We have jumped into 2nd grade!

On Sunday mornings I swim in  the ocean.  I love the swelly, blue-green salt water and the chill in the misty morning air.  It is an amazing way to start the day.  As much as I love it, I am always a little bit nervous right before I jump in. I stand at the waters edge with butterflies in my stomach.  Will the water be really cold?  Will I see any dolphin or seals?  What direction is the current traveling?    Slowly I get my toes wet, then I go in up to my knees and before I know it I am swimming through the first wave, then down the coast.

As I was swimming today I was thinking about how starting the school year is a lot like going out into the ocean.  Most of us, on the first day of school are a little nervous because we don't know what to expect.  But as the first few days pass, we meet our teacher and make new friends, we learn rules, routines and begin to work together as a class. Friday was the 8th day of school.  In class we talked about what we can do better today compared to the first day of school.  Every day is a new opportunity to learn and make better choices. We have memorized poems, played math games, we are working on our reading stamina, we started working in math on number sense and writing in our journals.  We are reading books of our choice, and as groups we made either a rural, urban or suburban community.

Our class has jumped in and we are diving through the surf :-)