Great Days offset the Rough Days

I first wanted to say that after a somewhat lousy day yesterday, today was really a pretty great day overall.  I made the commitment to get up an hour earlier and go to a 6am hot pilates class.  Getting up at 5 was not easy, but it was so worth it.  I really like having the exercising out of the way, and when I do go I have so much more energy all day long. 

My students were really good today and worked really hard.  We even got to fit in some of the activities I had planned that we did not get to do yesterday.  We started our Mythology Unit (thanks to this super cute unit by Nicole Shelby.)

We have been studying the 13 Colonies in Social Studies, so I had grabbed a selection of nonfiction books on the 13 Colonies from the library.  I paired my students up, and they have 5 days to finish the book.  The books are about 50-60 pages, but since it is nonfiction not all of them read as quickly.  I gave them the option of buddy reading together or taking turns reading the books independently.  They had to plan out with their partner how much to read each day to finish on time.  (I love making them take ownership to plan out how they read a book.)  Some will take the whole 5 days and some choose to read the book in one day.  I gave them a chart and they had to take notes on the main ideas of the book.  Next week at the end of the week, they are going to make a glog on their book.  We have yet to make a glog, so this is going to be our first project for using Glogster Edu.

I found some super cute Science Graphic novels at the library, so tomorrow we are going to read a graphic novel that ties into our current Science topic.  We use the computers so much all day long that I feel it is really important to expose them to text and literature as much as I can.  I love finding ways to incorporate good texts and variety of texts to all subjects. 

This afternoon I had an opportunity to go talk to a professor to get information on a Doctorate program in Gifted Education.  It was a really interesting conversation, and I got a lot of great information.  I came home and walked the dog.  Then, I had to run to to the store and grab ice cream because I told my students I would bring them a treat tomorrow for working so hard today with a good attitude.  I was reminded again today how much our students feed off of our own energy.  My day started out rough yesterday and it just put me in a frustrated mood all day.  I think sometimes even if we try not to show it if we are frustrated or frazzled, the students often respond in the same way.  Morning pilates gave me more energy and put me in a better mood.  I think my own positive energy set us off in the right direction today, and the result was they continued to make good choices all day.  It was just a reminder to me to keep trying to always find the positive and find reasons to be thankful.  I  hope you have a wonderful Friday.

Good night,