and stood in front of our class to tell us about the holiday, what she did with her friends and family, and the traditions that take place. She even brought us a treat to enjoy with her. Not only was this fascinating for me and the other students to learn about, but it also helped us all make connections to each other. We noticed that Eid has similarities to other holidays coming up such as Hanukah, Kawanza, and Christmas. It taught us, yet again, that we can all be different but have things in common. 

We received a new tool to use this week. Weekly Reader is a magazine that is published by Scholastic that we receive every week. The money to purchase these (for our class but also for the entire 1st grade!) came from www.donorschoose.org. This organization facilitates donations to teachers in need. A teacher writes about something they need for their classroom and then visitors to the site decide what teacher/classroom they want to donate to. If you donated to this project, thank you! This week our reader was all about owls! Not only did this shock the students, but it made us feel very smart because we knew most of the information in it! Your child had the choice to bring it home, or keep it at school in their book bag for awhile. Look for one of these every week!

We also have a new student joining us in Room F! Leroy is new to our school and is already making friends in our class. Our kiddos are very empathetic to his new (and likely, intimidating) situation and are taking good care of him. I'm conviced this kiddo is unbeatable in the game, "Five Frame Go Fish"! I can't beat him!

Books We Read Today:

Sixteen Runaway Pumpkins - Dianne Ochiltree

Interesting Tidbits from our Day:

"Goodbye Ms. Carlberg, I love you." [Other kiddo whom I had already said goodbye to turns around, runs down the hallway back to me and shouts,] "I LOVE YOU TOO! I LOVE YOU TOO!" 

"I can tell it's Wacky Wednesday, because your hair looks wacky today." (haha, thanks kiddo...)