First Week Back at the New Jere Baxter

Wow! School has been back in session for just over a week. And what a week it has been!!!!this year there are so many new things going on at Jere Baxter. All of these new things are change for the better. As a second year teacher, there are things I am doing that are going so much better than last year. I know exactly the things that I should be doing and I am making sure these things are happening. 

For the first full week of school, in order to build a community of learners on my classroom we read four different books throughout the week. These books were not your plain Jane books, we read four Dr. Seuss books! Students would write a reflective paragraph after each book. Monday and Tuesday we read The Butter Battle Book. After reading this book we talking about the importance of understanding and valuing others' differences. Wednesday we read The Lorax and wrote about the actions of humans and our impact on the environment. Thursday we read Yertle the Turtle and described the aspects of a good leader and how we can be one. Lastly, Friday we read Dr. Seuss' new book Which Pet Should I Get. For this we wrote a longer essay about the choices we make and how they both positively and negatively affect out lives in the future. Students gave examples about their past choices and how they have played a role in their lives today. Then explained the choices they need to make now to meet their short term and long term goals. 

Although all of this writing means I have so much reading for the weekend, I know that it was a positive experience for the first week of classes. Students at the beginning of the week were not excited about the idea of being read to as 8th graders. By the end of the week, students would walk in, know exactly what was coming and raise their hands to ask what book we would be reading that day. This also gives me a chance to learn so much about my students. I now can learn about their ideas on people's differences, environmental issues, leadership style, and their pasts and future goals. But I can also learn about their writing abilities and styles.