First Day of School!

Written by: Ms. Vallillo, acting as class scribe.

Today's Big Learning Targets:  I can effectively and actively participate in our class community.
Supporting Learning Targets:  I can work by myself and with a partner professionally.
                                                     I can enter and exit the room professionally.
                                                     I can ask to use the bathroom professionally.

Today was the first day of school in sixth grade humanities class.  It was exciting to meet the group of wonderful, hardworking students who, together, will make up a community of learners that will support each other as we grow and develop this year. 

Our agenda today included:
- Do Now: A survey about you
- Who is year teacher?
- A Text Tea Party
- Overview of Procedures
- Exit Ticket.

For homework, we have to complete the survey from the do now and turn it in on our desk tomorrow at the beginning of class. 

Students started the class by filling in a survey about themselves so that I can learn about who they are.  After completing this survey, students got a chance to guess some information about their teacher including: what sport does she not play?, and where did she go to college?

Next, students participated in a Text Tea Party where they were given a reading cut up into 10 pieces and asked to put it in order by making educated guesses.  Students said that hints they could use to do this included using text clues such as indentations and periods, as well as actually reading through the text to make sure the order they were putting it in made sense to the story.  The story was about a father who wrote a book called Always Running about his tough life in gangs and how he got out.  He wrote this book because he saw his son getting into gang life and he wanted his son to learn from his mistakes.  This led students to a discussion of the popular saying, "if you don't know history, you will repeat it," which means that in order to make the world today a better place, we need to learn from the mistakes and successes of the past.  This is why it is important to read, write, and discuss history in our humanities class. 

Finally, we learned the procedures that will help us save time and create a supportive community of professionals.  The procedures we learned included how to enter the class, how to exit the class, how to pass paper down rows, and how to ask to use the bathroom.

Last, we completed an Exit Ticket in which we shared what are hopes and fears about humanities class are this year.