Busy Life!

I know what you're thinking.  Remember when I started this blog to write about all my fun classroom activities and share our daily first grade happenings and then went weeks without posting once school actually started?  I get it.  Having a teaching blog without actually blogging about teaching is a total waste.  Hopefully this post marks the beginning of routinely posting what's up in first grade.  Add that to my list of things to do! :)

I am so excited that the first couple (aka four) weeks have gone so well!  I love my new class.  They are truly such a nice, fun, and well-mannered group of kids and I can't wait for all the fun we are going to have this year!  

Though posting about the first couple days of school is past appropriate at this time, I just thought I'd share a couple of things that went really well our first few weeks!  Today I'm going to focus on reading intervention time at my school! 

Our school has an awesome thirty minute block at the start of each day as our reading intervention time.  During this time, while some kids are pulled out for interventions, I meet with a small group of kids to provide them with reading interventions.  But what do I do with the rest of the class?  My first grade team has come up with a system that works really well for us.  I group my kids into groups of 2-3 and do a very loose interpretation of workstations/centers.  I typically have a fun writing station, a sight word station, computers, iPads, a skill building station (ie: parts of speech), and so on.  This is the first year I routinely plan on having a "Read the Room" center and a "Big Book" center and so far they are going fabulously!  I created a response sheet that I can use over and over again for the big book center and took some quick snapshots of the kiddos being introduced to it!  Here they are using fun pointers and looking in their big books for three letter words with a partner!  I was so impressed! 

Oh and here's a big book hunt freebie if you want to snag it!  I just fill in what I would like the kids to search for and they go to town!

Another thing we've been practicing during our morning intervention block is reading the room!  I introduced this by showing the kids our super special magic glasses that help us read the room.  We each got clipboards and searched for things that started with "B".  You would have thought that this was the most mind-blowingly awesome thing in the world (which it was, obviously).  You could have heard a pin drop!  Their lists were so impressive and I barely had any kids ask me how to spell a word.  After just a couple reminders they tried their best and stretched them out!  Love it!

Here's another freebie!  I pretty much do the same thing with "Read the Room" and fill in what I would like them to search for (ie: words with the short a sound, things that are red, friend's names, etc...).  Anything to get them reading and writing!  Other times I will mix it up and have them search for theme words or fill in a list of words around the room that start with the letters in, for example, CAT IN THE HAT.  I'm probably making this much more confusing than it needs to be!

That's all I can post for now...I worked a 12 hour day today and have Curriculum Night tomorrow night!  I will post soon about what I do for Curriculum Night in my classroom and how I make it work best for me!

Have a great end of the week!

Back To School Life...And Back To School Sale!

Hi All!

Well, for starters, my Sunday morning looks a little like this.

If this isn't a sign that school is back in session then what is?! Ahh...what a change from my last Sunday morning.  Luckily, I managed to get ample rest time in this weekend and I'm up and ready for a new week with my new cute little firsties to start.  Well, I'm not actually quite ready.  Usually during the year I'm ready for the next week before Friday the week before.  But, as I'm sure you all know, the first week was CRAZINESS and I just didn't have time to worry about this upcoming week's plans!  So here I am on a Sunday morning, coffee in hand, and surrounded by books, curriculums, lamination to cut, and a blank lesson plan template ready!

In other news, I am taking part in the big HUGE TpT sale today and tomorrow, so hop on over to my store for 28% off of everything!  Just click on the picture below!

I've got a couple of cute things up in my store that I used this year to set-up my classroom and that go perfectly with a bright color theme.  My top-seller this month is my green and blue daily schedule cards!

In my own classroom this year, I also use my Bright Polka-Dot ABC Signs and my "Brighten Up Your Word Wall!" pack.  Love them!

I hope you all find some fun back to school things in the TpT sale...I know I have! :)

I can't wait to post some updates and pictures from my first week back at school but don't have all the pictures ready quite yet.  More to come!

Late to the "Teacher Week" Party But Better Late Than Never!

PHEW!!  I survived and finished another first day in first grade today and it was a.....really.....long one.  All in all though it was fun to meet my new group of firsties and the day honestly went on off without a hitch!  

.....besides that one time before school when I left a trail of coffee down my dress....leg....and entire hallway.  But that seems to be a trend in my life so, hey, I'm not too surprised to have a stain on my clothes by 8am.  You live and you learn!  Or you don't learn.  And you keep spilling things.  Either way.

Anyways. I am finally linking up with Blog Hoppin' for Teacher Week!  I know, I know, I'm a little late to the party but I've been working non-stop!  All you amazing teacher bloggers blow my mind with your ability to teach at the hectic beginning of the year and still produce meaningful and inspiring blog posts.  I'm accepting any applications for teacher blogger mentors so please refrain from sending them all at once! :)

Today's Teacher Week topic is "Now Teach!" which seems only fitting with this being my first day back with the kids!  Quite honestly, I'm not entirely sure how I'm even mustering up the energy to craft this post.  I'm exhausted....and I'll probably go to bed sometime in the next hour or so and then cry a little (or a lot) when my alarm goes off tomorrow morning.  Same old, same old.

Anyways, I know I posted some classroom updates as I was setting up throughout the past couple weeks but I thought I'd post some finished product pictures that go along with today's topic of "Organizing for Instruction."

I think this picture of my library area is one of my most organized parts of my room.  I was never much of an "I'm crazy, OCD and obsessed with organizing" type of person until I got a classroom.  And here I am...being a crazy, OCD and obsessed with organizing type of person.  It's exhausting!  This year I hot glued these new library labels that I made onto my bins and I think they are going to be perfect!  In the past, I have taped the labels on with packing tape and it was MUCH more time consuming.

I fell victim to the amazing crate seat idea all over pinterest a couple years ago and they truly were one of my best classroom creations.  I don't have too much storage in my room and the amount of paper towels that comes flooding in with the kids and their supplies is....completely overwhelming.  I couldn't go through all of them even if I actively tried to use paper towels for everything.  Cue the crate seats!  These things have seriously saved my life (and my kids' lives because otherwise they would be forced to have paper towels in their backpacks, lockers, desks, for lunch, etc, etc...).

I posted this picture in my last blog post but I want to include it in this one too because I'm really happy with how I am storing my big books this year.  I stumbled upon the idea and just had to adapt it and use it for my own classroom.  

Another one of my organizational lifesavers was an idea sparked by my coworker and good friend.  This picture below shows some tables I bought from IKEA a few years back.  They usually house my student laptops, but the picture was taken before school started so the computers hadn't been whipped out quite yet!

So I started using these tables (which I absolutely love), but was constantly plagued with the headache of charger cords falling behind the tables and the kids crawling all over the ground trying to find them and ending up bumping their heads all while tangling up the cords.  Which naturally led to tears and trips to the nurse to get ice packs.  Need I say more?  Well, my coworker used these AWESOME wire holders from The Container Store.  See those little white things on the table?  Yep, keep looking.  Look closer.  Yeah, I know it's not the best picture but I don't have a close up one.  My chargers stay in place and the kids know where to put the laptops when they are finished.  Unfortunately, it doesn't look like The Container Store carries the same ones anymore, but these look similar!  

So that's that!  I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my tips and tricks for organization now that teaching has picked up again!

I do have one question for all you bloggy people, though.  I really want to post some pictures of my first couple of days soon and I currently don't have parent permission to post photos.  I'm in the process of drafting a contract to send home with the kids in hopes of obtaining permission but I'm not entirely sure where to start.  Has anybody used a permission form/contract that they were successful with and, if so, what are your tips?  If you are able to help at all I would greatly appreciate it!  Just shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment here!  Thanks! :) 

Classroom Progress Day 3/4

Hey there!

I have been in my classroom almost non-stop the past couple of days, so I'm taking the day off today!  The countdown is officially at less than 2 weeks until the first day with the new kiddos!

Here are some pics of the progress I've made in my room!  If you already follow me on instagram at @happilyteaching, then you've already seen some of these!

Here goes...

This first picture is of my "Awesome Authors" wall, where we hang all of our published writing after each unit!  Pay no attention to the shelves to the right...I want to re-organize those!

Next up is a close up of my new chevron clothespins for my author's wall!  I just LOVE the way they turned out!  All I did was print off chevron paper and then cut it into strips to fit the clothespins.  I modge podged them on and then modged podged over them!  Perfect!  

Here's my math wall for the year!  Should be filled with lots of new Common Core-y things in no time! :)

The last picture I took in my class when I left yesterday was a picture of my word wall and my new "First Grade Rocks!" banner that I made and hung in the bare space on my wall!  

More pictures to come!

Monday Made-It/Classroom Update Day 2 and Happily Teaching Instagram!

So....a very LONG day two of setting up my classroom is over!  I felt productive and like I got some stuff done today (and not just walking around talking to my coworkers...though that also took up a big part of my day)!

Here are some pictures of the progress I have made in my class and that fit perfectly into 4th Grade Frolics' Monday Made-It linky party!

My big book holder needed a total rehab, didn't it?!  So, I stole a bunch of blogger's ideas out there and ordered these awesome shelf liners off of Amazon.  The aqua and white chevron print is PERFECT for my color scheme.  Do you love it as much as I do?!  I took the big books out of the holder and pushed it up against the wall.  I plan on using it for my phone and parent communication binder so that all my materials are right there and ready for parent phone calls!  Because who doesn't love parent phone calls, am I right?

And...since I had to fine a place for all those big books after I emptied my big book holder, I got a cheap big tub and stacked them all in there.  This actually might turn out to be an easier solution, as my kids can just flip through them and see all the covers.  This picture also shows the backs of some of my shelves that I finished today!  My shelves face outward and hold some supplies and materials and I hated despised how the backs of the shelves looked in my library.  Well....nothing a little wrapping paper and borders can't fix!  Love it!

And here's another picture of how I used that amazing shelf liner in my classroom.  This bookshelf houses some of my leveled books.  It was an ugly brown and so I took the shelf liner and lined the backs of the shelves.  I think I just love the way it turned out!  Now I just need to make/find some new cute level labels!

I also put up my green and blue daily schedule cards and my lunch count board today!  I'm trying something new this year and am going to have the kids move their name magnet from the "What's For Lunch?" pan to their lunch selection for the day.  I like the way they turned out but I can't figure out what to put in that awkward white space above.  I already have my calendar up...any thoughts about what could be put up there?

And last but not least....drumroll...I finally created a Happily Teaching Instagram account!!!  I've had a personal Instagram account for a while but am now finally creating one for my classroom!  Come follow me at @happilyteaching...yay!

How is your classroom set-up coming along?  I can't wait to check out everyone else's classrooms and continue posting with mine!

Back In the Classroom and ABC Signs!

Hi All!

It has been almost two weeks since I've blogged!  What have I been up to lately?  Well, I have actually started to get back into my classroom to get ready for the rapidly approaching school year.  Seriously, we only have two weeks left of a "no morning alarm going off" summer bliss and I'm not entirely sure I'm ready to handle this drastic change in lifestyle quite yet...

But, nonetheless, I can only put off the idea of waking up for work every morning for so long and it was time to get right back at it in my classroom!  I'm extremely OCD about the way my classroom looks and the color scheme.  I'm sure you're thinking, "Yeah, yeah, yeah...aren't all teachers?"  For real...I take it to a new extreme.  My classroom color scheme is bright green, bright pink, bright aqua blue, and white.  I went a little crazy buying things for my classroom two years ago and now that I'm a rent-paying, utility-paying, Chicago expense-paying teacher, I have to limit myself with the whole "spend my entire paycheck on my classroom" thing.  SO...I'm really trying this year to spend as little money as possible and work with what I've got.  Which, to be honest, is extremely difficult if you're as crazy as I am about things matching and something as simple as a paperclip cup on my desk bothers me because it doesn't fit in with my color scheme.  

This all being said, I went in to my classroom for the first time last week and this is what I saw...

Okay, okay, so it might not look THAT bad in these pictures but we all know how overwhelming it is to walk into your classroom when it is all torn town and stacked up on counters.  Luckily, the things I had ordered with my school money had come in (all those boxes)!  So on day one I spent about 7 hours just moving furniture and getting it set-up how I want it.  I'm hoping this will help me feel better about not being able to revamp my room with new things.  I've also been working on finding other people's resources on blogs and TpT as well as creating my own cute things to spice up my classroom a bit.

One of the things I have just finished making and am super excited about are my new ABC Signs for the front of my room!  I usually use one of those pre-made ABC lines from Lakeshore or Really Good Stuff.  This year, I wanted it to be more personalized and have pictures to go with the letters.  I came up with this!

I am loving my new signs!  They are bright and fit perfectly in with my color scheme.  Feel free to hop over to my TpT store and check them out!  Included in the file is my matching ABC Chart for the kiddos to use at home and at their desks for reference.  Here is a freebie of that file for all of you!  Just click on the picture and grab it for free!

I hope these creations help some of you with your own classroom decorating!  This week will be full of classroom preparing so be ready for some pics and updates...only 2 more weeks until school starts!!  Are you all ready?

Fabulous Freebies on the 15th (July)

Phew!  It has been a crazy weekend and I have spent the majority of my day resting and recovering from my best friend's wedding!  We had a BLAST at the wedding and I was so happy I could be a part of her special day.  And now she's in Maui for her honeymoon so, needless to say, I'm not jealous at all...

Here's a picture of the beautiful bride and I on the big day!  Is she not the prettiest bride ever?

Okay, so back to teacher-related things.  I honestly can't even believe that it is mid-July and the summer is slowly disappearing before my eyes.  This realization got me thinking about the first day back.  As a teacher, I'm sure you're all aware that your summer is never truly a summer off.  I am constantly brainstorming and thinking of new and fun ways to revamp my classroom, trying to wrap my head around new curriculum, and keeping my fingers crossed for another successful year.  With that all said, I was looking back on my first day plans from last year.  I know there's a couple things that I want to change but one thing that any and all primary teachers know you need to have on-hand is an activity for kids to do when they come into the room and find their seats.  Which is where Molly from Lucky To Be In First's "Fabulous Freebies on the 15th" linky party comes into play!

To help eliminate MADNESS (though can it ever really be eliminated?) on the first day as we wait patiently for all the kids to arrive, I put a really simple coloring/drawing sheet on their desks. 

I allow the kids to draw a picture of anything they want and add words if they would like.  I then save this page the entire school year and send it home on the last day with their last day drawing and writing page.  It's so fun to see all the progress they have made through the year!

I hope some of you are able to use this simple freebie!  Have a great night!