Day 2 - First Day with my Year 6 Students

Today I arrived at my school for the first time. I, of course, couldn't remember where my building was. The layout of the schools are very different here as compared to the US. At my school there are small buildings spread out throughout a large campus. There are groups of classrooms in each small building that are organized by age group. I'm in a Year 6 block with 4 teachers. Today was the first day of interaction with the students and it was amazing. It was the first day back from holiday so the students were able to discuss anything exciting they did. I shared what I did during the school holiday as well and the students were all interested. We did a worksheet called Quick Maths. It's a sheet of paper with 4 columns that contain 25 questions. It's a rapid fire math exercise that really gets the kids involved because they each have their own work to do but it's a bit of a competition among the class. Then after lunch we discussed the reward for the behavior management plan. My teacher does a great program where the students are given fake money as rewards for appropriate behavior. They then have to put the money in their wallet on the pocket chart to save up for the end of the term. This activity is really important for students of any age because it helps math and life skills. The students decided that as a class we will tie in the culture unit for term 3 into the reward. The reward is that we will organize olympic events that connect to the different cultures. It was a great day to ease in to term today and I look forward to the challenges ahead.