What did you do at school today?

As a teacher, there is nothing worse than hearing a kid asked this question and then hearing the inevitable answer...

"Nothing"

Of course we do a million things each and every day, but trying to pick one or two to talk about seems to be difficult for them.  So, this year I am trying to do something to help them remember just a thing or two to talk about after they leave room 13.

Every day At least 3 times a week, we will be writing in our Table-Talk notebooks at the end of the day.  For now we are just writing down one or two new things that happened during the day; things like "We had gym with Mr. Frazer," or "We learned some new vocabulary words."

As the year progresses, I am expecting these to become more specific and individual for each kid.  My hope is that it will help them really focus on something special they learned during the day or something that made a big impression on them.

Then, as a family, at some point after school, take a look at what they wrote.  Maybe it will be around the dinner table, coffee table, or breakfast table, but it will just take a minute and really help everyone stay connected.

So, from now on, "Nothing" is not a good enough answer to what we did in school!