A lot has happened since my last post to this blog... this could really go without saying, it has been two years. Long story short, I am now a reading and language arts teacher in Wrightstown, Wisconsin, approximately twenty minutes from my hometown, and I am finally surrounded by my family in close proximity. St. Clare School does things a little differently than St. Mary School, so I will be spending a lot of time getting acclimated to my new surroundings. I also completed course work in August to earn my reading teacher certification through Viterbo University. My classes over the past year have given me the opportunity to get up close and personal with two wonderful books I can't recommend enough! (Along with many other wonderful resources!)
 |
My first bulletin board at St. Clare School --
also an answer to a scavenger hunt question |
My new classroom will be home base for the sixth graders and the reading and language arts room for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. My new students were in this classroom all day last year as fifth graders, so it was important to me that it didn't look exactly like their old room, but still had a comforting familiarity. There was a flag left hanging in the room that I almost put in the hallway to be disposed off. Thankfully, someone mentioned that the students had made it together for a project or trip. I decided it was essential to find a place for it in my classroom and hoped the students would notice.
The Tuesday before school started (August 25), my brand new students brought their school supplies to Back Pack Drop Off Night to see their old teacher and meet the two new teachers at school. I wanted to have an activity for them to do when they dropped off their materials that would encourage them to look around the room and not just drop their things off and leave without a glance my way. I decided to have a scavenger hunt.
 |
| Scavenger Hunt |
When the students entered the room, their parents signed a sheet letting me know the best way to contact them while the students found their desk and put their supplies away. There were instructions on the board to tell me their favorite book and grab a scavenger hunt clue from the table. This was a sneaky way for me to assess how well they could follow directions written on the board. There were seven questions for the students to choose from:
1) Name a movie represented on Miss Bohman's desk. (I have a minion mug from
Despicable Me, an ET doll from
ET, and my key chain is connected to a
Toy Story lanyard.)
 |
| The bee by the flag |
2) Which word on the 'Be' bulletin board describes you? (See the bulletin board above.)
3) What insect is hanging out by the American flag? (There is a bee on the wall with the words "'Hive' read something worth 'buzzing' about!")
 |
| A day without laughter... |
4) A Day without ____________________________ is a day wasted. (One student was sure she had the right answer when she proudly exclaimed "school!")
5) What color dot will you find on a historical fiction book? (For this they had to look at the library guide to see that a green dot is found on all historical fictions.)
6) Name one of the featured authors. (There are certain authors that my students in Bloomington really loved. As a result, I have influxes of books by those particular authors: Gary Paulsen, AVI, Andrew Clements, Roald Dahl, Lurlene McDainel, Jean Craighead George, Coleen Murtagh Paratore, and Beverly Cleary.)
 |
| featured authors |
 |
Library guide, checkout,
Miss Bohman is reading... |
7) What book is Miss Bohman reading? (I found this idea in
Igniting a Passion for Reading by Dr. Steven Layne after looking for a way to expand on ideas in Donalyn Miller's
The Book Whisperer. Both wonderfully insightful people point out that our students seeing us as readers is very important to building lifelong learners. I was reading
Rump on Back Pack Drop Off Day.)
 |
| 6th grade information board |
8) When is Miss Bohman's birthday? I have included my birthday on the birthday chart at the front of the room. They had to dig a little deeper to find my name on this one! Also-- the picture is from before the birthdays were written on the chart!
The students had fun exploring the room to find the correct answers, and they also got a feel for the room they would be entering on the first day of school. Once they found their answer, the students wrote their name, question number, and answer on a scrap sheet of paper. On the first day of school, I chose a winner from the correct responses, and we talked about each of the answers to the questions as a group.
I hope your year has started off as wonderfully as mine!
~
Amy
No comments:
Post a Comment