The Rookery

Today the Big Birds received their Blue Books.  Through the years, receiving the Blue Books has become a bit of a ceremony signifying we are now ready to learn.  These books hold everything we work on throughout the year and we use it to share our work at conferences.

This year, the fifth graders shared advice with the fourth graders about how to use the Blue Books.  "Make sure you glue things in!"  "Don't write too big our you won't have room for everything."  "Don't just pick random pages to write in — go in order"  (this is a big issue for many fourth graders), "Stay organized."  "Don't doodle everywhere."

Heads spinning with directions, the students scattered to number their books' pages and design a title page.  The rooms were all filled with the soft rhythm of children counting aloud as they marked each page.  "101, 102, 103…"  It's exciting to think of the learning that will go onto those pages.