It is great to have the middle school students back from their trip to Cottonwood Gulch in New Mexico. Before they left, we practiced classroom procedures to ensure smooth instructional time and transitions throughout the day. We have also spent time completing pretests and practice assessments so the students feel confident when doing these on their own. One of the students favorite activities is practicing all of the new math games and apps on the iPads. They will be able to access these during math rotations during the year.
After previewing eight books, the middle school students ranked them in order of interest for reading this year. We have begun reading Maniac Magee. The students are quickly relating to the characters in the book and are participating in excellent discussions. We will begin our first edition of Time for Kids next week to practice our non-fiction reading skills as well as gain exposure to kid-friendly current events.