Little details...

Whew...so much for getting on every single day! Doesn't seem to matter how prepared or on schedule I might feel, I always get lost in the little details. It is the small last minute preparations (name plates on desks or cubbies, schedules, lists, name-tags, and on and on lol) before open house and meeting my sweet fourth graders that seem to overwhelm me, but in the end, everything always falls into place. After spending much of Saturday afternoon at school, I am glad to say, I am ready to see those smiling and nervous faces walk through my door! Woohoo :)

Our Open House was a smashing success even though I can promise you that I won't remember all the names. As part of our Responsive Classroom training, we asked for parents to share some of their hopes and dreams for their students this year. It will be interesting to share them with the kiddos - I wonder what their reactions will be.  ~ Parents: please feel free to comment and leave a hope and dream if you did not get a chance during open house. Later this week I will share the combined hopes and dreams of our little sweeties! 

One of the books I am sharing today has everything to do with our hopes and dreams.

The Tin Forest by Helen Ward, beautifully illustrated by Wayne Anderson, opens the conversation about what does it mean to have a dream and even more important what does it mean to work for a dream! We are going to spend the week sharing and discussing our hopes and dreams and setting positive commitments to each other to help us achieve them. 

I shared my hopes and dreams with parents as well. It is my dream that I can create an environment that fosters a true and life long love of reading and writing for each of my students! I have been so inspired by The Book Whisperer and The Daily 5 that I am just chomping at the bit to launch our Reading Workshop! I have also been excited by a project shared by Mrs. Moorman on her blog Teaching in Room 6. Cannot wait to see how many Gold Medal Reading Olympians I have in my room this year! I am even hoping to reach gold medal status right along with my kiddos...what a wonderful way to share my own love of reading!

All right now, this next picture book, well you don't have to tell me just how silly it is - I know! But I just cannot help myself! I share it even if it is just to create a fun and common vocabulary regarding coming to carpet. Instead of asking students to join me and to sit on their bottoms or criss-cross applesause, I can ask them to park their "chicken cheeks" or their "kangaroo keisters" or, my favorite, their "platypus gluteus maximus." Fun and silly and not much else ~ but hey, sometimes we need a light hearted moment to giggle and just have fun with a book!

 

Not sure if sharing one more book will get me caught up on my goal to share one picture book a day, but hopefully, it gets me close!

This next book was one of the awesome finds I found in our annual junk pile at school! Again, not sure who decided to clean their bookshelves, but I am a huge fan! 

Can you believe this beauty was almost tossed out - ugh? I look forward to sharing this with my lovely readers and writers! It seems that poetry is lost on our students as they get older; something that makes  me very sad. I love the illustrations in this book and one of the last poems caught my eye:

Plum by Tony Mitton

Plum by Tony Mitton
Illustrated by  Mary Grandpre

  

Just look at that title: Instructions for Growing Poetry...I love it! Just goes to show you, you never know where you might find a wonderful book! 

Again, not sure if that catches me up, and I am too tired to count...so I will add a few more as soon as I can for good measure. :)

Can't wait to see my new little faces tomorrow! I just know it is going to be a whirlwind of procedures and expectations, but I am ready just the same! Teachers have bragged and bragged about this group of kiddos, so I am ready for a positive and fun year! 

Last thing...I am joining Swimming Into Second's linky party! Be sure to stop by and check out all the amazing classrooms shared!

Happy Reading! (and blog hopping :)