I'm Sally and I'm in the first grade. I have two big brothers but they don't go to my school. When I got to my class today, Mrs. R had put the journal page at my place at the table. It said "Take a space journey. Where will you go? What will you see?" I had an idea right away so I wrote my story using every line on my journal page. I especially liked my last sentence, "Be very careful," because I had described a very exciting trip.

At 8:15 a.m., Mrs. R called me and my classmates to the front to sit on the carpet. We sang our weather song, and Mrs. R talked about how pretty it was outside and then connected some of the things we sang to our planet study. She asked us a couple of questions about the planets, and then told us to go back to our tables to finish our journals.

Mrs. R said I could go to the listening center with one of my classmates because we had already done our writing. Johnnie picked a story tape and we got the book out of the little basket and put on our earphones. I liked laying on the floor staring at the ceiling while I listened to the voice coming through the earphones. Johnnie held the book and I tried looking at it, but it was hard with him holding it. I just laid back down instead, stared at the ceiling and listened to the tape. As the other students finished writing, the teacher told some to find a space book to read and told others to go to different learning centers.

When everyone finished their journals, we all sat up front and waited to read them aloud. I raised my hand each time she asked for a volunteer. Finally, I got to read, and I smiled as I sat down afterward. My teacher said it was good.

Mrs. R talked some more about the planets and we told her about different books we had read that reminded us what she was saying. She reminded us that we were thinking "text-to-text."

While we waited for the Language Program time (9 a.m.), my teacher said she would read Magic School Bus. As she did, she reminded us that as we read, we should ask ourselves questions and we should think about how the book made us think of things in our lives---because good readers do! I listened real hard to the story and when my classmates said things and asked questions, I listened.

At 9 a.m., three of my classmates got to go to the library, but my name was not one of the lucky ones chosen. They get to play sight-word bingo there and say words into a tape recording machine that plays your voice back. The librarian always reads a story, too, but she doesn't ask us any questions until the end.

When the other first grade kids came to my room and the lucky three left for the library, I sat up front and waited real quiet while my teacher told us all to put our fingers to our lips and to sit on our bottoms. Finally, everybody got quiet and she started our story, Fishing In Air.

It was a great story and Mrs. R talked to us about text-to-text and text-to-self and asked us how we thought different things might happen. I liked it a lot! We talked about using our imaginations and then she gave us back our journals from yesterday where we had used our imaginations. I was one of the first ones who got to read my story. "I would journey with my mom and dad…………" I liked what I imagined and felt proud when I read it out loud.

When reading time was over, Mrs. R gave each of us a partner to read to. She gave us a little book, Underwater Journey, and then I read it to Sally and she read it to me. Afterward, we wrote down the words that were easy and then we wrote the one that were hard. And then we talked to one another about the story and what we thought about it. My teacher told me that this word page would go into the book that goes home to my family at the end of the week.

Mrs. R said it was time to take our "practice" spelling test. We get to take it home so my family can help me practice words I can't spell. There were six words---pole, note, rose, rode, etc.---that she said out loud for us. I spelled each and every one. I think I spelled right.

My "practice test" will be part of the special book I take home tomorrow. Then I practice words I spelled wrong.

When we finished our practice, it was time for lunch. It took my teacher awhile to get us all ready to go because some of my classmates kept NOT doing what she told them. Lunch was fun because we got to talk to the "guest" that was visiting our class today----Mrs. Jones. She is a REAL nice lady! My friends and me told her we had studied Helen Keller and that she was blind. Mrs. Jones asked us what we had learned and we told her all about how hard it was for Helen Keller and stuff. Then we told her about our country study. We studied all about Mexico and got on the computer and the internet to find out what people in Mexico liked to eat and how they dressed and what their country looked like. We worked in teams. It was real hard, but it was fun too. We invited the whole school to come to our class to learn what we found out about Mexico. Even the third grade classes learned some things.

Lunch was good today. We had fried beef nuggets, rice and beans and a Popsicle.

After lunch back in our class, Mrs. R gave us all little clocks to practice telling time. She read a book called Monster Math about a monster doing things and looking at his clock to tell the time. "At 10 o'clock they show and tell," read Mrs. R. She told us to turn our practice clocks to ten, and I did. But I had a REAL watch on my arm and I looked at it each time she called out a time. I can tell time real good, because I got my REAL watch for Christmas.

After Mrs. R finished reading the monster book and we had turned the hands on our clocks for each time, she handed all of us a practice test. We get to practice our tests first, so we can know what we need to work on at home before we take our REAL test.

My teacher had to tell all my class to get in their seats and put their feet on the floor and to close lips together before she would start the practice test. The sheet she gave us had clocks with different times on them. We had to write down the time below it. It was easy! When I finished, I looked at my REAL watch and thought it would not be long before it was time for me to go home. It had been fun at school today. I had gone to P.E. and I had seen my friends and I had done real good on all my work. And one of the visitors my teacher had told us would be coming to our school had stayed in OUR class most of the day. We were special!