Third week of school is already over!

I can't believe that school has already been in session for three weeks.  It has just flown by.  So far the beginning of the year has been great.  I am in a new building so slightly intimated because the rules and procedures are different.
I am also in a new grade level and have 26 students (4th grade)!  We are pretty crowded but all is going well.  They are the sweetest group and very well behaved.  I love my new principal she is funny and very no nonsense with the students.  She does announcements each morning and the last thing she says is, "Remember boys and girls- If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all!"  I love it!  Last week we had a behavior expectations assembly with third, fourth and fifth grade students and she made her expectations for the year very clear.
My grade level is doing Daily 5 this year for the first time and we are loving it!  I teach 4 rounds of mini-lessons and meet with small groups 4 times.  Our Daily 5 is about 2 hours and 15 minutes long.  I know it will get shorter but we are still working out the procedures and timing of things.
Last week the students worked on a descriptive paragraph.  We created a bubble map with words that described our classroom.  I was expecting them to focus on the appearance of the classroom but they described the atmosphere of the room.  Thanks to my friend Meghan at Fifth Grade Swag I decided to create a Wordle of their description of our classroom.  I think it looks great and made me feel wonderful!