August 28, 2009
Mrs. Miller

Today began with our first Self-Start quiz. Every Friday during the school year (or last day of the week) we will have a Self-Start quiz. The students, for 5 extra credit points, write down the week’s Mystery State. This week’s Mystery State was California. Many of the students received an extra 5 points. Way to go!

At 9:00, I needed to attend a meeting at the office for 30 minutes. Mrs. Benson came and was with the students. During this time, the students worked on a BOY English assessment. She said they worked very well and I was lucky to have such a great class. I couldn’t agree more.

After arriving back to class, I could tell the students needed a few minutes break. We did some stretches, ran in place, and walked around the room, and talked to each other. With the time remaining until recess, students continued working on the beginning-of-year English assessment.

Upon returning to class from recess, I told the students that we would finish the test Monday. There was a big sigh of relief. We were going to the computer lab. Many smiles instantly appeared on 30 faces.

When all the students had log into the computers, I told them that our class had its own Class Blog. It would be a place where we could blog to each other. This was not something that anyone on the Internet could read because we have a password to get to the blog. After telling the class the password, they went to the Class Blog. Today we blogged about “What was your favorite activity that you did in school this week? Describe the activity and why you like it. I mentioned that when they go home tonight they can read what everyone wrote.

I next explained that when working on the computer, it is very important that you have good keyboarding skills. I didn’t want them to use just their two index fingers to type. I showed them where they could go on the classroom site and practice keyboarding. The site is called Keyboarding/Typing. There are several great and fun keyboarding lessons. The students really enjoyed doing the lessons. I told them that I would like them to practice keyboarding at home also.

After lunch, students quickly got their backpacks ready, cleaned their desks and chairs with disinfectant wipes, and help straighten the classroom. With that, the first week of the 2009/2010 school year was over. It was an enjoyable and productive five days, but I know we’re all ready for a break. Bring on the weekend!