Week 2

We made it through Week 2.  I'm not sure how.  This is an active group and we have a lot of students with special needs this year.  People keep telling me that it's okay and we will rock it like always, but I won't lie...I've had some panicky moments this week.

Let me tell you what happened on Monday-it was the most excitement I've ever had on a Monday morning, that's for sure.  I had morning duty in the gym (thank goodness our new principal worked it out so we only have it 2-3 times a year instead of the 6-8 we USED to have it for!) this week.  The bell rang and I walked the first graders to class.  Right as I got to my door, you'll never believe what happened: the fire alarm went off!  All of the teachers poked their heads out of their rooms: "Who pulled it?!"  "This must be a joke!"  But when no announcement came over that it was a false alarm, we all started to move.  Our principal told us the next day that we had the entire building cleared out in under 3 minutes which I think is darn impressive considering that buses were unloading, kids were eating breakfast, and some of us hadn't even made it inside our classrooms yet!  We had to wait about 20 minutes while the fire department came and checked everything out.  It wasn't a drill-a classroom AC unit blew out and caused smoke and a burning smell, so we needed to evacuate.  That is the first time in my teaching career that we have had a real fire alarm and honestly, I was blown away by how smoothly it went.  Anyway...that pretty much set the tone for the week.  I am hoping that next week will go much smoother!

Also...we started our baseline testing this week.  I ended up making a whole bunch of stuff to help me. For example...we decided that we wanted to test for sight words.  Now, I LOVE the forms on Ms. Perkin's web site and I have used them for years.  However...I like to test the words OUT of order (because otherwise the kids learn to read the list, am I right?!) which means I have to hunt and search for the words that are IN order on the form.  This year I decided I'd done that enough and made a new set of forms and flashcards for me.  I typed out the words in random order on the student recording sheet and then put the words in the same (random) order on a ring.  Not kidding when I say that I felt like an organized genius!  It made testing go SO much smoother.  I also color-coded my rings by printing the different lists on different sheets of paper so I can tell at a glance which set is which.  I also made brand new ABC flashcards, # flashcards, and shape flashcards for flashcard rings...plus data forms for each skill AND class data forms.  I feel so organized about their baselines now!

I uploaded the set to my TPT store...which will be on sale tomorrow and Monday!  It's time for the TPT B2S sale.  I have bought sooo much here lately that I don't NEED anything else, but I can't resist a good sale, can you?  While you're at it take a look at my Wizard of Oz set.  If you are a GA teacher getting ready to start the frameworks lessons, I made a set of graphic organizers for a Cast of Characters book as well as masters for a story elements foldable.  

The First Week and a Peacemakers freebie

So...I'm almost through it.  The First Week of School.  It's...well...been an interesting week.  I have 30 precious firsties.  Some of them are busy and some of them are chatty.  I always forget how I have to drill and kill MY expectations at the beginning.  For example...I cannot STAND to have anyone tap me on the arm, especially if they are going to TUG my arm and say my name over and over.  Also, the air conditioning went out today along with power for exactly HALF of our school building.  I can't remember that ever happening before!  (We take our air conditioning in Georgia very, very seriously.)

I haven't made anyone cry...yet.  There were no tears on the first day of school, either.  That might be a first.  (Or maybe I'm losing my touch?)

Next week we are going to start easing into "real" instruction...launching workshops, taking some baselines, all that fun stuff.  This week we have gotten an influx of children every day so there has been ZERO baselining going on.  I feel "behind" but I am trying not to let it get to me-I am sure it will work out!

I have a quick freebie to share...we did the fabulous "Peacebreakers vs. Peacemakers" lesson.  That idea wasn't mine-I originally saw it over at The First Grade Parade.  Click over there to see Mrs. Carroll's adorable anchor charts!  I did a spin-off on those today with:

What first grade teacher doesn't love David?!  We read it the other day so today we just used examples from the book to describe a peacebreaker...then we went through and figured out what a peacemaker would do instead.

We're going to do the next part tomorrow...

Click on the picture if you would like your free copy!

August Currently

Linking up with Farley's Currently!

My B2S Must-Haves:

1.) Lots of glue sticks.  I usually buy 100 at the beginning of the year.  This year the school gave us some, so I only purchased 50...but I am already feeling some anxiety that it won't be enough!  Some of my kids will bring them in, but not all...and we use a LOT of glue sticks in first grade.  (I infinitely prefer glue sticks to liquid glue...liquid glue requires a lot of teaching and supervision.)

2.) Pete!  Last year was my first year doing anything with Pete...but I am in loovvee with him now!  My favorite is Rockin' My School Shoes.  Last year after we read it we did the ah-dor-able Steppin' Into My New Shoes activity from the Bubbly Blonde...SOOOO cute.

3.)  I JUST bought this B2S Bash pack from Ms. Stewart.  There's a lot of adorable things in it, but what made me add it to my must-have list is the activity on what kind of "smart" are you...I already had in mind to do a little community building lesson about how we are all gifted in some way/it's my job to help you figure that out this year/there are different types of "gifts" and this just meshed perfectly.  LOVE it!

So the rest of my day is going to be spent putting together their take-home B2S packets (we got all of that paperwork yesterday around 3 PM and there's NO WAY I could handle putting the packets together Monday morning!!) and assembling some of the little emergent readers we're going to do this week  I am blessed this year to have not one but TWO student teachers and this is something they could do, but it makes me feel SOOO much better to have a good chunk of my stuff copied/prepped so it's ready.

I might not post tomorrow...so if I don't, see you on the other side of the first day of school...I am so excited about this year.  Pre-planning went smoother than it's ever gone and we are feeling good as a school.  The ONLY little kink is that first grade LOOKS like it will be overflowing.  We are all sitting right at or above the class size cap.  I am really hoping that they all show up and then some because then we should be able to add a teacher...but we'll see.  We may each end up with 28 and if more enroll later on in the year then we'll be sorry-outta-luck!  

Classroom Tour 2013

It has been 2 weeks since I posted...not gonna promise a lapse won't happen every now and then, but I hope to get on a better blogging schedule!  Last week was my last week of vacay and we spent it at the lake.  It was AMAZING...I hated to leave!

Then this past week was back to work.  We were furloughed 2 days at the beginning of our preplanning (ugh) but then the school board decided to push back the start date of school to give us those 2 days of planning regardless.  Since they also had scheduled mandated offsite training for the first part of the week, that was probably wise.  Anyway, my room is ready!  I took before and after pictures to share.  I love my black and white polka dots and I got lots of ideas this summer from Pinterest, other blogs, and TpT!

Before pictures:

I know...my classroom has the most RANDOM conglomeration of carpet...and that yellow wall!  I can't stand how it takes up about 75% of the back wall...not half, not the whole thing...it goes to the cinder block BEFORE the window and just stops.  Ugh!  

My teacher desk piled high with stuff!

 And after pictures...

The front of my door is the same as it was last year with the only addition being "Welcome Class of 2025."  The hot pink sign on the back of the door says "Two college graduates learn and teach in this classroom.  Where will you go after high school?  What will you do?"  (I got the idea from a pin on Pinterest...unfortunately it links to a picture that has been deleted on a teacher forum so I can't link up.)

Welcome sign in the hall...I do have more polka dot ribbon for the bottom bulletin board strip, just haven't gotten around to putting it back up.  (I took it down last year because the whole school goes by my door on the way to science lab and my push pins holding it in place kept getting stolen...need to hot glue it!)

We put this easel out in the hallway for Open House!  My room is at the end of a loonnggg hallway and is a little separated from the other first grade classes, so I thought this would be a good way to let people know that we're down there!

This isn't new but I thought I'd take a picture because lots of people comment on it when they visit my room.  My emergency clipboard hangs right by the door.  I keep a current roster on it along with the roll checklist we have to send in for a drill.  I know of course that I need these things if the alarm sounds, but the big letters on the top sheet remind anyone else who may be in charge of my class (sub, para, co-teacher) that they need it (also, the people who are less likely to be able to rattle off the roll by memory like I can.)

This is what the wall where the door is looks like! I copied the clocks idea which was ALL over Pinterest last summer (it originated from Keeping Up with The Kindergartners).  Love it!  I will have to change my clock hands because the master schedule changed.  Also, it wasn't really 7:25 when I took this picture...my clock battery has died and I am not tall enough to reach it (even on a chair) so I'm waiting for the nice janitor to take care of it for me. :)

I hope you can read the words on this poster.  I LOVE it.  The quote is from Rita Pierson.  If you have not seen her TED talk, you MUST.  Go on, go do it now...I'll wait for you...it's the most inspiring thing I've seen since Kid President's Pep Talk!  I made the poster...it's not perfect but it makes me happy!  We are going to recite her message every morning during our Morning Meeting.  I think the message is powerful, don't you?

This is my standards board.  We have to post the standard/element and the Essential Q for every subject.  I print mine out on neon paper and put them up with those magnets.  We were told that we don't have to stress over "real" lesson plans for the first two weeks so this will be pristine for a while.  I'll try to remember to post a picture of what it looks like with everything clipped up.  I also like to display my thematic read-alouds on that chalk tray...it just makes the room that much cheerier! These are all of my Back to School books...I felt like I was seeing old friends when I pulled them out yesterday!  (Pete...David...Chrystanthemum...Lily...Wemberly...love them all!)

 We will be doing Jitter Juice for our first Focus Poem!  I wrote it up on chart paper today so it's ready to go Monday.  Peeking out from behind it you can see part of the letter I had last year's firsties write to the new class...it's precious.  

My Word Wall!  I am so proud of this and I have high hopes for it this year.  I have seen many magnetic word walls on Pinterest and the idea has appealed to me for a while...I was just lazy, I guess!  This used to be my calendar board and my word wall used to be on the bright yellow wall.  I loved having Calendar Math on this board (so easy to change everything out when it's on magnets) but my co-teacher convinced me to make the switch.  We have the letters printed on neon cardstock (color-coordinated according to the sight words list) and one of my student teachers' projects next week will be to hot glue the magnets on them.  We plan to do content area parking lots under the board on chart paper and the black and white hanging cookie sheet to the right will be our parking lot.

Speaking of Calendar...this is what it looks like now.   The months and days of the week (along with lots of other polka dotted printables!) are from a pack I got from My Not So Elementary Life.  I made the other mini posters myself.  We will add some more things to Calendar as time goes on, but in the beginning I keep it pretty simple.

Here is our teacher corner...it looked a lot more organized by the time we left this afternoon, I promise!  This is a slight change from last year and I think we're going to like it!  (PS:  We call our desks a "no fly" zone because kids are not allowed to "fly" over to or behind our desks without permission.  I really want to make a cute sign that says that!  I am almost never at my desk during the day, but if I am it's usually because I am testing, progress monitoring, or taking care of paperwork that has to be done right that second.

Also...that's the weather wheel on the front of my co-teacher's desk...it looks kind of lonely hanging there by itself, but in the next week or so we will start to add weather words as we talk about them (on magnets!  hey-ya!) and that will be another place to put print.  

This is what the whole shebang looks like from the door...

And this is how it looks 85% of the time with the lamps on.  Seriously-we only turn the overhead lights on for certain parts of the day.  It's plenty bright with the lamps and the window blinds open. 

So I realized after uploading all these pictures that I didn't do anything of the back corner of my room or the classroom library...I'll do a Classroom Tour Part 2 next week to show those!  There's a whole other corner/side to my classroom that we use-don't know how I missed it!  Ooops!

You may notice that a lot of the wall space is blank...that's intentional.  Both my co-teacher and I subscribe to the school of thought that says most of the wall space should be covered with either lesson artifacts (AKA anchor charts) or student work.  We don't do much for "cute"...everything that goes up has a purpose.  By this time next week, there will be lots more on these walls!