Good golly Miss Molly! I feel like I've missed so much of the news in blog land with all the craziness of moving to our new house. The move is done. I'm tired and overwhelmed (but let's not talk about that). I'm also determined (and excited) to get caught up with all my favorite bloggers!
This will have to be a quick post (since I'm supposed to be sleeping). In my classroom, I've been busy doing assessment. Between the assessment and all the special activities for March is Reading Month, my schedule is all out of whack and so am I.
I did manage to accomplish something that I've been wanting to put together for a while. Especially in March, I try to find new ways to get my kids excited about reading (reading with sun glasses, reading by my classroom fireplace, reading to little siblings, etc). You can read the post about my fancy fireplace
here.
Last week, I opened a newsstand in my classroom. My students LOVE it! Who knew a bucket full of magazines would be so exciting for first graders? The first grade classes in my school have a subscription to Weekly Reader magazine. I've been saving the extra copies of those throughout the year. I also save any Time for Kids, Scholastic News and Highlights magazine samples that are sent to me in the mail. Even though we don't have subscriptions to those, they do send me really nice samples for free (thank you very much). I also "gathered" a few copies of National Geographic Kids, Sports Illustrated for Kids and Lego Club magazine (if you know my own children please don't mention that part). I put them all in a bin with a sign and opened up the newsstand! For the first two weeks, I am choosing kids with good behavior (yep - using the newsstand as a reward/motivation for good behavior) and letting them visit the newsstand during quiet reading time. After the two weeks are up, I might change it up a bit. For now, it's working like a charm.
Tomorrow, my lacrosse coaching season starts and I should probably try to locate my whistle, my lacrosse stick, my kids' backpacks and my own school bag in this sea of boxes before I get back to sleep.
