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!

5 for Friday

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her awesome 5 for Friday linky party! 

One. I could not believe it when I found myself getting emotional on the way home to get ready for Meet the Teacher last night. Don't worry...they were way happy tears! I've wanted to teach 1st grade for so long and I am just so thrilled that this dream is really coming true. It hadn't really hit me until yesterday afternoon. Thank goodness I held it together at Meet the Teacher Night!

Two. I am in love with my classroom design this year!!! I just get so happy every time I walk into my classroom! I am charging my good camera and will share more photos with you all on Sunday! 

Three. I got to meet 20 of my 21 firsties last night and they are just precious! I may be biased, but I am pretty sure I have the best class ever! :) I cannot wait to see how they grow during the year!

Four. This year I am using Brag Tags in my classroom for my reward system. I already had their necklaces set up last night with three tags each and they were in love with them! I cannot wait for us to add to them as the year goes on. What sort of things do you do to reward your students?

Five. I am so ready for Pete the Cat, No David!, and First Day Jitters with Jitter Juice on Monday!

Classroom Sneak Peek!!!

I just could not wait any longer! Here is a sneak peek of my classroom! I am absolutely in love with it! I will take a good camera with me tomorrow and get some more photos to share! For now, enjoy the peek!