Today was a classic first day of school kind of day! We started by learning the morning routine and jobs. The students learned where to put their belongings, how to enter the classroom, and how to be ready for Mindfulness, a 30-second to 1-minute time at the start of each day where students can reset and prepare themselves to learn and collaborate. A couple students will ring a classroom bell while the rest of the class either takes deep breaths, reminds themselves of their goals, says a prayer in their head, works on focusing on the bell sound, or just sits quietly until we are ready to read the agenda. 

The students learned where the bathrooms, nurse's office, and cafeteria are as well as the recess and cafeteria rules. They also got a tour of the GATE classroom by finding something that interested them in the room and asking questions about it. 

The likely highlight of the day was trying out Choice Time for the first time! The students will have 20-30 minutes of Choice Time each week where they can pursue their individual interests. This could include reading, art projects, geometry games, strategy games, musical instruments, movement, or (mostly) anything they can think of that gets them passionate and excited. Today, I introduced the strategy game IZZI. Several students took a stab at this puzzle, and I think some of them might already be huge fans!

We were able to finish the day with a simple creativity challenge where students pick up a seemingly normal object and imagine it as something new. For example, they may pick up a straw and say, "This looks like a straw, but it's really... a snorkle!' ... a flute!' ... a mustache!' ... a golf club!" The possiblilities are endless, and this is a really simple game to play at home and practice creativity thinking and letting go of perfectionism.

I can't wait to see them again on Monday January 23rd! (No school next Monday for MLK Jr Day.)

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