Five for Friday: First Week

Seems like forever since I've posted... perhaps that because I was MIA all summer!!  I'm not gonna lie, it felt good to disconnect from posting and creating for a bit.. I needed the break! 

But I'm happy to be back for my first Five for Friday of the school year.  Tuesday was our first day and my kiddos and I had a fantastic week!!  I'm excited about what the year holds!!

Here are some highlights from our first week.  

ONE: Graphing

This year I decided to begin with a graphing unit and I'm so happy I did.  Not only do we always do graphing activities at the beginning of the year, the lessons in this unit have been short enough that I can begin to introduce the other aspects of math workshop.  I know this will allow us to begin our math rotations a bit earlier this year!  

A few years ago the PTO purchased this graphing pocket chart for me and I'll be honest, up until this year it hasn't gotten a ton of use, but as you can see we used it twice already this week and it's made prepping for math lessons so easy!

TWO: New Promethean Board

This summer a new board was installed in my room and I couldn't be happier about it.  For the last four years I've had a Promethean Board and projector in my room.  I loved the board and all its capabilities but at times the projector was so dim it was hard to see anything with the lights off.  Not that I'm complaining because I know a ton of teachers out there don't have any technology in their classrooms.

This new ActivPanel is touch screen so that means no more pens, no more searching for where I placed the pen, etc.  The brightness is unbelievable and the capabilities are endless with these new boards.  I'm so happy to be piloting this for my district! 

Three: Flexible Seating 

I'm a believer in flexible seating and even though it was only day four today we tried it out and my kiddos were rocking it!  They were exited about picking their own sports... a few of them even said they felt older because I was allowing them to make their own choice!! 

FOUR: Math Tubs

Each day this week I've introduced a different math activity/tub game and some manipulatives the kids would encounter throughout the year.  I wanted to get the kids using materials early and often to begin to set routines and expectations. Today we did a short graphing activity with a spinner and the kids did an awesome job with it!  

FIVE: Get to Know You

Yesterday we played a quick game right before dismissal to get to know one another better.  My kiddos rolled a dice and then answer a question that corresponded to the number.  They loved sharing out to the class and as we were playing my mind started coming up with other ways to utilize this throughout the year... more to come at a later date!!

Have a great weekend.. Don't forget to check out Doodle Bugs Teaching for more Five for Friday posts!