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Tuesday, August 12, 2014

First Day Classroom Reveal

The good news: My second first day of school went so much smoother than my first first day of school! I actually had a plan for the day that made sense and felt comfortable in my classroom interacting with the anxious first graders who greeted me this morning! And I only had two criers!

The bad news: I apparently forgot how incredibly exhausting the first day is, both mentally and physically. My legs feel like I just ran for miles and all I want to do is go to sleep. Luckily I know my body and mind just need to adjust to the first grade lifestyle.

It was crazy seeing my old students in their second grade classrooms this morning! They all look so much older and more mature. I think I stopped by and said hello to all of my students from last year. There's just something about my first class ever - they will always have such a special place in my heart!

Anyway, I attempted to take pictures of my room this morning before the kids arrived. So, here's what we've got going on so far:

The bulletin board outside the classroom, which reads "Let's get caught being respectful, responsible, safe, and our best!" Each student has a fish with his/her name on it.

My little corner library and adorable labels from Cara Carroll!

Students' tables and the view from the library corner.

My writing wall - so far I have my version of the "why writers write" anchor chart, basic punctuation posters, and posters describing nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

My currently half-bare math wall. Once we start in on our EnVision curriculum, it will hold different strategy posters and math vocabulary cards.

Classroom management/objectives board (I did a post on my management system here).

A terrible picture of our woodsy-themed word wall.

Mini-lesson/read aloud area.

Love my blends cards underneath the alphabet line! They are from Babbling Abby.

The glare is so terrible on this picture as well! The back chalkboard hosts my daily schedule and my specials schedule (on the acorns).

Can't take credit for this idea, but I put together a little surprise for my first grade team this morning. And can I just say we all looked awesome in our matching first grade shirts? :)


Monday, August 11, 2014

Meet the Teacher!

WOW has it been a long day! Between the hours of meetings, lines for the copier, and nit-picky last-minute organization of classroom things I am exhausted - and I didn't even have any kids to teach! So, I'm linking up with Stephanie at Falling Into First because...
  1. I'm in need of a little relaxation/blogging fun.
  2. The theme of the linky is so fitting, seeing as tomorrow is my first day with my new students.
  3. Who doesn't love a good linky party?
So, without further ado...


I'm Paige. I am 23 years old and I live in Illinois. Originally from the Chicagoland area but am currently hanging out down in the central part because that is where I was offered a job doing what I love - teaching! This year will be my second year teaching and my second year in first grade.

I graduated just over a year ago from the University of Illinois (go Illini!) I don't think I would be the teacher I am today without my amazing cohort of education majors.


I'm not married (or anything remotely close to married) and I don't have any kids of my own. For now, my 25 first graders are enough to keep me plenty busy and give me enough loving. I do come home to two kitties, Whiskers McMittens and Jingles McFluffington.



These are a few of my favorite things...

Teaching, shopping, Target, coffee, sushi, pinterest, the Chicago Blackhawks :)

If you weren't a teacher, what would you want to be?

A wedding planner or a writer.

Three little words that describe you:

Ambitious, obsessive, and sassy!

Finish the sentence: "_________, said no teacher ever!"

"I'm basically just a babysitter!" said no teacher EVER!

It's your birthday and you can invite anyone {dead or alive} to the party. Who are you inviting?

Well obviously my friends and family would all be there. I'd probably invite the whole Chicago Blackhawks team and some of my favorite celebrities. And The Beatles would be performing. 

You get to pick one superpower. What is it?

Teleportation. I can be really impatient when I am trying to get somewhere!

What's your favorite quote or saying?

"Keep your face always towards the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you." -Walt Whitman

If you had to sing one song on American Idol, what would it be?

My go-to karaoke jam is "Piece of My Heart" by Janis Joplin.

Are you a morning person or a night owl?

Night owl for sure. It's going to be a struggle getting back into the morning routine!

What's your favorite resource that you've created in your TPT shop?

I recently completely revamped my genre study notebook into a whole packet of resources for a primary-level genre study and I love it! I am so excited to use it with my first graders this year. I also just finished a number bonds packet perfect for helping students with those part-part-whole relationships! Click the photos below to view!


Share something we might not know about you!

I'm terrified of ladybugs!

Now it's your turn to link up with Stephanie and all of the other fantastic teacher bloggers out there! Click below to join us!



'Twas the Night Before First Grade: Monday Made-It!

Back to School Countdown: It's practically here! Teacher inservice is today to kick off the year and the kiddos arrive tomorrow! All the emotions are happening right now.

I've got my first day of school shirt all ready to go. Our whole first grade team ordered these shirts so we will all be rocking them tomorrow. I'm finding myself attempting to follow the "keep calm" advice as I anxiously await 8:00 in the morning!


I believe it is time for some Monday Made-It with 4th Grade Frolics!




One of my must to-dos for this upcoming school year was to redo my word wall cards. The ones I used last year were so awful, I'm not even sure why I made them in the first place. We're talking bad font, bad paper, randomly colored - the obsessive woman inside of me could not handle those any more! This year, I decided to color-code by level (pre-primer, primer, first grade, etc.) and include a subtle chevron background that will look cute in any room! Grab my Dolch cards here at my TPT store!


I wish I remembered where I found this fabulous idea. If anyone knows who to credit for this, please let me know! These are for those kiddos who need that reminder to track their reading with their finger - or, in this case, a big ol' googly eye! We obviously won't use these all the time but I think they will work nicely for small groups and for those times when the kids need a little extra engagement-boost.


When I saw these adorable wooden forest creatures at the craft store, I knew I had to use them for something. Shout out to my amazing mother who suggested turning them into magnets! Since I moved my word wall to an actual wall rather than the back chalkboard, I've got plenty of room to hang anchor charts with my new forest cuties!

Sunday, August 10, 2014

A Peek at my {First} Week!

First thing's first: I have got to get back on a regular sleeping schedule! Tonight's attempt failed miserably - I was asleep before 9:00 but then woke up at 12:30 and have been awake ever since. So here I am at 2:41 in the morning working on my first ever set of visual plans for the first week of school (did I mention we start in just two days?!)

These plans are part of Mrs. Wills' "Peek at my Week" linky. Bear with me and my first sleep deprived attempt!


Morning:

Clearly not enough space in my visual plans to write down every procedure/expectation that I need to go over in the first week! I am already anxious about making sure I cover everything the kids need to know, especially since they are coming from a new building.

I am loving my back-to-school writing plans this year. Even though we are starting small, I am still giving students opportunities to get their ideas down on paper right from the get-go.

As you can see, I still need to plan for Thursday's reader's workshop time. By this point, we will be done working in our back to school packets but I am hesitant to begin teaching workshop procedures at such an awkward time in the week (especially because they are bound to forget everything by the time Monday morning rolls around).

Afternoon:

Our afternoon contains more readiness activities. The first day time capsule was one of my favorite activities of my first year. In addition to filling out the sheet with their interests (and very inventive spellings), I have them write "Today is the first day of school" on a piece of paper. The fun part comes at the end of the year when we repeat the activities and I hand back what students did on the first day of school. I have never heard my kiddos laugh as hard as they did when they saw how much they had changed since that first day of school. Memorable moments:
  1. One of my students wrote he wanted to be a puppy when he grew up.
  2. My lowest student, who on the first day said "I don't know how to write so I'll just draw this flower", wrote the last day of school sentence flawlessly :')
In addition to the time capsule, will learn/review short vowel sounds this week, as next week we jump right in to our short a word family spelling list. 

I'm prepping my students for our first math unit by reviewing concepts such as number order, counting objects, and adding small numbers. Friday's fun activity has students explore different math manipulatives in centers.

Finally, I decided to take time at the end of the day to review behavioral expectations, both within the classroom and school-wide. We look at examples/non-examples of good behavior with the Sweet & Sour behavior pack of activities and also dive into the district's social-emotional learning program.

Phew! Is it the first day yet?

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Classroom Management Preview & Freebie!

I started developing my "teacher look" before I even know what a teacher look was. Yes, there are photos of a three-year-old Paige throwing the camera some serious attitude. So needless to say, I've had plenty of time to perfect that intimidating facial expression that can make a child stop in his or her tracks. Some days, I feel like with the look, I can conquer the world (or at least a group of seven-year-olds).

Despite the power we all know is held by "the look", it's obviously not enough to effectively manage a group of first graders. Students need to be held accountable for their actions while being taught what appropriate behavior does/does not look like and how to make good choices. To achieve this, I provide positive reinforcement and consequences through both an individual and a group management plan. I found it to be very effective last year and am excited to try it again this year with my class. To see what it entails, read on!

Here's what my management board looks like. I'll mainly talk about the s'mores board and the clip chart, although I also have space for our daily objectives, our school rules (in adorable woodland creature form), and my bathroom sign.

Group: Nothing gets my firsties excited like the s'mores board. Nothing gets me more excited than a management system that also fits in nicely with my camping/woodland themed classroom. It's a win-win. I've always believed that students will be more motivated by experience-based rewards rather than a little treasure box toy that they're bound to lose/forget about in a week's time. Here's how the board works: When students are praised, either by myself or by others throughout the building, I velcro one s'more to the board. Students work to receive 12 s'mores and then get to vote on a class reward, such as a pajama party, extra recess, s'mores party, computer game time, etc. By the end of the year, kiddos are still reminiscing about these fun experiences they had - it is fantastic! Obviously, my criteria for what earns a s'more changes as the year goes on - students are less likely to receive one when complimented for behavior that is expected of them and more likely to receive one when they truly go above and beyond.

Individual: I use a clip chart. I know some people don't believe in the clip chart because it has a negative impact on students' self-concept. However, my personal belief is that students are less likely to feel bad about themselves (as a result of their status on the clip chart) when there is a strong sense of classroom community. I try my hardest to ensure that my students know that I love and care about each of them so that they understand that even when they make a poor choice, this does not mean I think any less of them as an individual. (This statement was not meant in any way to negate the opinions of others - I do see both sides of the clip chart argument!)
With my clip chart you can move up or down. I try to give students many opportunities to move up throughout the day and try to end all students on "ready to learn" or higher. When this does not happen, I am sure to discuss the poor choice with the student and the reasoning behind the given consequence. Behavioral expectations do increase as the year goes on. The goal is for students to have an outstanding day! When a student reaches the top level of the chart, three things happen. 
  1. They select a class cheer out of the bucket and we cheer for them (courtesy of Foxwell Forest).
  2. They get to select a reward coupon from the coupon book.
  3. They add a jewel to their clip. Once students receive five jewels, their clip is moved to the wall of fame!

My reward coupons are free to implement in the classroom and are also free for you over at my TPT store.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Show Us What You Bought Linky

Nothing quite gets me like a good sale! Especially when said sale is on Teachers Pay Teachers. I seriously cannot get enough of the amazing products that fellow educators are putting together and sharing! Today I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin' in honor of TPT's Blast-Off Back to School Sale. Be sure to check out my store where you will receive 20% off, plus an additional 10% in savings when you enter the code BTS14!



Handwriting Makes Me Happy by Babbling Abby
Camping Math Centers by First Grade Garden

The teachaholic/shopaholic inside of me still has plenty on her wish list! For example, this interactive reading response journal, Miss Kindergarten's early finisher activities, and an awesome math printables pack from Karen Jones.

I wonder if they make the sale two days so I can go back the second day and re-splurge on all of the stuff that didn't make the cut yesterday :) We'll see how long my self-control holds out!


Monday, August 4, 2014

Back to School Monday Made-It!

Back to school countdown: One week until teacher inservice, which means one week + a day until my room is once again filled with first graders! I'm feeling real good about year two. Like, really really good. As far as firsts go, I wouldn't change a thing about my first year and am hoping my second will be even better!

In hopes of rocking this blogging thing the second time around, I'm linking up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics to show off some things I've been working on!

Okay, so last year so many of my kiddo's "go home" folders were a hot mess. We're talking piles and piles of papers shoved in haphazardly and (sadly) oftentimes not checked by parents. This year I'm taking charge and attempting to alleviate the problem with these labels! Grab it for free at my TPT store. All paid products are also 20% off in celebration of the blast-off back to school sale!

Okay, I know you've seen Maria Manore's awesome sight word freebie at her blog, Kinder-Craze. I knew I had to jump on the bandwagon and make some for my classroom! I found both the labels and the bright index cards at Staples.

The mid-summer jitters seriously hit me around mid-July, after my grad school classes ended. You know, the ones where you actually have a free moment and you feel like you need to be doing something productive with your time. Cue Pinspiration! I followed this tutorial to create some wall art for my master bathroom in my apartment. And you know what? It actually turned out alright for once!