We've been engaging in several read-alouds and activities designed to ease students back into the school routine and to strengthen our classroom community. For starters, we read First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg, and discussed all the different reasons we might be feeling nervous about starting school. Ask your first grader about the surprise at the end of the story, and what it means!
Students brainstormed ways to get past being nervous. One of the ways we discussed was to find things you have in common with other people. To do that, students embarked on a Classmate Scavenger Hunt, matching their interests with other classmates. Students practiced literacy skills like stretching out words at the same time as they practiced initiating and continuing conversations. The scavenger hunt started out fairly quiet, with students mostly talking to only their closest friends, but by the end of the lesson students were comfortably engaging in conversation with a wide range of classmates. Way to go first graders!
--
All mail correspondence to and from the Chapel Hill- Carrboro City Schools
is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law, which may result in
monitoring and disclosure to third parties, including law enforcement.
