Teacher Week 2015: Five Fun Facts

Anyone else find themselves having a serious case of the Mondays lately? Sure, Monday was no problem-o for me during the summer because it was just like any other day of the week - but now that I'm back in the land of first graders, I find myself begging for just one more day tacked on to the end of my weekends.

One thing that's bound to brighten up your Monday is that Blog Hoppin' is back with Teacher Week 2015! Today's post is for sharing five fun facts about yourself. So here goes! 

1. I have never had a glass of milk. Ever. My bones are probably crumbling into dust right now as we speak. I was born deathly allergic and over the course of almost 12 years, I slowly outgrew it. But after all that time my taste buds thought milk was the yuckiest thing ever. I'm definitely a water girl.

2. I'm a sorority girl. I spent all four years of college as a member (and executive board member) of the Delta Zeta sorority. It was one of the best decisions of my life and I am proud to say that I "paid" for my friends ;)

Some sisters and I at a DZ leadership conference in Oxford, OH. I'm third from left.

3. I am a big hockey fan. But really, how could you not be if you're from Chicago?! I'd go to every game if I could.

My brother, me, and my dad at a Hawks game in St. Louis this past winter. Hawks win!

4. My mom is my absolute hero and role model. We've had our moments of not seeing eye-to-eye (I inherited my stubbornness from her...) but at the end of the day she is my best friend and the one person who knows me better than I know myself sometimes. Did I mention she is also a teacher?

Before my senior prom - She hates taking pictures and this is unfortunately one of the most recent ones I have!

5. I 110% love to teach. Even on my hardest days, I can't imagine doing anything else. I am constantly thinking about teaching and reading about teaching and planning for teaching. It's kind of an obsession. But it's great because my passion and my profession truly become one.

A Peek at Week #2

Our first full-ish week of school starts tomorrow and I am seriously regretting not going into work this weekend. Anxious teacher is very anxious and while I did have a much-needed fun and relaxing weekend, I am wishing I could have set aside a few hours of my time for the classroom so that my Sunday night worries would be more in control.

This next week includes more procedures, especially when it comes to our workshop model. I love teaching in small groups and am chomping at the bit to get going. However, I need to remember that my first graders will need a lot of repetition when it comes to modeling our expectations and routines. 

Here's what I have going on for week two:

Enjoy your week!

2015-2016 Classroom Reveal

Week one is officially in the books! I had almost forgotten how completely exhausting the first week of school is. I don't think I've slept this hard in months! I am glad that I have four days with my new first graders under my belt and am excited for all of the amazing things they will do this year. Read on for a peek at my classroom! This year, I decided to keep the camping/woodland theme and incorporate a more cohesive color scheme, which is why you will see turquoise, coral, navy, and grey/white repeated throughout :)

These were the sheets I had on their desks on the first day. They colored them while I greeted parents and got everything settled. I made my own name tags this year because I am terrible at D'nealian-style handwriting! 

This board is in the front of the room and is where I post our objectives, schoolwide expectations, clip chart, and s'mores board. The s'mores board is a group incentive (when they get 12 for outstanding behavior, we vote on an experience-based reward). My clip chart is positive only - I select a few students each day who were overall positive role models and I move their clip up one spot. When they reach the top, their clip gets a jewel. Five jewels means they move to our "wall of fame" and get to pick out a special experience-based coupon, which can be found free here!

My writing center and math bulletin board. Empty for now but not for long! My math workshop schedule is another freebie, which can be found by clicking here.

Here is what my back chalkboard area looks like. You can see a glimpse of my calendar, number line, and inspirational posters. This is also where I post my reader's workshop schedule and any current reading anchor charts that may be of use to my students.

Here is a bit of the front of my classroom. To the far left, you can see my classroom library. In the middle is our meeting area, which you can see a bit better in the second photo.

My favorite part of the room - my classroom library! Here is a view of the fiction section and the pine tree that caused me to staple through my finger this summer.

This is the area behind my small group table. It's where I store mentor texts, weekly activities, my binders, centers, small group materials, and other teacher-y tools.

What my students see outside of my classroom. I finally got around to adding a border to my outside bulletin board this year and am so relieved - it looks so much better than it did before!

A closer look at my calendar/schedule, birthday board (which has yet to be completed), and phonics sounds. I will be adding more sounds as the year goes on.

Last but not least, the extras. On the left are my early finisher drawers, which holds things such as write and wipe cards and play doh mats. On the left is where I keep our indoor recess activities.

That's it for now!

A Peek at My Week: It's Go Time!

Well, the first day jitters are about to be in full swing in first grade! Tomorrow is our teacher inservice and Tuesday is the real deal first day of school. While I am definitely excited to go back, I am already overwhelmed by the huge list of routines and procedures and expectations that I need to make sure to cover in these first few days. Here is a look at what we are doing this week:

Happy back-to-school week!

August Currently

Welp, it's officially Back to School month. For most of us, at least. Am I ready? Still not so sure about that. Students report on the 18th, with a teacher inservice the day before. I'm all sorts of emotions but mostly can't wait to meet my new kids and have a fabulous year!

First second of the month time with Farley! (Silly to think that I might actually link up on time this month!)

Listening: The Bachelor is my guilty pleasure. The Bachelorette is also my guilty pleasure. Bachelor in Paradise is like a guilty pleasure on steroids. It is so completely terrible and I love it.

Loving: For once, I feel like I had a productive Sunday. I'm tired and I'm still going to ignore the pile of laundry that needs to be folded...but still, a pretty productive day!

Thinking: My cart. So full. Can't wait for tomorrow!

Wanting: I'm on a one-track mind lately. I can spend two hours working in my classroom and within minutes of leaving I am already wanting to go back and finish something I'd left undone. I've done some reorganizing and changing of colors/decor and I am so excited to see everything come together!

Needing: Summer is just so nice because a lot of the time I don't have to worry about getting my booty to bed at a decent hour. I'm going to seriously regret it come school time if I don't start to get on a regular schedule now.

B2S RAK: This summer I've been working on creating tons of new resources. While some are bound for my TPT store, some I am creating just for my first grade team that will hopefully be helpful for them throughout the upcoming school year :)