First Day of School 2018

Eliza is going to help me write this post about the first day of school: 

I was nervous the first day of school, but I was also really excited. My teacher's name is Mrs. Perks, and my other teacher's name is Mrs. Hartland. I have two teachers, and I switch teachers in the afternoon. Mrs. Perks teaches math and science, and Mrs. Hartland teaches ELA (English Language Arts). I am going to have to have the same two teachers next year because Mrs. Perks is the 4th grade gifted teacher, and Mrs. Hartland is the 5th grade gifted teacher. It is dual classroom, and we switch in the afternoon. Mrs. Perks and Mrs. Hartland have next door classrooms. 

I really love it. In ELA we do literary discussions, which is my favorite part. It is like an argument where you are trying to convince other kids of what you think. Currently we're in a poetry unit. Recently I wrote my very own poem about a mailbox. 

mailbox

By Eliza, inspired by Valerie Worth

a tall, silver

a tower

in a field

the flag up

a bundle

of words

inside

standing awake

guarding 

the castle

asleep, a red

cloak

hiding,

an empty 

stomach

hungry 

for

mail

I used so many metaphors with it that for the first little while I left the title off and used it as a riddle. Everyone said that the last three lines gave it away. 

Mrs. Perks does something really cool called math dates. She writes the day by in math forms, like binary numbers, factorials, and exponents. We're also doing algebra and legal moves. It is really fun. I am also practicing math facts on an app on my Kindle. 10 minutes a day. I am getting way better. 

We are doing an experiment with bread and potatoes. We tried to get them as dirty as possible and are watching disintegrate and grow mold. 

I met a new friend. Her name is Nola, and her favorite color is green. She is really nice. She is quite tall, a full head and a half taller than me. 

Miriam is going to give her thoughts about the new school year:

My teacher is Mrs. Whigham. She is super fun, and she teaches me a lot. She teaches me some strategies about subtraction and addition.
Our daily starts school morning board. Morning board is where we count how many days we have been in school, look at the calendar, and do a few math things. One day we did morning board so long that it took up an hour. Then we normally do readers' workshop. Reader's workshop is where we normally read books and write about them. It is hard to know exactly what we do for reader's workshop because she never says when we start or end it. Then it is writer's workshop. In writer's workshop we write stories. We already wrote several paragraphs. It has been informational texts and stories. I am working on a story right now. My story is about the Hunter and his Wife. It is based off of The Fisherman and His Wife. After writer's workshop we got to specials. My favorite specials are music, PE, art, library, and computer lab. I love all of them. In computer lab we're starting a slide show. Then we go to lunch. After lunch is recess which is 20 minutes. Then we line up, and Mrs. Whigham takes us into the classroom. We do math stations. After that is math workshop, which is different from math station because we all work together and Mrs. Whigham isn't out of bounds, like she is during stations. Then we do reading stations. After that is science--right now we are studying liquids. I wrote an informational text about matter a month ago. It was in writer's workshop. After that is closing when we go home or on Friday is success club and then closing. Success club is where we play with toys. I like to play with magnet toys and draw.
Last week, for my homework I did a writing project. I wrote about how I've been kind. I made sure to follow the directions and clearly only another classmate and I were the only ones to used the check sheet. Mrs. Whigham had me read mine to the class, and then Mrs. Whigham had me show it to the office helpers. One of the office helpers said we should show Mrs. Strickland, the vice-principal. She wanted a copy herself, so she copied it in the copy machine. Then the office helper gave me a sticker that said Awesome on it. I put it on the paper.
I have lots of friends. I think my whole class in nice, except when the boys talk about the girls. And when they act like they're in love with me and the other girls. It's so annoying. I like playing with Lucy Welling and Yewon Kim. I also like playing with Nina. Becky Pratt just started in my class, and I like playing with her. I also like playing with Annabelle and Ashlynn. I love school!

I love hearing about the girls' school experiences. I think they are in good places this year. I have to chuckle at this picture of them on the first day--eyes closed and fake, squinty smile. Yep, that is how we photo around here. :)

These girls are awesome! I am so proud of them!