However, having a solid Monday routine, especially when teaching first grade, makes the day go so much smoother.  Every Monday (or Tuesday if it’s been a long weekend, yahoo!) my students do “Weekend News” and they really do love it.

At the beginning of the year I start by modelling it for them.  I am lucky enough to have a document camera so I write my news under there and it is projected onto my white board.  This is where I teach those beginning writing strategies such as directionality, spacing, proper letter formation, how to uses a word wall, and so on.  It also allows me to share a little about me and my life and they really seem to like that.  At the beginning of the year the writing is usually quite minimal but I encourage them to try their best and to just write down what they hear.  I also encourage them to label their picture, at the beginning ANY and all writing is good!  Obviously as the year progresses so does their writing. Weekend News is the perfect way to show their progress.  Every weekend news is hung on their clip in the hallways where their friends, other teachers, and their parents can read it when they come to visit.  After each reporting period I take it down and send it home- the parents are always blown away by the progress, it truly is so neat to see how far they’ve come! Oh, and one more bonus- your bulletin board always has something on it and you don’t need to worry about crafting something up for each season #winning!

You can download the template I use here!

Happy Teaching!

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