My Week in {lots of} Pictures {Five or More for Friday}...

Hey Everybody!

How's your school year going?  Hanging in there?  Feeling on top of the world, or ready for a break?  If you remember, Michigan doesn't start until after Labor Day, so we're just finding our groove around these parts. And our groove we have found!

My 18 boys and 5 girls are really getting the hang of this first grade gig.  We've been taking a lot of brain breaks {which is good for everyone - myself included!!!!!  I've been known to cut a rug!}.  When I give my students a 5 minute brain break it buys me about 20 more minutes of learning time.  What a bargain!  I found this website that is FULL of great ones.

Here's our current fave:

Daily 5 is going very well!!!! We're up to 15 minutes Read to Self, 12 minutes Work on Writing and 10 minutes Word Work...can't wait to start our guided reading groups!  Almost!!!!

 Great Tower Challenge:  Using what we know about properties of solids to build towers!

Daily 5 book shopping

This was last year - remember how proud I was of those shelves?

This is today...I'm sad, sad, sad to say...

A student is bringing me one fruit each week - she even included a peppermint stick to help make the lemon sweeter...how cute is that!?!?

My little pumpkins weren't wanting to clean up after snack time - this snail race timer did the trick!

We go a little wild at our house....

If you make a "mummy line" he'll sing and dance for you!!!

Look what I came home to yesterday!!!!!

CraftProjectIdeas.com has been so good to me!!!!  The letter they sent said that "Christmas has come early this year" and that they "hope the package of goodies will tide you over for your 2013 holiday crafting season".  My first graders are going to be SO excited to use the fun stuff they sent....FREE!!!!  The quality of their products is awesome. I've purchased some craft materials in the past that were so flimsy and hard to create with that my kiddos would get so frustrated.  Their stuff rocks!!!!!  Go check them out on Facebook for some fun ideas!!!!

I hope you had a great week...what went well for you?  What do wish might have gone differently? Share your Stars and Wishes...

Happy weekend!!!!

Go check out Doodle Bugs for more classroom snapshots at her classroom Five For Friday {or in my case - a little more than that} linky party...

Toodles!!!!

Nineteen Boys & Four Girls...Classroom Pictures too! {And some other this and that's}

Hey Friends,

We are on our way to the first day of a new school year!  The classroom is all put together, I've meeted {not a word, I know - but it's cute, right?} and greeted, and now I'm ready and rarin' to go!

I do have an unusual breakdown this year of 19 boys and 4 girls.  No lie and no joke.  I'm a wee bit concerned - but an even bigger part of me is excited.  I have two boys of my own and I do seem to "get" them.  I almost wish they had put those four girls in the other classes and left me with all boys.  That would have been really interesting... {maybe even cool?}

One thing I do know is we'll be incorporating a lot of movement into our day {which is good for everyone}.  I have a Brain Break document that I created last year and shared {here}. We'll be doing a lot of dancin' and a movin' and a groovin' throughout the day!  Maybe I'll take off some extra LB's that way! HA!

Here are some pictures of my 2013-2014 classroom...

I also wanted to let you know about a neat opportunity over at Mardel.com  for ONE DAY ONLY. Online customers who purchase one 12-count set of their exclusive "Renewing Minds Collection" file folders - Mardel will donate a duplicate set to a school affected by the May 20th tornado in Moore, Oklahoma.  This offer is only valid until midnight tonight {September 1st} and can be found online {here}.

Aren't they cute?

I hope you'll consider purchasing some cute file folders - it may seem small, but little glimmers of happiness can make a teacher's day - especially after such devastation.  

Tuesday's the day!!!!!  Woo hoo!!!!!

Toodles!

Classroom Complete - Pictures!!!!!!

I had to set my alarm last night.  That was not a happy development in this household of two teachers.  We haven't set the alarm since June.  Of course I'm not sure why I did because I was up at least five times last night thumbing through my mental to-do list.  Yikes. 

Today was a work day in our classrooms.  Thank goodness.  Typically our district saves this work day for the last of our three days back.  Finally they realized they may get a more focused teacher if we aren't fretting over getting our classrooms together before our Meet & Greet. 

I think I'm done.  Well as done as any teacher can be. 



View from my door - looking left...

Another view from my door - straight ahead...

One more from my door - looking right...

The stand up bookcase holds current books - either an author we're studying, books that "fit" the month, etc.  You can also see our writing area and a reading nook... 

A close-up shot of my writing area.  The colorful bins hold our writing folders {one for each table}, bins for our writing paper, etc...

My new couch - found on the side of the road in my neighborhood - one person's trash...

Part of my library area, my rocking chair and whole group teaching area...

Browsing bins in back - one for each table - we use those when working on building stamina.  You can also see our personal bookshelves where we keep all of our own materials for Daily 5...

Here's a closeup of the bookshelf where we keep current reads...

Thanks to Gingersnaps for my Cafe & Daily 5 board!

Got this somewhere in blogland...isn't it a cutie?!?! {Is it yours?!?}

My "desk" area - needs a little work...

Where we keep our class schedule.  Under that are our mailboxes...see the little "ketchup & mustard" bottles?!?

We put our new word wall words here...just two little signs.  The top one is a freebie {here} and "Catch the Reading Bug" which are rules to remember when building stamina...you can grab them {here}...

I'm loving my new transportation chart.  I switched it up a bit since I left my ribbon at home. I like it though.  I'm going to write the different information on the laminated pieces of paper under each heading with a vis-a-vis.  I got mine from Miss Nelson...

Here's more of my library area...

Just had to take a picture of my koosh balls. Didn't know I collect them, did you? HA!  We use them during Morning Meeting...

Outside of my classroom.  The banner is a freebie from CraftProjectIdeas.com

Outside of my door...see "the carpet" peeking out?

I don't do ladders.  Oh the sacrifices we make for cuteness...Thanks Caitlin Clabby!



There are a few areas I avoided only because they aren't quite how I want them.  I'm in desperate need of a teacher area makeover.  I see some bin purchases in my future but I swear if I buy one more thing for my classroom...yeah, I don't even wanna think about it! HA!

 



That ya have it!

7:00 is probably too early to go to bed right? 

Want to see more classrooms?  Head on over to these linky's...