The Plastic Bag Round Up!

We are collecting plastic bags to recycle them into Frisbees and other stuff. We made jobs like making posters, bag collectors, talking at assembly, letters, and announcements. We do not like to throw stuff in the garbage. We saw a video about the garbage dump. When it rains the water goes through the garbage and it isn't good for the earth. We watched a movie about recycling and making new plastic bags. Here is the video:

Here are some picture of us getting ready for the Plastic Bag Round Up!

 We wrote an announcement to read in the morning.                              We wrote a letter to Mrs. Caldwell to tell her what we're going to do.

We already got some bags from the kids in our class.              We counted how many bags we've collected.        We wrote a speech to give at the assembly.

You can sign up for the Plastic Bag Round Up too! Or send us your plastic bags.

-The children of Room 9

We made posters to put up around the school to remind people to bring in their bags.

When we count the bags we make sure they are empty and we count them in groups of 10 (Thanks to Mrs. DentScarcello's class!)

It's a New Year!

It's our first day of school! Here are some things that happened today:

I made a new friend. - Rhianna
I played with Cameron. -Nicholas
I'm happy to see my friends. -Aliegha
I saw Kaelan. -Peyton
We painted dragonflies and I played with Aliegha. -Madeline
We had fun. -Ashley
We took a picture outside of our class. -Jonathon
We had gym! -Jadyn & Sam
We had fun in gym. -Rhianna
Me and Tyson found a grasshopper outside. -Cole
Me and my friends found a ladybug. -Taylor
I played with Kai. -Cameron
We got to meet new people. -Ashley

It was a wonderful first day of school for me too! We spent the day together learning some of the routines of the classroom and getting to know one another. Today we welcomed Kaspir and Sydney H into our Dr. Hamilton Family and look forward to learning with them this year. For many of the younger students in our classroom, today marked a very important milestone in their school lives... it was the first day that they got to have 3 RECESSES! There were many tired faces at the end of the day (including mine) but they still had smiles on them. :)

In my last post I talked a little bit about why I love doing what I do. Today I would like to add another reason to the list: Magic. Everyday I get to see something magical happen. Not the pull-a-rabbit-out-of-a-hat kind of magic, but the magic that happens when kids are being kids. Today I saw one of my older students get up quietly from storytime and walk over to a younger student (who was quite nervous and had arrived a little late), show him where to put his things, and invite him to sit next to him on the carpet. No one asked him to do it, and might seem like a small thing, but to me it's magic. Later in the day I watched another student from our classroom notice a child from another classroom playing alone on the playground, walk over to her and invite her to play. This afternoon I was able to sit down and listen to a couple of younger students read from books they had never seen before. Magic. Kids. Everyday.
-Mrs. Malkoske

One More Sleep!

Tonight is the last night before the first day of a new school year! For me that always means a restless night full of anticipation and nervous excitement for the day and year ahead. One of the reasons I love teaching, and can't imagine doing any other job, is that every year is different and new... new beginnings, new opportunities, new students, new colleagues, new classrooms, and new learning. I can't wait to see what this year will bring!

As some of you know, and others will find out soon, I am an avid reader of all kinds of books, articles, blogs, and magazines. I'll read just about anything from fiction to biography to business to technology to environment to pop culture, and of course, the occasional People Magazine. On the weekend I was looking through a couple of books that I usually revisit at the beginning of the school year and came across a passage in one of them that I had flagged a couple of years ago. The book is called "The Last Lecture" and was written by Randy Pausch. (You may have seen him on Oprah or on Youtube, talking about his book and sharing his story.) There are a number of passages in this book that I connect to as an educator, but none more than this one (from Chapter 36 - Look for the Best in Everybody):

"This is beautiful advice that I got once from Jon Snoddy, my hero at Disney Imagineering. I just was so taken with the way he put it. "If you wait long enough," he said, "people will surprise and impress you." "

This is another reason I love my job. Young children tend to surprise and impress more quickly than adults, and usually on a daily basis. :)

And with that I wish everyone a good night's sleep. See you in the morning!
-Mrs. Malkoske

The beginning...

Welcome Room 9 families to our new blogging home for the 2011-2012 school year! I can't believe that September is here already. This time of year always brings a lot of excitement, and a bit of sadness that summer (and the gorgeous weather we've been having) is coming to an end. I'm looking forward to reconnecting with the children that are returning to my room this year, and to meeting all of the new members to our Room 9 family. I've been busy setting up our new classroom, doing some planning and getting ready for a new school year. We're going to have an awesome 200 days together!

Enjoy the last few days of summer holidays and I'll see you soon!
-Mrs. Malkoske