Progress

I have been working hard for the past two weeks and progress had been made in terms of my room. Now I'm freaking out about planning for the year! At least the routines for the first week. If only there weren't so many professional developments this week.

 

 

 

 

First are my objectives! Then all my information for Common Core and schedules is under my information hut. I may put cups up for my kid's "merits" (our PBIS incentives) there. But right now, I'm still contemplating.
Third, my beenie babies who are making a come back! They go with my strategy cards for reading and I love plopping the beenie baby on top of a student's head when they are demonstrating a strategy. They always giggle.
Lastly, straight from beloved pinterest! My kid's names on our balloon tree. Hope parents enjoy the room tomorrow at Open House!

Back to School We Go

Yesterday began the overwhelming task of creating an organized and beautiful classroom!  I literally brought loads of stuff in and then started a bunch of tasks (like bulletin boards) that never got completed.  Here are the before photos and I'll post some photos as the progress continues.

Here is the view from the classroom door.

Straight through the door, look at all those boxes of books in the cubbies! Oh my...

I recently painted this long piece of furniture. Chalkboard black!

Here is the bulletin board that just doesn't seem to ever get finished!!!!  Wish me luck as the job continues...

Behavior Management

I don't remember there being a course all about the attention-seeking, violent, and tear filled behaviors that six year olds sometimes bring to school.  My MAT program didn't press that upon me enough.

I was definitely unprepared.

So now each year, my classroom management is what I focus on the most. I was introduced to Class Dojo this year. IT IS THE BEST! I'm obsessed. My kids loved it. I loved it. I even used in during summer school.
Last year, we just set a goal and a time frame and if you got the required points before the pre set deadline, you'd visit my treasure box.
For summer school it was only 13 kids, so the deal was 5 points by dismissal and you'd visit the treasure box.

Needless to say, my treasure box is junk/empty by now. I needed someway to use my beloved ClassDojo that was something new and exciting and most necessarily EASY for me.

I finally figured it out and am excited to share it!

A few weeks ago, I decided on my zebra/animal print themed room and began searching for things. I found this cute idea from Cassandra at Adventures in Room 5. I printed just in case. THANK GOODNESS I did.

I took these bins I was going to use for items students could purchase with their points. When I really thought about writing out paychecks everyday or every week for 24 students, I realized that it wasn't going to work.

So I've decided to use my bins and Cassandra's flowchart. Click here for the freebie.
Students will all use a clip. It starts in the blue bin labeled clips Monday morning (I might need to go over the silver sharpie with puffy paint). Then if they get five points a day, they'll move up to Hall of Fame by the end of the week! Treasure box day! Their placement on the flowchart dictates the bin of goodies they can pick from!

Here are my bins. Don't mind the messy house. I should clean it on summer vacation, but what fun is that?

Back to School Activities...My First Freebie

Pinterest has opened my eyes to some new activities for the first week back and this cute book by Diane deGroat was one of them. Brand-new Pencils, Brand-new Books is the story of Gilbert, a nervous new first grader.  I think all students can relate.

I made an activity to along with it! :) Click here for this back to school freebie!

I'm also going to try making Jitter Juice...another Pinterest find. There are a ton of activities to go with it. Even a cute little poem.

Check out all the different activities by clicking here.

My First Post...

Alas, in a fit of boredom on summer vacation...I've finally done it. I made my blog. 

And I haven't a clue what to do.

But here is my rationale. I absolutely love reading other people's blogs. The things they write about, the resources they provide...I LOVE them. They're inspiration on aggravating days.

So I thought...I want to be like them! To have a blog would be MY everyday inspiration as a teacher. I just knew I'd feel compelled to work hard and be creative in the classroom, so I'd have something worthy of sharing.

And maybe that'll be the case. Maybe I'll be someone's inspiration. One day. Fingers crossed!