Wrapping Up

Only one day left of school! I can't believe how quickly this first year is ending. We were supposed to go to the end of this week, but our air conditioner is not working, and it is almost 90 in the classrooms! While I am excited to start in-service early (and grateful to end the torture of trying to teach in a hot classroom), I am disappointed that I can't do all of the fun things I had planned for this week!

Snapshots from this week:

Our summer countdown chain! I got the sign from Mrs. Wheeler and made up our rewards for each day. We pull a chain each afternoon if we have had good conduct, and we get the reward the next day. So far the class favorite has by far been taking off shoes in the classroom! They have enjoyed everything (from chalk and painting to a movie), but on their end of week reflection on Friday, taking our shoes off Tuesday afternoon was the most discussed. It makes me laugh to realize what they love! 

We went outside on Friday afternoon and did addition and subtraction with regrouping on the sidewalk with chalk. Each student got a slip of paper with four problems on it, and once they had me check their answers, they were allowed to play with the chalk. One sweet kiddo wrote this and said I had to take a picture! So precious. 

Class compliment books. I have been doing class compliments from Across the Hall in Second Grade all year long, and have loved it. Usually we just draw one person's name and write one compliment, then share them with the class. Last week we as a class each writing a compliment to every student. It has taken a  lot of time, but now I have a booklet of compliments from each student and myself to give out on the last day. Compliments always make me smile, but these almost made me cry. It has been a really great way to finish out our class compliments for the year.

My lovely sister painted this tree for me on a canvas after I sent her this post. Thursday during independent work time I pulled students back to my table and had them put their fingerprint on the tree. I still need to add a few students, but it is exciting to have my first class on my tree! 

This is exactly how I feel! Grades, projects, meetings, clean-up, graduations, summer packets, the list keeps growing! 

Good luck with the last few days of teaching!

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Enjoying the Moments

Well, I have utterly failed in posting more often. The first year of teaching really does hit you like a ton of bricks! I have a kind of long commute and will often spend the time planning blog posts that obviously never happen. They were great posts though, take my word for it! :) 

As part of my graduate program, we have to do daily reflections on the day. Each day, we have to list a high and a low. I enjoy doing these reflections, mostly because it forces me to look back at my day. I am an emotional person and sometimes (ok, more times than I would care to admit) my day flies up and down like a roller coaster. But I know at the end of the day I have to pick one high and one low, and having an ultimate high and an ultimate low each day written next to each other helps me remember that overall, my first year of teaching is going well. Is is perfect? Of course not! Nowhere near. However, it is going well. I have gotten my footing and have fallen in love with my class. Now to enjoy the last few weeks with these cuties before the end of the year! 

In other exciting news, I have finally joined the world of smart phone users! The first thing I downloaded is instagram, and I love now I always have a camera ready. 

View from this week:

This winter my entire school went to a Project Zero conference. Amazing! I love the thinking strategies and can't wait to incorporate more into my classroom.  As per a presenter's suggestion, I am sticking with one strategy at a time until it comes easily. Right now we are doing See, Think, Wonders. In my class we look at the picture for a minute, talk with our desk partner for a minute in complete sentences (I see ____.), then write on our sticky notes in sentences and share with the class. Repeat the process for think and wonder.  My kiddos LOVE it. They beg to do one every week and if we haven't gotten to it yet by Friday they insist we do one before the end of the day. It is so fun to see their brains working and soaking up the information from their partners and class sharing. But the best part is that there is no wrong answer! Even my lowest kids find success with STW. I strongly recommend reading the book or going to a conference!  

A poster from Scholastic book club this year. I have it right in front of the tissues station in my room. Now it has been there since before Christmas, but one very observant child asked me this week when we got the new poster and if we would ever read in the trees. I just had to laugh. We spend so much time decorating our classrooms and they just don't always notice. 

My classroom is sock monkey themed, and I have sock monkeys for a lot of different holidays. Students showing excellence get to read to one of my two original sock monkey during stamina reading time. It is always exciting to get to hold one of the regular sock monkeys, but if you are acting particularly amazing, I pull down the holiday one. Who know a monkey with bunny ears could hold so much power? 

We made these cute Earth Day Promises from KTP on TPT this week. Super fun and easy afternoon project! We labeled the continents and oceans on the globe, wrote on our hearts, and colored our hearts out, no pun intended. I let the kids write what they wanted to on their four hearts, as long as one started with "I promise" and another with "It is important to protect the Earth because". 

Some of my favorite responses:

"I promise to keep the Earth clean as long as I live on it."

"It is important to protect the Earth because God made it." 

So precious! 

Have a lovely rest of your weekend and remember to enjoy these last few weeks amid the craziness! 

I am Alive!

Wow! I cannot believe how long it has been since I posted! I have written blog posts in my head countless times, but always at the most inconvenient times. In the shower, on my drive home, and basically anytime a computer is not easily accessible. Blame it on being a first year teacher, a grad student, or just being so amazingly overwhelmed whenever I stop to reflect on my life this year. It has truly been the most difficult 6 months of my life thus far. Each day is a new adventure, and I would already do so much differently than I have done this year already. 

One of my new year's resolutions was to start blogging. As you can see, I have not done well with that yet. But no more! My goal is one post a week. I can tear myself away from Downton Abby for 30 minutes on a Saturday night and reflect on my week. So here I am! 

Of everything I have done thus far this year, my favorite thing is stamina reading time. We aren't supposed to do stations at my school, so sadly I cannot do a regular Daily 5 rotation, but we do spend about 10-13 minutes a day doing stamina reading. Usually it is when I need a few minutes to prep a lesson or just sit down. My students can read any book at their desk (they should have 3 books and their reader) and are supposed to stay reading the entire time. It too all of last semester to get to 10 minutes, but I know that they love stamina time and so do I! Sometimes I watch them, sometimes I sit in the front of the room and model what I expect them to do, and sometimes I prep. What I love the most is how much they love this time! I don't require them to journal about the reading or answer comprehension questions, it is just a time to read for enjoyment. On Friday one of my boys was reading a science book of gross experiments. It may not have been high quality reading nor was he reading every word. However, he was totally engaged in the book and begged to keep reading. As a book lover myself, I love to hear my students beg for just "one more minute" with their book! 

Apparently, one I start writing, I can't stop! So I will move on past my lengthy story and go straight to my favorite part of the new month, doing Currently with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade!

listening - This is just a very sad Super Bowl. My friends are mostly Broncos' fans, so there is a lot of unhappy mumbling going on right now. 

loving - I usually drink iced coffee in the morning, but it is hard to use regular coffee because it isn't strong enough for a lot of milk. Then I was trying to do it myself, but didn't have a good way to strain the coffee. Enter Christmas presents! The Toddy cold brew coffee maker is amazing! Great flavor, easy to use, and simple clean up. 

thinking - Even writing this post makes me realize how much I miss blogging. I really do want to get back into the routine! 

wanting - We have had crazy cold weather in the south this year! Right now it is raining and 33 degrees. Cold enough to make the day miserable, but not cold enough to cancel school. I could use a day to finish Feb planning. 

needing- Being a first year teacher is busy enough! Add full-time grad student and you have a gal in despite need of a time turner! 

2 truths and 1 fib

1. Nope! I despise tomatoes! I also realize I spelled it wrong, my bad! I will eat tomatoes mixes with other things, like salsa or tomato sauce. But if I can pick out tomato pieces, I will!

2. Yep! Memphis, TN is actually the farthest north I have ever lived. I have spent most of my life in Texas.

3. Yep! One of my sweet parents nominated me for the WREG Memphis Teacher of the Week! They came and filmed us last week and it aired all this week. I was so surprised and honored! 

There you have it! A drive-by look at my live, and the promise of more. Don't forget to check out more from Farley! 

      

My First Classroom

This post has been a long time coming. I am not sure why I never posted the before pictures. Enjoy a picture overload!

Before:

Small Group Area and Independent work table

Computers and a look at my old desks! 

Old desks.

Front of the room where the teacher's desk used to be. It took four people to move it to the back! 

I love how much whiteboard space there is along the front, but unfortunately it isn't magnetic. The last teacher glued a few clips to the board to attach papers. 

Kicking it old school with a chalkboard. 

 About 12 billion hours later: 

My objectives and required school engagement plan information

Math, religion, centers, and LA posters. Also, we sat on cushions the first day! We didn't have desks until day two. 

My desk and teacher area. I love having it in the back of the room! 

My Math and anchor charts board.

My take on crate seats (thanks mom for the cushions!) 

My door. It melds my sock monkey theme and the required school ocean theme. 

View from my desk. You can see our carpet, library, and front of room.

Now With Desks:

Each desk has a pencil gripper on it. I hardly ever hear pencils drop! 

My WBT rules and scoreboard. 

Back of my door (Sign is free here!) On the first day of school we made self portraits. 

We don't have bulletin boards in the hallways, so I covered clothespins with polka-dot washi tape and hot glued them on the wall outside. It is so easy to change work out! 

View from the door.

I know it is a lot of pictures, but I am so proud of my room! It is so wonderful to finally have one of my own.

September Currently

I can't believe that it is September already! A classroom reveal post is coming as soon as I remember to take my camera out and snap some pictures. There never seems to be enough hours in the day, especially at school! Does anyone else's day seem to end late? We don't get out until 3:30 and I am usually working with dismissal until almost 4, and by that point I am almost ready to fall asleep! Last year the school district I was in ended their days at 2:45, so I am still adjusting to the switch. 

Speaking of late days, it is time to get ready for tomorrow! Our lone four day week of September. And since it is the first of the month, it is Currently time! 

Listening

I grew up around cicadas and am used tho their noisy existence, but the ones in Memphis are much more intense!  They are SO LOUD that I could hear it over the TV last night! Currently there is one making noise while viciously attaching my kitchen window. Hopefully when the weather cools down they will too! 

Loving 

I adore three day weekends. This weekend I spent one day with friends, one day doing things for myself, and one day for prepping for school. I am so relaxed and prepared for this week and I am loving it! 

Thinking

I love centers, I want to do centers, my curriculum tells me to do centers...but I am terrified to start them. I know what I want them to end up looking like, but I'm not sure how to get there. Tomorrow I am going to officially make the plunge into it since I really need to start digging into my curriculum. Wish me luck! 

Wanting 

If only every weekend was three days. My problem is that on a two day weekend I spend one day prepping for school and the other with friends, which doesn't leave any time for me! Which then bottles up until I spend a Friday night in my room alone just to recharge.

Needing 

My college coffee maker died and I have yet to buy a new one. I realize that they start at like $10, but I really want a Kuireg and just have yet to convince myself that I can afford one. For the past two weeks I have been cold brewing on weekends and drinking iced coffee all week (which I love), only this weekend in all of my excitment of having extra time I forgot! Thank goodness for kind neighbors that offer me coffee! 

Loving Myself

1. Sleep. Getting up early is very unnatural for me. I am a natural night owl who will stay up until 2am just because I am most awake then. It was great in college, not so much now. So I have been trying very hard to go to bed early, but no matter how hard I try, 5:30 comes all too soon. I need to use my time better so I am not up late getting ready and can instead get so much needed (and deserved) sleep! 

2. I loved getting and sending mail, but I have neglected it greatly over the past several months. Writing letters is relaxing and brightens another's day, so win win. 

3. I had a rough end to my week and have been doubting myself since then. In order to love myself I need to believe in myself and who I have know myself to be regardless of what others say. I am smart, kind, caring, and will be (and already are) a good teacher! Now to take that from just words to truly believing it. 

That's all folks! Hopefully I will remember to snap some pictures this week and finally show you my room! 

Don't forget to link up with Farley for more currently! 

They Rave for a Reason

Today we started the second week of school! I am really starting to fall in love with my little class. They LOVE when we do Whole Brain teaching. In my spare time (HA!) I am going to start a series on WBT. If you haven't heard of it, go there now! But enough about my class, back to the reason for today's post...

Ok, so I bought this pencil sharpener from Classroom Friendly Supplies on a whim over the summer when I was desperate to get into my classroom but still wasn't allowed. I just set in a bag and didn't think about it much until I got to school two weeks before the kids came. First morning in my room and I was so overwhelmed by the mess in front of my that I decided to try out the sharpener. WOW was I amazed! It worked beautifully and I loved that it is idiot proof. There is no over-sharpening with this little beauty.

(please ignore the mess background! Cute class pics to come!)

Beautifully sharp pencils...every teachers dream. 

Now on my second week of school I love it even more. My kids get picked up from inside the classroom and I sharpen our pencils from the day while we wait. It is so quiet that some kids didn't even realize what I was doing until the third day! and I rarely have to give the kids new pencils during the day, most can make it through on one. After a pencil nightmare in student teaching, it is so nice not to have to worry! 

I highly recommend getting one for yourself! The entire teacher-blog community can't be wrong! 

Blogger Exchange Linky Party

Summer really does fly by for a teacher. I start school on Monday! Technically I suppose I am ready, but I'm not totally sure that one is every ready for the first day of school, much less the first day of school as a first year teacher. But before I reveal my adorable (if I do say so myself) room, I need to link up with Adventures of Ms. Smith and Covered in Glitter and Glue for the Back to School Blogger Exchange!

We were paired up and email info about our partner, then got to send and receive a little goody in the mail! I have always loved getting mail, but it's even more exciting now that I live so far from home. 

I was paired with Sarah from First Grade Buddies. She sent me some adorable sock monkey stuff! Name tags that I am using for the kiddos the first day of school, a sock monkey notepad, certificates, stickers, and an adorable sock monkey key chain. Thanks Sarah!