13 in 2013

It is hard to believe that in just a few days that 2013 will be over. This has definitely been a year for the books for me!

I am excited to link up with Hadar, Kristin, and Traci for their end of year link party to highlight some of the things that happened in 2013. 

thirteen. favorite article of clothing

Hands down it would have to be leggings. I love that I can wear them with a longer shirt, with a dress, or with a t-shirt and they are all acceptable. 

twelve. favorite move you watched

 Catching Fire. No contest. I think I may have liked this one even more than the first one if that is possible. 

eleven. favorite TV series

I have no idea how they are able to film this show. There is no way I could ever be serious enough to make that happen. I just love Sheldon Cooper. 

ten. favorite restaurant

I live in a small town that has very limited options. Subway is usually my first choice when I want something to eat. I could eat sandwiches everyday and be okay with it. 

nine. favorite new thing you tried

I am not really sure what I tried new this year. Does Sour Cream count? I used to think it was horrible, but now I do not mind it on food. 

eight. favorite gift you got

I may have bought it for myself, but I say it counts. :)

My MacBook Pro!!!

seven. favorite thing you pinned

six. favorite blog post

The one where I shared pictures of my classroom. 

five. best accomplishment

This is hard because I have several this year. 

I walked across the stage in May with my Masters in Education with Principal Certification.

I passed my Principal Certification test on my first try in July. 

four. favorite picture

These are the three best friends that a girl could ask for. We were all at a friend's wedding and there was a photo booth. This just sums up our craziness perfectly. Not sure what I would do without them. :)

three. favorite memory

April 4th…I went to the elementary school to talk with the principal about a possible transfer to the campus from the middle school. I expected to have to go through the entire interview process again, but five minutes later I was offered the 1st grade position. 

two. goal for 2014

I attended a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University Class this past year and I would like to follow it with fidelity in 2014. Any tips? I want to do 12 budgets and use the envelope system. 

one. one little word

faith.

I want to trust His plan for my life and really dive deeper into His word.

Currently December

You can bet my cart is full for the upcoming Teachers Pay Teachers Sale! This new 1st grade teacher has to load up when she can! My entire store will also be 20% off. 

I am also super excited to be joining Mel and Michelle for their Elf on the Shelf Linky that they will be having each Sunday night. I am hoping that there will be an elf waiting for us in my classroom tomorrow morning, but I think we will have to wait on the magic of Santa to get him there. :) The first linkup will happen this Sunday, December 8th. 

Last, but not least I of course had to link up for the last Currently of 2013. Did I really just say that? December???? Where the heck has 2013 gone? It has definitely been one for the books for me! 

Listening: House Hunters is a pretty much a nightly tradition for me. There is not much on TV at 10 p.m. I have also been listening to Christmas music since November 1st. I am so thankful that my kiddos love listening to it at school too. 

Loving: Is there seriously only 15 more school days before it is time for Christmas Break? That seems impossible to me! We have lots of fun things planned over the next three weeks and I cannot wait to celebrate the holidays with my firsties.

Thinking: I cannot wait to see the faces of my kiddos tomorrow when they find our new friend in our classroom. I did this with my 6th graders last year and they loved it, so it is bound to be a hit in first grade. 

Wanting: These have been on my wish list for a long time and I think it is finally time to bite the bullet. Christmas present to myself…I think yes!

Needing: More time off!!! I am beyond jealous of those of you who had the whole week off! That is something that I have never had as a student or teacher. However, I am glad that I did not have the chance to mess my routine up too bad since the break was shorter. 5:45 a.m. will not be as bad. 

Favorite Tradition: Each year for as long as I can remember we have gone to the store and picked out special Christmas jambes that we wear on Christmas Eve to bed. Yes, I am 25 and I still love this. I cannot wait to do this with my own kids one day, but I think their Elf friend will leave them for them on Christmas Eve instead. :)

5 for Friday- Saturday Edition

 It feels so great to be linking up with Kacey again, just don't judge that today is not actually Friday. 

One. Character Parade

We had our Book Character Parade on Friday to celebrate the end of our book fair and I had a blast. At first I was not sure what or who I wanted to be, but was very happy with how my costume turned out. 

 Two. Cold Weather

I just love cold weather and we got a serious blast of it in Central Texas on Friday. It was in the mid 30's pretty much all day and we did not even go outside for recess. Currently we are under a Winter Weather Warning and there is a possibility for snow on Monday. Fingers crossed for a late start since we are one of the few districts in the area that has to go to school through Tuesday. 

There is also just something about spending the evening at home with a fire in the fireplace. 

Three. Christmas Music

It is pretty much my favorite and we listen to it daily in my classroom. So blessed to work in a district where it is okay to celebrate the holidays. 

Four. Whole Brain Teaching

It is completely changing my classroom and our behavior. I promise to share more in the coming weeks about what works and does not work for my classroom. The biggest thing to remember though is that you have to make it your own. Just because you see a video does not mean that your classroom has to run exactly like that.

Five. The Little Things
I have absolutely loved every minute of teaching 1st grade. There are for sure days that are harder than others, but my students make it all worth it. On Friday as we were leaving for the day, one of my friends had a bit of an issue that we had to take care of before she could leave. As she is getting ready to leave, she asks if I would walk her to her bus. I told her absolutely and then she grabs my hand as we are walking. When I got to the gym door with her she turns and tells me with a big smile followed by a hug that she loves me and she loves being in my class. She melted my heart and really made me realize why I do what I do. It is these little moments that make what we do all worth it. 

Whole Brain Teaching…I'm Sold!

I am sold on Whole Brain Teaching and everything that goes along with it! I actually began implementing the five rules and the "class-yes" portion of WBT in my 6th grade classroom. I have been using these same two components in my 1st grade classroom since Day 1. I knew that I wanted to implement more, but I was not really sure how to do it. That is when I came across this video. 

I bit the bullet and implemented the scoreboard last week. It was a hit on day one and the kids were sold on it. It was awesome when they walked in today and their first question was if they were going to win the game again. :) Day by day I am getting better at implementing the scoreboard and becoming more religious with rewarding points for both good and bad. We got over 30 marks on our board today which was quite exciting. 

Today I introduced the concept of mirrors. Another huge hit!

I promise to keep sharing with you all on my WBT teaching journey! I am also going to be participating in a WBT Book Study that will begin in January! Be on the lookout for more posts about WBT!

November Already?

Is it seriously November? I have been a horrible blogger lately, but I have just been so busy. I actually missed four days of school last week because I was sick. That was no fun at all!!! Let's just say that my kids were super excited to see me on Friday. 

We have been up to so much lately. We have learned a little about…

bats

spiders

pumpkins

fire safety

being drug free

how to make applesauce

and so much more!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past few weeks! 

We absolutely love our ball chairs! :)

We are launching  math stations this week so I will be sharing how that goes in the next few days as well as updating you all on how the Daily 5 is running in my classroom. 

Attention Texas 1st Grade Teachers!!!

If you are a Texas 1st Grade Teacher there is something amazing happening in January in our great state that you are not going to want to miss! 

As soon as I found out about the Conference for Texas First Grade Teachers I told our team leader about it. I was thinking that we would have to pay for it out of pocket, but I knew that she would be interested in going as well. She told me she would throw the idea to our principal and see if a handful of us could go at least. Several weeks had gone by, but today we got an email from our principal not only saying that we could go, but that the whole grade level was going!!! We definitely did a happy dance in the hallway today and gave lots of hugs to our principal. I still cannot believe that I really get to go. :)

I cannot wait to see some of my all-time favorite bloggers and TPT friends present! There are some great ones there including:

Reagan from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits

Deanna Jump

Rachelle Smith from What the Teacher Wants

and some other greats like...

Donna Whyte

Dr. Debbie Silver

Melissa Dickson

Laureen Reynolds

Tamika Jordan

If you are going to be there, please let me know! I would love to meet some other bloggers and TpT sellers while I am there!

Currently October

I cannot believe that it is already October 8th and I still have not linked up with Farley!!! What am I thinking? The year has been great, but I come home every day absolutely exhausted!

As you may have noticed, one of the biggest changes in my classroom this past week has been the addition of stability balls. We are now a chair free classroom and I love it! The best part is that the kids do too! More to come about that soon!

Where has the time gone?

It is hard to believe that my 1st 6 weeks in 1st grade will be in the books at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. It has been a crazy ride, but this has by far been my favorite year of teaching yet. I am not exactly sure why, but it has just been awesome! I love the fact that I get to teach the same 21 children every single day and that I get to really know them. It has been amazing watching them grow during their short time in 1st grade already. 

We have launched the Daily 5 and I am meeting with Guided Reading groups on a daily basis. I love working with small groups and that is something that I for sure did not get enough of in 6th grade. I am hoping to introduce guided math in the coming weeks and pull small groups during math as well. I just think that time is so important for students and their growth as a learner. 

I am also super excited about some changes I am making in my classroom that I think are going to make a huge difference for my students. I have some energetic students who love to be active and moving. I kept finding myself asking them to get back in their seats and back on task. I had read lots about the use of stability balls in the classroom instead of a traditional seat. I thought, why not try it out and see how it goes. Oh my goodness!!! The results were awesome and I could not believe the change in their attention and focus. Let's just say that thanks to Teachers Pay Teachers I was able to buy a whole class set and they will be here on Wednesday! I am pumped and my kids cannot wait either. No worries, I will share lots with you all about that change in my classroom. 

Writer's Workshop...I'm in Love!

It is hard to believe that we are already into week 4 of our school year. This is actually the first full week that I am in the classroom. I technically was week 1, but that does not really count. It feels so good to be getting into a routine and to see the students remember our procedures and such for our classroom. 

On my campus 1st grade is in their 2nd year of implementing Writer's Workshop. I knew that I wanted to wait to start it until I was going to be in the classroom for a long time without interruption. That happened on Tuesday. I decided that my kiddos were ready for the introduction of Writer's Workshop. 

We began the introduction by talking about the fact that everyone has a story to tell. I had several students tell me that they were not good writers yet, and I was excited to hear that. I wanted them to realize that we don't have to use words to tell our stories. I started the lesson by telling them a story about when I went to Disney World as an excited 9 year old girl. They were engrossed in my story and dying to hear more about it. They could not wait to tell me their stories too! 

Next we talked about what they were thinking about while I was telling my story. They told me that they were making a picture in their head and I thought my heart was going to skip a beat! It was the perfect lead into the next part. I wanted them to understand that we can tell a story with our pictures too and that sometimes we do not need words. We made an anchor chart of things that good artists do such as color in the lines, use colors that make sense, and to not leave any white space on their pages. 

Then it was time for them to practice. We talked about the different details that they needed to add to their pictures to help tell their story. I could not believe how quiet and involved they were creating their stories. Here are a few pictures from yesterday which was the first time we "wrote" our stories. 

Today I gave students the opportunity to share their story if they were interested. Some of course were hesitant, but overall they wanted to share. It was awesome to see them so excited to tell their classmates about their story that they "wrote." I hope that their excitement for writing will continue throughout the year! 

Can I Pass Go?

Can I get an Amen? 

One of my teammates sent this to us on Facebook today and I could not agree more! 

This week is the 1st grade week to test both TPRI and DRA for all of our students. We are so blessed because our district provides us with either a substitute or paraprofessional to cover our class so we can test our students. This is awesome because we are not trying to make sure the classroom is running smoothly (that's a lie because I am still worried) and our focus can be the testing. I have 21 friends in my class and I was able to get 15 of them through TPRI today. That was a good feeling! 

Here is to hoping that day 2 of testing is just as productive!

September Currently

I can officially say that I survived my 1st week as a 1st grade teacher! I loved every minute of it and so know that I am now in the right spot! Don't get me wrong, I liked 6th grade, but I love 1st grade!

It is the beginning of the month so I am liking up with one of my favorite ladies, Farley, for her monthly Currently party!

Listening: I am not a person that can sit in a silent room. I am not currently really even paying attention to the TV, but there is noise coming from it. I really need to get better about listening to music instead of just putting the TV on. 

Loving: 1st grade and everything about it! I always thought I wanted to teach 1st or 2nd grade, but it has now been confirmed that is where I am supposed to be! It just feels so right! I have an amazing class of 21 little friends, 10 boys and 11 girls. They make me giggle on a daily basis and I may be biased but they are pretty darn smart!!! I cannot wait to watch them grow throughout the year!

Thinking: All of 1st grade (minus one teacher who is teaming with another) has to be out on Wednesday for a training on the new Math TEKS. This will be the 7th day of school! I would be lying if I said I was not freaking out about it. In middle school it was not a big deal because the kids did just fine, but we are still working on rules and procedures for 1st grade. I hope my friends will have a good day and that we will not have to do too much retraining on Thursday. 

Wanting: I think we all can relate to needing more time in the day. I think a 36 hour day would be about perfect! I could get everything done and still find time to sleep. :)

Needing: I need to go shopping for a new wardrobe! I was spoiled the past two years because I pretty much wore jeans every day because we had a shirt to go with them. I am in serious need of some dress pants and dress capris! Oh wait, I need time in order to go shopping though! 

For Me: 

1. I need to be consistent about doing my devotional each morning while I eat breakfast. Too often I find myself saying I am too busy, but I need to make time for that!

2. I need to exercise because I know that I would feel so much better about myself. I have been doing a better job of eating better, but I still need to consume more water on a daily basis. 

3. I have got to get home quicker on a daily basis...I could stay up there all night. My goal is to leave no later than 5:00 p.m. 

Classroom Tour 2013-2014

One of my absolute favorite things to do is look at other teacher's classrooms!!!! I have been obsessed with 1st grade classrooms forever and I am so excited to share mine with you all! I am in love with how it turned out and cannot wait for my 21 firsties to join me there tomorrow!

 When you enter the 1st grade hallway, I am the first classroom that everyone sees. My bulletin board is also huge, I could not even get the whole thing in the picture. I knew that I wanted to do something that could stay up all year long and I love how it turned out. I attached a clothespin to each one of my student's dots so I do not have to staple their work up, I can just clip. :)

Here is our classroom door. To the left is a board with my student's names that will stay up all year long. I made the wreath last year with a friend. 

As you walk through the classroom door, this is what you see. I was going for a look that was bright, fun, and welcoming. I think I accomplished what I was going for. :)

 On the back of our door is our Going Home board. Students will each have a clothespin that we will move to the way they get home. I like how easy it will be to change their clips if we need to. 

 This is our writing area. I love, love, love the little table that I got at Ikea and I know the kids will too. In the drawers will be different kinds of paper the students can choose from. 

 My wonderful backpack hooks that my dad made for me, our Brag Tag Board, and the green pail is for our lunch boxes. One of the things I am most excited about this school year is using Brag Tags. I think they will be a huge hit with the kids. Each one of my students is starting the year with three tags. 

They will be able to earn more for various things. We also will have a clip stick in our classroom that travels with us to our specials and if a student gets to move from green to perfectly purple, they can also earn a star bead for their necklace. 

This our birthday display...I cannot believe that I do not have any January birthdays!

This is a panoramic view from the door that connects my classroom to my neighbor's room. 

My whole group meeting area is one of my favorite spots in my classroom. In our building we do not have any bulletin boards so we have to create our own if we want them. Some teachers just put their things up on the wall, but I need them to be noticeable and to help separate the subjects. I used fabric and stapled it to the wall. 

The green wall is our math wall and the pink one will house our Language Arts things that we will need throughout the year. I will have two separate word walls for the subjects. 

The majority of our classroom library is housed in these shelves. Books are organized by themes but each book is also labeled for Accelerate Reader tests. I know several of you will ask, I found my rug on Overstock and got a great deal on it. 

This is our computer area. We are lucky enough to have three computers. Each teacher will also be getting an iPad this school year too for classroom use. Above our computers are our Whole Brain Teaching rules. 

 We have some amazing built in storage in our classrooms that I am so grateful for. I did so much purging this summer to get rid of things that were left that I did not need. This is also where I display our color words. 

 Here is a better view of all the storage. My mom was sweet enough to make the chevron curtains for me. 

This is the view from the storage unit. You can see the dual board (don't get excited because it is not SMART brand), our alphabet, our job chart, and our DAily 5 Read to Self book boxes. The chart tablet that is mounted will be used to write our objectives each week. 

 This is my teacher corner and kidney table. I wanted a little bit of "me" space and that is on the walls. The baskets to the left of the shelf are favorite characters and the things to the right are mine for teaching. 

 Big Books for Read to Someone and another view of the shelf. 

This is the view that you see from the guided reading table. 

That's where I will be spending a majority of my time this school year. I am hoping to share photos on a monthly basis with you all to show how it changes throughout the year. Feel free to leave any questions you might have, I will try my best to answer them!