Nav

Image Map

Sunday, August 24, 2014

A Peek at Week #3

I can't believe it's already time to plan for another week! 



Last year, I felt that my early writing lesson plans were a hot mess. I've always loved to write but did not realize how challenging it can be when many first graders come in with very little writing knowledge. I made the mistake of trying to jump right into narratives before my kids were ready, so this year we are starting slow with Deanna and Deedee's Writing Through the Year Unit 1: My Pictures Tell a Story. So far so good - their units are fantastic for beginning writers!


Another new thing I am trying this year is slowly introducing my word work activities one day at a time. I'm hoping this will help more kids become independent quicker since they are explicitly taught each activity and are not presented with too many choices off the bat. View my word work activities bundle here.

On a final note, both my Commutative Concentration and Cookie Addition products are offered for free at my TPT store! 

Saturday, August 23, 2014

You Might Be a Teacher If...

As a teacher, there are just some things that only fellow teachers will understand. I'm talking about those crazy moments when you cut off part of your shirt in the paper cutter and think Only a teacher would be able to relate to my current misfortune. Okay, maybe the paper cutter was just me...but I know everyone has those "only a teacher" moments.

For example...
Who needs room for "personal touches" around the apartment? 
I am convinced that a lot of teachers have some of the worst eating habits ever, seeing as we are always on-the-go at work and exhausted when we come home! I don't even want to know how long it's been since I've been grocery shopping. Apparently the bologna, beer, and apples are good enough for now.
Sometimes you've gotta make yourself laugh while going through those monotonous tasks, ya know?
Hello, world!

Have a teacher-y moment to share with us? Link up with Christina! I'm sure we could all use someone to relate to right now as we stress over the beginning of a new school year.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Back to School 2014 - When Thursday


Last year was my first year teaching and I had so much freedom. It was almost overwhelming how much freedom I had when it came to when/how/what I taught. Key word: almost. This year, we moved to a master schedule that everyone has to follow in order to accommodate common intervention times.

Long story short - I got stuck with an awful schedule. The one everyone looked at and said "I hope I don't have that one". I had morning specials, which I was not used to. But even worse, I had reading and math back to back. Right after lunch. With less than two hours in the block. My immediate thought was How is that possible? My next thought was Seriously, HOW is that possible?

Thankfully my principal was super understanding and allowed me to shift some things around. The afternoon still feels a tad longer than I'm used to, but morning specials are growing on me :)

Here is a look inside the organized chaos of a first grade day!

Head on over to Blog Hoppin' and share your day with us!

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Back to School 2014 - Where Tuesday


I'm back again with Blog Hoppin' and their Back to School 2014 link-up! Since I already "revealed" a lot of my classroom in my post here, I thought I'd get a little creative with today's "where" theme.


Here is where I go to work! Good ol' Carl Sandburg. I promise it's much more exciting than it looks on the outside. Our district went to grade level centers a while back, so Sandburg is home to approximately 600 first through third graders. Yup - there's that many of them! I'm in a pretty small town, so this is one of only two schools who hosts the younger kiddos for the whole town.


I am posted up in the east-central Illinois town of Charleston. See that itty-bitty dot on the map? Yup - here we are! See the red square all the way at the top-right of the map? That's where my hometown is. Coming down here after graduation was definitely a big change, but it's growing on me :)


Charleston is home to Eastern Illinois University. It's not my alma mater yet, but will be once I finish up my Masters in Elementary Ed with my reading specialist endorsement. Yet another aspect of this town that has grown on me in the past year - it is awesome to see the pride this community has for its university - Go Panthers!


Fun fact - Charleston was home to the first ever Jimmy Johns! The original building isn't here anymore, but that still doesn't take away from our little claim-to-fame :)

Your turn to show us where YOU teach!

Monday, August 18, 2014

Back to School 2014 - Who Monday


Although I participated in Stephanie's "Meet the Teacher" link-up last week, this Back to School shindig is way too fun to pass up! Plus, we all know teachers love talking about themselves ;) So here we go with 10 random facts about me (template courtesy of Amy Lemons). Head on over to Blog Hoppin' to join in the fun - I love reading about my fellow teacher bloggers! 



Sunday, August 17, 2014

Another Peek at my Week!

In order to help keep myself accountable, I've decided to link up with Deedee again to show you what I have planned for this upcoming week. Last week was a lot of readiness/routines, so I am ready to dive into some "real" teaching this week!





Be sure to link up with Deedee, too, so we can all see what wonderful things you have planned!


Saturday, August 16, 2014

Five for...Saturday?

I've decided I love these blogger link-ups. You all are so creative and inspiring and funny and I love reading about your lives/teaching endeavors/pinning sprees/new products. But here I am, dropping the ball on Doodle Bugs's Five for Friday. Because if you haven't noticed, it's Saturday.

I got home from work yesterday and fell onto the couch with no intentions of ever getting up. Apparently I had forgotten how exhausting this first week of teaching is! I think I was ready to go to bed by 5:30 - no joke. I did end up leaving my apartment to have game night with a few of my friends from work around 7:00. Needless to say, a blog post was not in the cards yesterday.

So, here's my Five for Friday. On a Saturday. Enjoy!




I love First Day Jitters. We all love First Day Jitters. In addition to sharing this story on the first day of school, I decided to have us make our very first class book, too! If you are interested, here is the template I made. Enjoy!



By Friday, we definitely needed a break from the routines and rules and readiness assessments and routines and did I mention the routines? I decided to share one of my favorite books, David McKee's Elmer, with my firsties and had them complete an adorable craft and writing activity. For the elephants, I found a template online and copied it onto cardstock. The kids used cut up sponges to create Elmer's patchwork look and attached a googly eye. Click here for the writing paper I used.



I am attempting to remediate the constant "Where do I put this?" issue. Last year, students were constantly confused on whether or not something was ready to be turned in, if it needed to go in a folder, or if it was supposed to go in the basket. And on the occasional moment I had them put one single assignment in their mailboxes, they began putting everything in their mailboxes. It was a disaster. This year, I'm trying these little signs at the front of the room, which I attached with velcro. Let's see how it goes!



I thought this was too cute not to share. It is so, so nice to feel this appreciated at the beginning of the year :)



Lastly, I finally committed to some light-blocking curtains for my bedroom. I thought making a decision on which to get was the hard part - boy, was I in for a rude awakening when I attempted to install them. But ten gazillion mistakes and bad words later, here we are! Thankfully the tops of the curtains hide my awful handiwork with the power drill.