First weeks, full moons, and Saturday Snapshots Sunday style ;)

My sweet kiddos enjoying
Reading Workshop :)

We have had such a great first week ~ an exhausting week, but fun and productive!  For some reason one day this week I was looking back at old posts, and I saw this on an August post from 2012: "Whew wee... Goodness! I think that the first few weeks of school is a lot like child birth in that we forget exactly how crazy it is or we would never do it again. OK...so I am being dramatic, but a whirlwind of DSA,  DRA, DIBELs and seemingly impossible deadlines is about to wear me out." HaHa....I had completely forgotten that I had written that, but it is soooooo true!

This year we added a beautiful, full moon to the mix of first week's madness. :) 

In all of the busyness...we accomplished much. 

We are well on our way to launching a strong Reading and Writing Workshop!

 

Most kiddos have taken off in their efforts to reach their goals! Our book frenzy from Monday and Tuesday has been very inspiring for some. 

We have set a goal of reading 40 books this year. After seeing last year's kiddos sail right past their goals, I have no worries that we will meet our goals.

We are all starting with the same goal...40 books: 10 can be picture books, 10 Nonfiction texts, and 20 Fiction texts from at least 3 different genres. 

I do realize that every student is different, and that possibly not all students will master this goal. Some students will be reading larger selections that take more time, and other students may not be capable at this point. I keep this all in mind as I work with and conference with each kiddo. Together, we will adjust reading goals to be just as individual as each of the sweet kiddos that walked through my door on the first day of school!

Books read at school and at home count towards this goal! As long as students are responding in their reader's notebooks, and I can see their thinking and understanding about what is read at school or home, it ALL counts! 

I will also be working to surpass the same goals as my kiddos...if I ask them to read at least 40 books this school year, then so will I. (A tall order with all of the reader's notebooks I will be reading this year. LOL) This weekend I read Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick and Radiance by Alyson Noel. Although both of these books are so different, I thoroughly enjoyed them both! I cannot wait to do a book talk tomorrow. I am seriously contemplating sharing Freak the Mighty as a read aloud this year. 

 

I also began reading Divergent by Veronica Roth. This one will take me just a bit longer, but I can tell you that I am already in love with it! I am a huge dystopian fan. I was in love with this genre before I ever heard the word dystopian...haha. If you are a Hunger Games fan, you will love this one, too. 

And so it begins...my lovely shelf covered in anchors...

We began our heart maps! This is mine from the past few years...I know it is probably time to make a new one, but everything on this heart map still fits!

Here are a few of my kiddos' heart maps....

 

 

We also decorated our Writer's Notebooks...

 

 

We started what will be quite a few lists in our notebooks...tons of fun storytelling took place this week. Great writing is really great storytelling! This is one that we made together...each of the kiddos has their very own personal list in their notebooks. 

Check out our creepy crawly recess visitor!
He was the BIGGEST I have EVER seen!
Like seriously....HUGE!

With that big beauty, haha...I am joining Miss Nelson at Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera. A day late...yes, I know! I'll blame it on full moon, first week of school madness.  Be sure to stop by and check out everyone's snapshots! Miss Nelson always takes the most beautiful pics! So jealous! ;)

Well, I am off to finish getting ready for another great week of learning. I think after spending so much time at school yesterday, I should be just about there. haha

Happy Reading, friends!