My students have been working SO hard on building their stamina during independent reading and we are SOOO excited to open our library on Monday!! Our sweet assistant principal is coming in to "cut the ribbon" and the students are going to *love* it!!
During the summer our campus had Dave Burgess from Teach Like A Pirate out...and boy, oh boy, if you have never had the opportunity to hear him speak, DO. IT.
In an effort to bring up the engagement level in the classroom we have been doing little "surprises" for the kiddos leading up to the grand opening of the library. Today, a mysterious green bag appeared! I acted like it wasn't there but, of course, the "What is that?" "I think it's ____" started buzzing! Mission accomplished. I finally let them open it and it was NEW BOOKS!! They LOVED it!!
I also gave them an index card with their name on it and allowed them to decorate it. No one really wondered "Hm...why are we coloring an index card?!" Until I made them turn it in. They wanted to keep it but mean ol' Mrs. Uselton told them I wanted to keep it until tomorrow ;) After some moans and groans they wanted to know WHYYY!! I told them they would have to wait until tomorrow...WHAT?!? A whole night not knowing...!!! *Spoiler Alert* We are going to use the index card on their NEW BOOK BAGS they will get tomorrow!! They are going to go b-a-n-a-n-a-s, BANANAS!! I decorated a box with some bows tonight before I left and it will just be sitting on the table when they come in, just waiting to cause some more buzz in our first grade classroom!!
P.S. You know you have accomplished the element of surprise/engagement when a kiddo goes home and I hear from his mama that he can't wait to see what the surprise at school tomorrow is!!
In honor of libraries on our campus opening and soon to be opening...I am loving the way my sweet friend's library came out in her fabulous new 4th grade class ...
I love how inviting and put together it is!! The teachers on my campus are seriously unbelievably talented!! I will be posting pictures next week of my class library, our Grand Opening and all the festivities that will go along with that...stay tuned!! :)
Have a great weekend ya'll and HAPPY FRIDAY {tomorrow}!!!
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