Ms. Jalee and Ms. Vanessa

We made it through our first week. I always forget how exhausting yet rewarding it is to be back at school. We did a lot of grace and courtesy and team building this week. We also had some great lessons. Today we had a great time with Ms. Kirsten’s class. Ms. Kirsten’s class is our mentor class. We will be doing something with them at least once a month, have reading partners with them, and even try to schedule a field trip with them. Today we did a team building activity with them. We split the kids up into small groups and gave them 4 mats. They had to work together to get across the field, using the mats, without touching the grass. It was so fun to watch them work together. It wasn’t just the older kids doing all the work, but the younger ones were helping as well. One group had to go back to the beginning because they touched the grass. The awesome part of that was that they didn’t give up, they just worked even harder to make it. The groups that got to the end first were great. They grabbed their mats and ran to the other groups to help them succeed as well. It was such a great experience. I will post pictures of it.

Next week we will start gradually working our way into work cycle. Monday the kids may only get 1 or 2 works or lessons for work cycle but we will add more each day. We will continue with finishing our great lessons. These will be taking a look at the large timeline of life, theories on the coming of man, the history of writing, and the history of math. The history of writing and math are fun because there are a lot of good books and activities to do as follow ups of them. After we had the coming of the universe lesson the kids worked in groups to create their own universes. I will also post pictures of these.

Thank you to all who were able to make it to back to school night last night. If you weren’t able to come, I sent home a bright orange paper with your child today. This is the schedule for all the home projects we will have this year. This is also on the blog, at the top, under the picture if you need it. When each month starts, I will post a more detailed description of each one on the blog. I also plan on modeling them for the students.

As always, thank you for your support.

Jalee

It’s here! Well, almost. School starts this coming Monday. Just as a reminder, school starts at 8:30 but the doors are open for the students to come in at 8:15. Either myself or Ms. Marleen will be outside with a sign that has our names on it for any student who is nervous about going in by themselves or unsure where to go. All of next week will be half days so please make plans to pick your child up at 1 p.m. If you have not sent your school supplies, please do so Monday. The supply list is on a page at the top of the blog, just under the picture.

The first couple weeks of school we will be doing a lot of grace and courtesy, team building, and great lessons. Some of the grace and courtesy we will be covering are things like hall etiquette, self control, peace, proper greetings, etc. The great lessons are what we teach the children at the beginning of the year. They include things, like The Coming of Man and The Story of the Universe. We teach the students about theories and share many different ones with them and invite them to think about what their own theories are. We also emphasize that what they are taught in their home is most important. We will also teach them about the history of language and math.

The second week of school we will start giving lessons and introducing work cycle. We will start with just a few works a day and eventually move to 6 works a day.

I have added a page to the blog (at the top under the picture) that has a schedule of all home projects we will be doing this year, a brief description, and when they need to be done and presented. We will be doing one a month. When that month comes, I will send a more detailed description of what is expected. The first home project will start the first day of school. It is really simple. I will send home a brown paper bag with instructions in it. Basically, the students need to bring 5 things that tell us about themselves and FIT IN THE BAG. If an object is too big, use a picture or find something small that can represent it. This bag will come home on Monday and the students can bring it back any time in the next two weeks. I will soon have a schedule of the field trips we are planning this year.

I am excited to see all of the kids on Monday. This is going to be a great year!