New goal

Alright...so I can't be trusted to remember to blog on my own, so now I set up a reminder in my phone to blog on Sunday nights. Hopefully that works.

So for some non-education news, I just bought a house! Technically I haven't bought it yet, but it is under contract. 

Anyways...

So I have the most amazing student teacher. She is so good. I am so sad I only have 2 weeks left of her being with me. 

This week we are leaning about shapes. We are going to talk about attributes of 3d shapes. We are going to make shapes using toothpicks and marshmallows. I will take pictures and post them next week. 

Classroom setup day 1-3

So I finally was able to get into my classroom. Usually our sweepers are really good and will set it back up for us, but apparently mine did not get touched. This is what I came back to.

I worked for a few hours and got it set-up. Unfortunately, with packing up for the summer, I packed things in many different places. It took a lot of effort to "unpack" all the cupboards. By the end of the day, I was hot, tired, and sweaty, but the room looked like this.

 Yesterday I only had 2 hours, so I did not get a lot done. I put some paper up on bulletin boards but that was it.

Today I got in and got bulletin boards put up. I still need to get my math wall done, but the others are done.

I got my clock hung. I love the hands, but it takes up so much room that I wanted it off my whiteboard where it used to be.

Here's my calendar board. Last year I had it all on the bulletin board, but with the dry erase parts, it got on the paper, and I would like to not have to replace it year after year.

This is new this year. My writing bulletin board. The pencil is a freebie from Lindsay at The Teacher Wife. You can get it here: http://theteacherwife.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-do-writers-write.html

The rest is my work based on Cara Caroll's freebie found here: http://thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com/2011/08/free-for-all-friday.html

I also got my word wall hung up. We use SRA Imagine It, so I the sound cards for that program. The sight words we learn will get hung up as we learn them.

And finally, I got my Daily 5 board up. I will add the I-Charts after we learn the tasks.

There is still so much to do! Any of you feel that way?

It's Official!

MY BLOGGING STINKS!!!!

I am so bad at this! If you have still held out and are following me, I apologize. I am hoping this year I will do better so I can chronicle what I do so I don't have to try to remember for next year. My computer still has issues, so I hope that won't impact this too much. I may try to use my ipad as well so I do not get as frustrated.

So...

This summer has been totally relaxing and unproductive. I have worked on my school webpage, http://missrobinsonfirstgrade.weebly.com (check it out) and made a pinterest idea.

It was pretty easy to make and cost me about $50 for everything. My dad had the plywood and my mom had the foam, the fabric cost $7, but I have enough to make another one. The milk crates were $8 each at Home Depot, but if you live somewhere where they will donate them, that was a huge chunk of my cost. Living in Utah, the stores all work with the dairy and send their milk crates back. Also, the dairy does not donate them either, but these ones are nice and sturdy. 

I also moved this summer. Finally grew wings and decided to live on my own. I must say, I loved my roommate dearly, and we are still great friends, but I love having the place to myself. It is not the way I would like in my dreams, but it is great for what I had and could afford. 

The living room

 I added a shoe shelf to the entry since this picture was taken and a 2nd lamp on the other side of the entertainment center.

Anywhoo...

I get to go to school and assess the classroom next Thursday, so I will post pictures as I set things up and start getting ready. I hope to start growing my products on TPT as well as I create them, so keep watching.

Til then...

Have a great day!

SARAH <3

NEW To TPT

So...

I really planned to have this ready to go sooner, but again, my battle with my technology is ongoing. I was FINALLY able to get my first TPT product up and going. It is free on TPT. My whole team does the activity, and it was my fellow teacher that suggested I should put it on TPT. Are you ready? 

(Drum roll) 

The "Flip-flop" Commutative Property!

Pretty cool right? I find this a hard concept for them to grasp sometimes, but they loved getting this return to summer so shortly after summer is over. We did this activity about a month ago, so it was pretty soon after school started. 

At the same time, I took an activity that I had previously made, cutsy-fied it and posted that too. It is jack-o-lantern adding 3 addends which in my math text, Go Math, is coming up soon. This is a fun way to practice this concept. 

In honor of my opening of my TPT shop, this activity is on sale, but will be going up before long. 

I am also going to do a drawing...

Never done this before...

But we're going to try it. 

Become a follower on Bloglovin'. Then post your favorite thing to do to celebrate Halloween in your classroom for a chance to win this activity free along with my next posting on TPT, a Cloudy with the Chance of Meatballs craftivity. 

I will pick the winner on Wednesday, Oct. 9 before I go to bed. 

Hope you win!!

A Little Bit of Light Reading

So, I officially HATE strongly dislike my laptop. It is on the fritz and overheats since the fan is messed up. I need to get a new one, but I do not have the time nor money to invest into getting a new one. I am leaning towards getting a mini desktop since they are smaller and then hooking it up to a flat screen tv and using a wireless mouse and keyboard with it. I think it would be ideal since it would primarily be in my room. I use my iPad for the portability factor and since you can get much more computer out of a desktop that you can on a laptop for the money, I feel it is the smart move to go.

Anyhoo,

I have been frustrated about blogging since my iPad is driving me up a wall with trying to blog and my laptop being on the fritz. So sorry about the lapses in posts.

I have wanted to do this post for a while now but was battling it out with the technology. The first week of school I started Daily 5. If you do not know about Daily 5, I definitely recommend checking it out. IT IS PHENOMENAL!!!

We started building our stamina on Read to Self like the 2nd or 3rd day of school. After about 2 lame attempts, we got things going and was making it to 5 and 7 minutes. I pushed things a little more and after about 2 days we were making it to 10 minutes on a semi regular basis. After about a week, we were at 15 minutes on a regular basis and ready to start other things.

Next, we added Listening to Reading and Computers. Since I have 6 mp3 players with a bag of 4 books to accompany it, I let about 6-8 kids do that and 6 kids do computers. That left about 6-8 kids to do Read to Self. We did it as a rotation and they are little pros. They are independent (for the most part) and are silent. IT IS AMAZING!!

I loved Daily 5 last year, but this year is amazing. It's like this class was MADE for Daily 5. It helps that I was spoiled and only have 20 students, but still.

This week we are adding in Word Work. I introduced a couple of fun worksheets to the kids then I let them use the mainpulatives. I found last year that it cut down on the off-task behavior with the manipulatives since they had to turn in the worksheet and they were then focused on spelling their words. I usually have them practicing their spelling words, but since we have not started spelling yet, I am having them write words they find around the room. They seem to be enjoying it.

I am hoping to start Work on Writing next week and then start READING GROUPS!!!

I love working with my kiddos in small groups. It is amazing what they can do when they have a little more attention from me.

Overall, this year is shaping up to be a really awesome year. I needed this class this year. After 3 trying years, I needed a year to reestablish my love of teaching. Before school started, I was dreading having to go back to school. When people would ask if I was ready, it was a very firm NO! Now, I don't wake up in the morning wishing it was Saturday all the time like I was used to in the past. I am reenergized about teaching.

I KNOW it is going to be a great year!

OH!

And, stay tuned...I am going to post about my 1st ever TPT product! I haven't posted it yet, so don't try looking. I have to figure all that out and then I will post about it here!

Classroom Digs

Today you get to see inside my new classroom! Aren't you special?

This classroom is ENORMOUS!! Even with that though, there is not a ton of storage space and because of the large windows, there is not a lot of bulletin board space. We also have the descended lights so I cannot hang things on the walls above the bulletin boards very easily because the lights block it.

In places like this, I've had to get creative. These were windows, but I covered them with poster board and added the scrapbook paper. I attached clothespins with glue dots and now hanging student work will be easy! I added chalkboard numbers to help with student privacy.

Here I hung our first day "Davids." I got the idea from Fall Into First. You can see the idea here.

Here is my little reading corner. I used bonus points from scholastic book orders to buy the chairs and book sling. The blue magnetic book holders are from Lakeshore, seen here.

To help with distraction, my student computers face out to the window. I butt my desk and computer table up against this table to section off the room in this corner. I then added the filing cabinets adding another "bulletin board" of sorts that is magnetic. 

For my birthday, my mom and I made my chair pockets using duck cloth. I bought little Dr. Seuss shopping bags at Target for $1 during back to school for them to hold their books in. 

Lastly, this is my leveled library. It is my pride and joy. I leveled all my books according to guided reading levels. Each level is associated with a color. Each book has a colored sticker on it that matches the color of the box it belongs in. It makes it easier for students to put the books away themselves.

Hope you enjoyed your tour!

Keep on Swimming

Sorry about not posting pictures and linking up with Blog Hoppin', but I have been so busy! I am taking a few classes this summer and my last one for a lane change is going right now. I wanted to post pictures of it set up, but I couldn't get in yesterday to get anything done because of my class.

Anyhoo...

I am hoping that I can get in today and get a bit done and be ready to go. If that happens, I will post pictures. I am continuously amazed at just how long it is taking me to set everything up.

Don't get me wrong...I LOVE my new "mansion" of a classroom, but it is hard work trying to refigure my space and design. And this is in addition to the unpacking and set up that I had to do with the move anyway!

 I wish I could be linking up with blog hoppin today about organization, but I am in no means organized. I drive myself crazy with my disorganization. That is one of my goals this year is to get more organized and now that I am learning from the experts, that will be great!

There is just not enough time to do everything I want to. Do you feel that way? Let me know your goals for this school year in the comments below. Then we can support each other and keep each other on track!

Keep smiling! ; )