First Day is Over

If I had to describe today in one word, it would be "repetition". Everything had to be repeated so many times, from my name to class rules. At times I worried that the students would be bored or frustrated with so much repetition, but they didn't seem to mind. I love first graders! It seems like even the difficult students want to be good and try hard in their own ways. I did get very annoyed with the distractedness of the students and I am afraid that I showed my irritation.

Here are some photos of a project that the students worked on today. They were supposed to write and draw about four things they want to learn this year. Everyone ended up copying what I had written on the board as an example, but it was still fun to see the variations.





Now I'm off to bed. I think I only slept about 3 hours last night because I was so nervous.

Reading Area

I got a ton of books in English from Freecycle this summer, but I still only have a handful of Spanish books. I arranged these Spanish books on the cart and now it looks like I have lots more than I really do!

Calendar Math!

"A lot of math in a little time!"

Computer and Listening Station

Yeah, not much going on in these areas, but here they are.

Looking into the Classroom

Here is a view of the classroom from the entrance way. You can see how bright the room is in the afternoon. I debated a lot about whether to arrange the desks in a U-shape or in groups. The kindergarten teacher convinced me that groups are great, so I decided to try it out. I definitely like how easy it is to move around the room when the desks are in groups, but I hear that classroom management can be easier in the U-shape. The good thing is that desks are easy to move, so I can change my mind after Monday.

The Entrance

This is where the students enter from the hallway and can hang up their backpacks and check their mailbox. After I take their photos on Monday, I am going to put their pictures in these little balloon-shapes and put them in the sky part of the paper on the walls.

Scooter Ride to School

I took a photo of my ride to work (I pulled over to the side of the road). Most of it is really unpleasant and through the industrial part of Oakland, but I do pass a pretty spot where I can see the Alameda houseboats and the estuary.