THE BEST FIRST DAY EVER!

Today was our first day of school and it couldn’t have gone any better! It was a great first day!  The kids came in excited.  Our day flowed.  We played games. We sang.  We danced.  We got to know each other a little better.  It was just a great day!

One of the first routines that we learn is how to take the lunch count.  The wall space in my classroom is precious real estate, so as much as possible, I try to incorporate things we don’t need to look at all day digitally.

Each kiddo has an apple with their name on it.  Our cafeteria makes two main dishes daily from which students have to choose.  If they brought in a lunchbox, their apple is moved to the first sticky note.  Each afternoon, I google…..Google is a verb, right?…. an image that resembles what will be served the following day and label it on the second and third sticky note.  As students unpack, they go to the board and indicate their choice for the day.  They start the day with a quick touch of technology and then move to their desks for skills practice, reading, and reflecting.

As they’re completing morning work, I document it in an excel spreadsheet and send it off to the cafeteria.

I really dislike the “training” part of the school year, simply because I get tired of the sound of my own voice! EEKKK! It’s like…do this, don’t do that, walk this way….don’t touch that!  Quiet, please! Classity, class….yessity, yes! Blah, blah, blah…..

I know its necessary, I just hate having to talk so much, lol! Its just so much easier once routines are established.  We do take lots of time to practice and model and reflect on our classroom procedures during these first few important weeks, so that we can rock and roll full speed ahead once they’ve been learned.

Speaking of procedures! I introduced Read to Self today and we practiced building our stamina! Can you say….*LOVE*! I am pumped to be implementing Daily 5 this year and am already amazed at the amount of work and time its saving me! Praise.The.Lord!!!! I just wanted to cry watching my little inspirations sit quietly with their book boxes! Amazing!

Lesson plans are complete and on display.  If we don’t get to all of it, its fine.  What’s most important this week is that we establish routines and work to become a school family.  Standards will be covered to the depth and rigor required of mastery for students, but we can’t do that until we establish the baseline of caring for each other. As Heather would say, you can’t reach their heads until you’ve touched their hearts!

One of the last, and most important goodies that I prepped to begin the year was my dismissal chart.  Usually, I’ve laminated and written on some commercially made poster, but not this year! One of my fab coworkers made this little cutie and I just couldn’t resist! I’ve been trying to encourage her to get in touch with her inner/creative techy, heheeheee! Soooo, being that she created something she was very proud of, I couldn’t resist using it too!  Didn’t she do a good job?

Well, friends, after the excitement of the first day…we came home and CRASHED.HARD!!! Got in from work around 6, crashed on the sofa until around 8:30…had dinner at 9 and now, I’m up with 2nd day jitters blogging away, lol!

This girlie is gonna head to bed and rest up for a fantastic, day 2.   Enjoy the beginning of your school year and I’ll chat with ya soon! I’m so excited about my 22 newest little inspirations!

When a 6 year old asks you on the very first day of school if you would like for her to add more detail to her picture, you KNOW it’s going to be a great year!

MEET THE TEACHER

All I can say is, “WOW'”!!!  Meet the Teacher went soooooo well! I met each and every one of my newest little cuties tonight and I feel pumped! All the late nights and long hours of prepping the classroom were absolutely made worth it by seeing their enthusiastic, smiling, little faces!

There were so many smiles and familiar friends that stopped by to visit.  I love that Meet the Teacher is close to the end of the week!  It gives you just the boost you need in order to begin planning activities for the first week.

I even had a few students leave and come back just to be sure that they knew where to come on Monday, lol!

Being that I’m in  a “WOW’ kind of mood, I wanted to share a little something with my fab followers!

We’re moving from simple classroom management this year to developing principled habits! Yep!  Growth is good….

As a part of our classroom rewards system, each student will have a reward punch card. They will keep it in their pencil box. If they remain on Ready to Learn or clip up during the day, they will earn a single star punched as a reward (at the end of the day).  When they’ve had each star punched, they will be allowed to visit the treasure box.  The treasure box will hold various goodies and coupons for special privileges.

This post is a quickie.  I’ve got to figure out how to work everything in, now that it’s back to business.  Oh, how I love structure and a good routine! 

Best of luck to all my Texas bloggy buds getting ready for that very first day on Monday! You know the drill….click the pick to grab the cards!  Copy them onto cardstock or construction to add a little color or flare.

Have a fantabulous weekend!

LEVEL UP!

Hi, Friends!  How are ya?

Boy! Is anybody as tired as I am? We started back to work this week and I have to say….man! I’m about to fall off of my feet! Our work week got off to a very inspiring start, but this night owl is struggling to stay away ALL.DAY.LONG.

I am super excited to have finished up a little project that has been a personal goal of mine for the past 3 years! That was really lonnnnnng term, huh?  All in due time, all in due time! 

Actually, I didn’t realize how BIG of a project it could turn out to be!

Since I began teaching first grade, my goal has been to level my personal stash of books.  Well, the clock ticked and days passed.  They turned into weeks and well, quite frankly, those weeks turned into 3 school years that went by in a flash!

Enter….{content sigh}….and a wonderful feeling of relief here. =) Our fantabulous Instructional Coach asked our team what we would’ve liked the most to promote reading success and listened intently as requested “good fit books”.  When our little boxes came in this year, it felt like Christmas in August! What teacher doesn’t love receiving boxes full of books?

I know that there are many of you with huge, massive literacy libraries! Starting a new campus from the ground up, takes time to establish.  I’m so grateful to “level up” with my firsties this year! Seeing those bins sorted, labeled and ready for kids feels grrrrrreat!

 

Now, you might ask…why are those other bins on the floor?  Well, the story goes a little something like this:  the rack that holds them is on back order until O-C-T-O-B-E-R! Can you say “popular”? Totally annoyed! Jeez….so until then, on the floor they rest.

I kept going back and forth and researching how to organize my library this summer.  What I saw most often that offered the kids the most bang for their buck was a combination of leveled books and books organized by topic or genre.  I went with topic and I am looking forward to seeing them in the hands of my little class of emerging readers!

Did you notice that I finally put away that roll of blue butcher paper that was leaning against the wall?  Hehehehee. Well, praise the Lord for the amazing Cara Caroll!  Her tip to use painter’s tape and hot glue worked like a charm! I *LOVE* not having to look at an entire span of plain white wall!

Things still look a little bare because I feel like its oober important for the kids to help put the room together.  I set the backdrop and they fill it in as we build our classroom community.  Make sure to stay tuned to see what we have in store for the coming weeks!

Sorting and organizing all those books has got your girl beat!  My fingers and toes are crossed in hopes of receiving a class list tomorrow!  Wish me luck!

“See ya” soon!