They're Baaack!

After 15 blissful kid-free days, my students are most definitely back from winter vacation, albeit three decided to extend their holiday by just one more day. Although part of our morning was spent helping our friends tie shoelaces, reminding our friends to put away jackets, and re-learning lunch numbers, the other part was filled with sharing animated stories about cool Christmas gifts and New Year's celebrations.

After watching a cute video on Discovery Education about New Year's traditions, we discussed making goals for the new year. We used an idea I found on TpT by the Glyph Girls that helped my students reflect on last year. Here are some student examples (you just gotta love first graders)...

my little friend Austin, who has learned to cook and is proud of himself for washing his dad's car

my friend Brooklyn, whose best and proudest moment was getting a computer and learning how to work it 

and my friend Crystal, whose "good teacher" was the best thing that happened to her :) Awww...

I was quite impressed with the quality of work on their reflections, especially because it was my students first day back and probably the first time in 15 days that they actually wrote something down.

My students gleeful return aside, my favorite moment of the day was when our school's Instructional Facilitator (and grandmother to two of my former students) delivered a bag of about 20 assorted Fancy Nancy books to add to our classroom library. My students ooohhed and aaahhed over each and every one of them. It was awesome!

What is your favorite activity to do with your students after a long break or extended weekend? Do you jump right back in with their normal schedule, or do you give them a day to ease back into classroom routines? I think I do a little bit of both. There is so much academic content to cover that each instructional day counts for so much, but you also want to make school and learning fun for the students and take the time to enjoy the holidays throughout the year.

Thanks for visiting!