First Day Fun

I finally got to meet my 3rd graders last Tuesday, but I've been so busy with lesson plans and making learning manipulatives I haven't had a chance to post some of the first day fun we had.

We started the first day sharing the book First Day Jitters by Julie Danneburg. The kids laughed at the surprise ending, which was that the main character experiencing first day jitters wasn't a student, but the teacher. We then read the poem "Jitter Juice" and wrote about a time we experienced the jitters while drinking some "Jitter Juice" (Sprite and Kool Aide powder). I got a kick out of some of the kids asking me for the recipe so they could make it at home with their parents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another first day activity was creating our own class constitution. After discussing what the term constitution means, students shared what they thought should be in ours. Voila! I had one laminated, which included most of the things the kids said. We read the pledge and then designed name cards to hang on our constitution.

The highlight of the day was when the kids got to go outside to the school garden and pick the results of what they planted last year. It was amazing to see that the seeds transformed into pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, and watermelon on vines! The kids enjoyed picking bouquets of herbs and were amazed at how tall the corn stalks had grown. We even got in a quick science lesson when we discussed the lifecycle of a pumpkin and learned the yellow blooms still on vines would grow into green balls and then the orange pumpkins we're familiar with.