The Rookery

Last night I had the same nervous dreams that I have every year — although this year's charming version included a class trip to an under-regulated, poorly maintained amusement park.  And this morning before heading down to the plaza I had to take the same deep breath that I take every year.  No matter how many times I welcome a new class there is a sense of unease until the moment when we're all in the room together and there's reading and talking and laughing and working.   Then I know that everything's going to be just fine.

These first weeks are full of carefully planned words and activities that set the stage for a year of productive work.  We're learning about each other and learning what it means to be a Heron (and a "Big Bird" as we call the 4/5s).  We talked about the freedoms we have, and the new expectations that accompany those freedoms.

Today's work included learning our daily routines, learning everyone's name, learning how to use the libraries and how to access art supplies.  In addition, I began reading interviews with everyone in the class, we created surveys and collected data about the class, we completed 17 posters outlining the Habits of Mind (I've added italics because this group was able to meet a one hour deadline — I've had several sets of posters languish in "almost done land" for months until we abandon the project).  It was very impressive.  They were even done a bit early.

Here are a few pictures and a short video of our data collection.  This video, like all the videos I post, is made from splicing together short clips that I shoot during the activity.  I don't do any editing and it's meant just to give you a glimpse of what's going on.  I post on YouTube but it's unlisted so it doesn't show up in any search and you can only access it with the link or when it's embedded (as it is here).  I also disable all comments.  This is the fastest way for me to share video and I hope you'll excuse the production values for the opportunity to have a little window into our day.