First day of School!

... it went pretty well!

Due to last years lack of structure on the first day, I went overboard planning today, jam packing it full of "fun ways to review, review, review, model model model the rules and procedures that are going to define our classroom management this year.

Kids are learning: how to sit at the carpet, how to listen to me and to one another, how to enter the room, how to ask and answer questions.. most importantly I hope that through persistance and extensive modeling with explicit instruction these kids will be very independant, so I'll have a few less hanging off my sleeve.

They are super cute! Pictures of the class to come in the following days!
Scott and I just went for a walk down the path that starts at the end of our street (we live at the very edge of town). Its turned to fall here very quickly - in the past week the leaves have turned, and we expect to start losing them in the next few days. The days are still warm and are forcasted to remain hovering around 20 degrees for the next week or so, however the nights are already getting noticably longer, and with that comes the cold. We've begun collecting firewood ourselves with the help of a staff member with a truck to cut down on our heating bills. We have a small wood stove in our main living area that should do the trick.