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!

Summer is Over!

It is s hard to believe that today marks the end of my Summer Vacation! Tomorrow we start our week of in-service, really I should not complain because we only have 4 days since Friday is our County Fair Parade and pretty much the whole town is involved in it. :)

Even though my summer was crazy busy, I loved every minute of it. I learned so much as myself as an administrator while I was the camp director and I know that this will help tremendously when I am ready to be a principal now that I have passed my certification test. I am looking forward to returning again in the summer to the same position and continuing to grow as a leader. 

Summer may be coming to an end, but I am so excited for the upcoming school year and my new adventure with my 21 firsties! I thought I would create a top 5 list for the things I am most looking forward to about this upcoming school year. 

one. I am excited to see the growth that my class will have over the school year. In 6th grade I could see it a little bit, but there is just so much more in 1st grade. My students are on a variety of levels and I cannot wait to see their individual growth. 

two. I am excited to be teaching multiple subjects. Don't get me wrong, I still love Language Arts and everything that is associated with it, but I am thrilled to be teaching a variety of contents. We embed Science and Social Studies within our ELA block, but I am excited to be adding math to what I am teaching. 

three. In 1st grade we are going to be implementing the Daily 5. I was lucky enough to hear the Sisters at their conference in 2012 and loved it! When I was double blocked in 6th grade and had two hours to teach ELA, I ran a modified Daily 5 with my kids. I am excited to implement from Day 1 this year (actually I will probably introduce on Wednesday of Week 1) and teach my students the independence of Daily 5. 

four. I cannot wait to see my students grow as writers! Last year was the first year that Writing Workshop was implemented in 1st grade, and the teachers have just raved about it. I dreaded teaching writing in 6th grade mainly because my kids hated it. I want to help create a love for writing with my kids. Hopefully that will be possible through Writing Workshop. 

five. I am thrilled to be a part of an amazing team and am so looking forward to collaborating with them. In 6th grade I was only with one other person for planning purposes which was difficult at times. I also was already told that I am on the Language Arts planning team and am thrilled about that! 

I promise to share pictures of my new classroom soon...I really think I will be finished with it today! Happy shopping during the Teachers Pay Teachers Back to School Sale! I know my cart is loaded up and I am still not done looking! :)

Following My Heart...

I have pretty much known ever since I was a 3rd grader that I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up. Luckily, that dream was able to come true. I think part of the reason that I wanted to become a teacher was because of the amazing teachers that I had while I was growing up. I actually have loved my teachers so much that I am pretty sure that I could name a few of my favorites from every year. I too hope that I can be that teacher in the eyes of at least some of my students. 

While I was in high school, I was blessed with the opportunity to be an elementary teacher aide. By that time, I already knew I wanted to be a teacher. I was blessed enough to be placed with my high school volleyball coach's wife and loved every minute of it. I actually loved it so much that I took the class twice and was with her again my Senior Year of high school. Up until this point, I was really thinking that I possibly wanted to teach at the high school level and coach. However, I remember this moment so well. It was the second semester of my senior year, and I was working with a guided reading group. I just remember getting this overwhelming feeling that I was supposed to be an elementary teacher. I knew then that I had to make my concentration Early Childhood-6th Grade once I got to college. 

While I was in college I was lucky enough to continue to volunteer in this same classroom as well as sub in PK-8th grade classrooms within the district. I loved the opportunity to work in many different classrooms and to observe children of all different ages. To this day, I still believe that subbing while I was in college was one of the best things that I could have done. 

When I student taught I ended up in a 4th grade classroom and loved it! It was such a pleasant surprise because I was not sure how it would be. You see, I had always pictured myself in a 1st or 2nd grade classroom. I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed about being in 4th. I do think it was a total God thing though because it ended up being amazing. I was a little shocked though when the middle school principal called the elementary school and asked if I could take over a 6th grade class in the middle of my student teaching. After some thinking, I decided to do it. I was the person that said I would never teach middle school, and there I was doing it. That experience ended up getting me my first job teaching 6th grade Language Arts. I am currently finishing my 2nd year teaching 6th grade. 

Now you see, my dream has always been to teach at the elementary level, but 6th grade is what fell into my lap. During my first two years I have learned so much! I would not trade this experience for anything. However, it is time to follow my heart and my lifelong dream. 

I am so excited because I am going to be teaching 1st Grade in the fall! That's right...1st grade!!! I have known for a week now, but it still has not set it because I cannot believe that it is really happening! My heart is just so happy and I cannot wait for the fall to get here! 

You are probably wondering what is going to happen to this little 'ole blog. Well, I am happy to say that it is going nowhere! It will have a new name and a new look, but all of the content is staying! Hopefully some of you all will join me as I begin a new adventure with a class full of firsties!