The First Day of School - Thursday, September 1, 2022

 Hi parents,

We made it through our first school day of the 2022/23 year! And honestly it was one of the best first days I've ever had. The students got along well, listened well, and all around just seemed happy to be at school.

In the morning we went over a lot of class expectations, school expectations, and things like that.

I also introduced Morning Math, which is going to be an important part of our daily work routine. Students chose to complete a series of addition and subtraction problems, from three different difficulty levels. They worked through the problems independently and then learned where and how to hand it in. Very basic routine stuff. But routine activities like this make up the foundation for the Montessori work period, so I think it's awesome to start the year off with them. 

Students drew self-portraits to use as labels for the cubbies. They did an awesome job colouring and attending to details.

We had snack outside because the weather was beautiful. We also did a sharing circle in which everyone was able to introduce themselves in a calm, quiet setting.

We played icebreaker games like "Guess my Favourite", "Heads Up 7 Up", and "Move Your Body", and also one called "Snowball Fight". For this game, students wrote three interesting things about themselves on a piece of paper, then crumpled it up into a ball. Everyone threw the balls around for a while, and then as a class we tried to figure out who each one belonged to. 

That was pretty much the day - it all went smoothly, and even though the first day is exciting in many ways, it really only goes up from here, as we get to dive into more interesting work and spend less time going over expectations. I'm looking forward to a great year!

Have a nice night,

Zac