Marie Smith
Third Grade Teacher
MW Cuyler Elementary School
Red Creek, NY
www2.rccsd.org/MSmith/OurClassroom.htm

One of our projects for the first week of school is coloring these little people to look like each one of us. On the shirt of each character there is a word written in funky print. The child's name is on the belt. When the artsy part is complete we generate what the sentence says and then post "all of us" in the classroom. The students holding hands are saying...Let's work together to make our classroom a place where we can learn, work, play, and cooperate each and every day. The sentence changes from year to year and is dependent upon how many students are in the class.

We spent some time at the beginning weeks of school brainstorming STAR Choices for when tasks are completed. I was impressed that this year's students chose educational things to do. I usually have at least one or two who suggest toy time!

Writing workshop is a time that the children work at different stages at different times. Though I keep a list of where the children are on my clipboard, this is a great visual for me, as well as for the children, as they progress through the stages of the writing process. The children are responsible for moving their own clothespin through the stages. This is explained in more detail on the Writer's Workshop page.

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