Ohmiword!! I cannot believe it has been over 2 weeks since my last post!! It's also been about that long since my last blog stalking session! I'm not quite sure how I managed to survive! The end of the summer came quickly and let's just say I wasn't giving it up without a fight! There were a few last minute trips with friends and family. There were a few shopping sprees. Not to mention a few days pool side. But at last, it's back to the grind.
I officially returned last week, but didn't get to see my kiddos until Monday. These past few days have been a blur of catching up, reviewing, assessing and practicing! We've been so busy, I haven't had much time to take pictures of all the action. So, you'll have to make due with a little glimpse into my little classroom...
Welcome to my home away from home. This is a view of my desk with my claendar wall and a few bulleton boards behind it. Like I've said before, my room is super teeny and I have to share it with their foreign language teacher. I'm so jealous of all of you out there with writing tables, word walls, meeting areas...
Here is my beautiful reading corner. You can see many of my Made it Monday projects here! The kids think the love sack (AKA the big red pillow) is the coolest thing inthe whole world!
The cubbies (without name tags). I snuck these pictures in before I arranged the desks. This is where the kidlets store their backpack during the day.
Another view of my bulletin boards. To the left is my color chart and rules. I store my centers and daily supplies on the small shelves underneath. The black bin is for our OWL books and the blue (the only thing I didn't spray paint this summer, hehe) holds our journals, some manipulatives, and crayons. And try as I did, I was not able to resist turning my lanterns into owls. He's got his back to you, but they are used for center work. Yup, the kids go to whatever numbered owl I say and sit on the floor. Gasp! I know!
A few days later I was able to get my "Whooo" has a writer's eye? posters up. The kids are already referencing them as they write! Hallelujah!!
Ah, my closet! I am a NEAT FREAK! I spent some time at the end of last year rearranging everything. I'm still not happy with the top shelf. To be honest, I never am. The second shelf holds most of my misc supplies for art, measurement, counting, dressing up... The third shelf (now) is stocked full of kleenex and Clorox, two things I absolutely cannot live without!! The bottom shelf is where I store my centers. I have two bins, one for math and one for literacy. I keep the corresponding response sheets in 2 three-ring binders behind my desk. On the floor, I have my large bulletin board displays in a rolley (yes, it's a word) container.
This is what my closet looks like when the door is closed. I have a chart to track their math facts progress, some buckets (not pictured) to be filled, and a behavior sticker chart at the bottom.
Now it's your turn to link up and show off your space!
Since I can't show pictures of my kids actually doing their activities, I thought I would just let you know what I'm using...
I have always and will always be an Anna Brantley fan. I have most of her centers! Right now, we're working through her Back to School math. During Language Arts, I'm concentrating on reviewing the alphabet, assessing and introducing some reading comprehension strategies.
Next week, we will be working on some of my centers!!
In my spare time (HA) I managed to transfer all of my gazillion files to a new laptop AND complete my common core "I can" statements for first, second and kinder. If you're interested, you cancheck them out at my TpT store.
On a final note, I'm super duper close to reaching 100 followers. I've got some great prizes lined up from some fabulous fellow bloggers. So, put the word out! Let's get this giveaway going!!
Hope your first week/second week/last week of summer is going well!
Best wishes,
Back to school is always my favorite time of the year! Everyone comes back re-energized, goal oriented and looking sharp in their new threads and tans! Plus classrooms are bursting with sparkling, new decor (that surely won't stay that way for long)! Well, for the second year in a row, Jodi at Fun in First Grade has just created an awesome linky just for this time of the year! It's all about your favorite back to school activities. So, here's a little about what going on in my neck of the woods....
Of course I read The Kissing Hand. I usually do this as one of the first activities in the morning. Since I'm at a VERY small private school, most of us already know each other. However, it's still reassuring for those who are a little timid about having a new teacher. Then we trace our hands and form them into the sign language "I love you." We draw a heart and glue it in the middle. Sorry for the poor quality photo!
This is a picture I took of the memory books I make each year. I save this hand and glue it to the cover so they can remember their first day of school.
One of my other favorite back to school activity is making this...
The kids and I get together and talk about what we want to learn this year. This is one of my first opportunities to see what they're interested in, which is always useful information!! As they participate in our discussion, I pass out some paper and a cloud template. I try to keep this conversation very informal. I REALLY want everyone to be honest and not just repeat what their friends have said. Once everyone has had a chance to share (remember, my class size is teeny) I ask the students to trace the cloud. I did try having the kids draw their own clouds one year, but I found they would tend to draw too small. Then they would have a difficult time fitting everything inside. After they trace, they are asked to finish the sentence frame "This year I want to..." and draw a picture. There's absolutely nothing fancy about this activity. All you need to do is make some cloud templates on cardstock and cut some construction paper. I love it because I'm learning about each student in so many ways: how they write, draw, color, trace and cut; what things they're interested in; if they're able to stay on task; who is sharing and who isn't; and if they're comfortable participating in class conversations. And in case you're interested, I use this as a segway into talking about rules and why they're important... We need them so we can accomplish the things we want to do. Otherwise, there would be chaos!
This year, I'm going to be trying something NEW! I've spent the summer creating center after center to use in my class. Again, being in a private school presents a unique set of challenges. Our students tend to be VERY DEPENDENT. One way I try to promote independence is by integrating centers into our routine. Believe it or not, last year was the first year I did this. The result was well worth the time and effort it took me to put them together. Now that I have a small clue as to what I'm doing and how I want it to help, I'm really working on creating! So, if you're interested in a few back to school centers, you should check these out.
As I mentioned in a previous post, these centers are almost identical. The main difference is, of course, the graphics. Other than that, the owl pack includes one additional math center. As a reward for you patient readers who stuck with me and made all the way to the bottom, I'll (again) be emailing the first 5 commenters a free copy of their choice. Please don't forget to leave me your email and tell me which pack you prefer.
So, what are some of your favorite back to school activities? Link up and share!
Best wishes,
Let's begin with a picture...
This is what my desk looks like. No, not my desk at school. My desk in my bedroom. Can you guess how thrilled my husband is?! This may not look like much, but I can assure you, it is! Plus there's another pile beside my dresser and somehow my baking station (yes, I have a baking station! You don't??) has somehow become my crafting station. I have never bought/made so many things in one summer before!! I'm counting down the days until I get to go back to school and unload all of this crap these goodies!
So today I put the finishing touches on a pinterest inspired (shock) mailbox for myself. My students are ALWAYS writing notes to me or drawing me pictures. And I truly love them all!! The problem is that they put them on my desk.... everywhere.... all the time! I'm hoping this box will become a collecting place for my student made treasures.
I'm not too happy with how my name turned out, but hey. Whose perfect? And I know pink isn't in my polka dot/red/owl theme this year, but it is my favorite color so I had to sneak it in!
All this crafting has even started to rub off on my hubby. He actually wanted to go to Michael's with my this week! I know!! I could hardly believe it either ;) He decided while I was making my mailbox, he would make a bed for our cat. Our cat is strange. Really strange! But in a cute way! He's ADDICTED to cardboard boxes!!!!!! If we bring one home, the second it goes on the floor, his 6th sense kicks in immediately and he comes running into the room. He'll hop inside and play there, scratch at the corners and eventually fall asleep. See, I told you he was strange! Anyways, my dogs usually comes around sooner or later and rips it to shreds (which is so fun to pick up, let me tell you). So my hubbs decided to buy a wooden box. Genius!! And since he was a Marine, he had to paint it camouflage. I think it turned out pretty darn awesome...
I tried to bribe my cat to get into the box, but he wasn't going for it.
When I wasn't busy painting, I was working on my Back to School centers this week. I originally decided to go with a frog theme and call it Leaping into Learning. So that's what I did. BUT, I've had such a great response (thank you) to the owls that I just had to do that, too!
These centers are almost identical. Obviously the graphics are different. There is also one more math center in "Whooo's Ready for First Grade." As always, you can pick these up at my TpT store. Or, the first 5 followers to comment will get the packet of their choice for FREE! PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS!!! I'm a lot of things, but a mind reader is not one (although that would be cool)!
Happy Monday friends! What did you make today? Link up and share!
Best wishes,
