Back to School

Switch grade levels and rooms this year. Moving is no joke. It was exhausting and pricy - but I got great deals at Amazon, Ikea and Target. And yes - if you're with any of those corporations you may sponsor me. :)
So I decided on two rugs that are actually nice to look at - instead of one big primary rug.  First, it's pleasing to the eye but also it gives a runway - I mean aisle - down the middle. Any teacher knows the feeling of doing your thing at the board and getting a call. Climbing through students is not fun. For anyone. Problem solved. Rugs are from Amazon - as is the rocker. I'm also using Ikea magazine holders again. This year these will be used for book bins and will be reinforced with some kicky Duck Tape. 

I changed out my primary bins for these cute colors - thanks Target for getting with what teachers want. #PrimaryColorsAreDeadToMe. And again, I glued lazy susans onto the bottom of trays to ensure supplies are accessible by all.

I decided to ditch my teacher desk a long time ago.  Does anyone really sit at a desk? I have an area where I project and a horseshoe table for small groups.

Yes. That is a teepee. I bought it a couple years ago from Target and it sat in my trunk until this month. It just was a no-go for 4th graders but I'm excited to use it for the Student of the Month reading area for my 2nd graders! My library is on point. I love the F&P leveling system and books are easy for the kiddos to find once they know their levels. My goal was to create a space that would excite kids about reading.

Organization is key here. Without desks, books and workbooks have to be stored around the room. Kids have jobs to manage their space and I just hope I created the kind of room that kids want to be in and learn in.

First Week...

So we are three days in and my students are already convinced that tests are FUN! Yeah - I'm a Svengali that way. 

We made a classroom agreement and we STUCK to it! We reviewed procedures, over and over and we were accountable. The kids are learning fast and the room is running (mostly) smoothly! 

This week we took lots of beginning of the year assessments and did some fun reading and writing - focusing on Kevin Henkes. It was such whirlwind, I only got a couple pics...

So excited...

And - so exhausted. Setting up a classroom is no joke. There's no tired like setting up your room, beginning of the year, teacher tired.
That being said - 

I got my class list and I am very excited about meeting my 21 new friends a WEEK.FROM.TOMORROW!!!!

Breathe.

Ok. I'm going to rest these bones tonight so I can tackle my classroom after hours and hours of pd tomorrow.

Do You Send Postcards to Your New Students?

I'm so, so excited about back to school - and I know I will get my class list soon. The minute I do, I'm going to write my postcards to send to my new students!

Last year I got so many compliments from parents who told me it was the first time their child received actual mail!  I jazzed up my cards a bit this year and made another version that's a bit less cutesy for those who like a simpler design.

Click here to check out my Back To School Postcards!

Tip-Toeing Into BTS!

So I've been to Vegas for a week for (AMAZING) conferences, working on a tech project for my school, taking 12 units this summer and trying to get some TpT projects going. And at the end of the month I go to a week long writing conference and then, get my classroom ready. Yes - this is a teacher's summer BREAK! You know what I mean. Well, taking a break from all those duties I just mentioned, I went to Daiso and picked up this! 

I can't wait to use the apple to house my students reward tickets until I pull them for prizes. So cute, right!?

I couldn't resist the slinky type things to streeeeeeeetch out words with struggling readers and use the dots to keep track of homework. And omg! The crayon post-its! So cute - I'm using them already to mark the pages in the books for my courses. Did I mention 12 units? Yeah - better get back to that.

What's your BREAK been like?

Next Year...

Because I LOVE being prepared...

About Me Box

Cannot wait to see my students' About Me boxes tomorrow!

Day 2 and Room Reveal

Holy Moly did we get a lot done today! We started our new social studies today, made lots of anchor charts, did some word play with The Recess Queen (LOVE that book), took a Words Their Way assessment (oh that's fun to score!), we made our math journals, took a big math assessment, listed to Chrysanthemum and wrote about our feelings. We learned the difference between tools and toys in math and started our word wall!

Did not take one picture of our day because we were busy the ENTIRE time! The kids are getting use to the routine and each day is better than the last! It's going to be a GREAT year!
And...
Here's our room...

Our first day...

Whoa! We hit the ground running today! After briefly meeting my awesome 20 we skeedattled to the gymatorium for a welcome assembly.

We learned some vocabulary with First Day Jitters, took a phonics assessment, decided on our rules, learned some procedures and found out what a mathematician is and wrote about our first day! And then we turned our writing into a snazzy hat! 

Can't wait for tomorrow! 

Room Reveal!

Those of you following know I've spent a good amount of time getting ready for this year. Heck, it started last spring with organizing EVERYTHING! 

But I feel like all of my hard work has paid off because our room is not only beautiful but functional - I gave great thought to the placement of everything to ensure good flow, ease of movement, simplicity, interest and  access. Cannot wait for Wednesday!

Until then, two more days at the beach!

But now.... Room reveal - with close ups on Wednesday! 

BTS 2014 Day 5

Wow! Today was productive but slow. 

I was up and down a ladder more times than I count - adding border, general blinging of the boards. The kiddos have beautiful walls to fill with amazing work! 

I finished setting up our library and sorted out  our guided reading. 

I put up the curtain I made to hide some storage. Why must FOSS kits be so ugly?

And a peek at our science board...

And... finally --- I got my class list! I can't wait to put faces to the names and get to know these new kiddos!

B2S2014 4 Outa 5!

I have no idea what I accomplished from 7am to 3:10pm today.

I know I was in my classroom and it involved going through bags of summer conference materials and loading up a book carousel, setting up a listening center, rearranging things after my rugs were returned... and I know it involved compiling a homework binder For.The.Entire.Year. 

And  I know my back hurts. 

That is all.

BTS 2014 Day 3

Gotta say. It's Wednesday and I'm mildly freakin out.  Two more days to set up before our staff PD! Two days people. I don't know if it'll all come together. 

Today was a lot of setting up - writing center, math area, my curriculum binders... 

I have a lot left to do though and time is getting short. 

On the other hand, though, I did make a little TPT math fact tracking tool - can't wait to get that going with the kiddos this year!

BTS 2014 Part 2

It doesn't feel like much was accomplished in my room today but I did get to do a few blingy things that the kiddos will (hopefully) enjoy!

First, I spray painted and glittered letters for our library! I hope the message isn't too subtle and they learn to love, love, love reading this year!

Second, I made our birthday board! I just need to buy one more goodie to go inside and put the month labels on... once I know who my kiddos are and their birthdays.

Last, I finished our front door. 

I  struggled a bit with this one. I made little dolphin name tags but I think it'd be a case of more is too much (GASP!) so I'm planning to add names to the fish and bubbles. 

At least that's the plan today :)

And the for real last, I took advantage of the TPT sale and bought an awesome interactive math notebook packet. I've done journals for math every year but this takes it up a notch!

OH.MY.GOD! And the for reals last and best thing? We're doing Pen Pals! That's right! Dixon's Darling Dolphins will be communicating with a 2nd grade class in North Carolina and I am so, so, so excited about this!

B2S Room Set Up!

I am so excited to start the new year - meet my students - get to know my awesome families - and get to learning! But first - I need to tackle this...

Ok.  Today was day one of the B2S organizing and decorating bonanza. It was a short day - trying to figure out where to put the new tables (YES! No.More.Desks!!!) and how best to arrange the new computer tables. 

I did make progress though and tackled a couple fun projects like fixing up our awesome book carousel!

Next - day two awesomeness! Stay tuned...

What I Did on My Summer Vacation...

Summer seems to fly by so fast! I hope my kiddos from last year are enjoying their break - and I hope they are reading for fun and practicing real life math! I'm having a blast -but teachers seem to never stop working. I cannot wait to meet all of my new Darling Dolphins in a couple weeks and I am busy prepping and planning for a great year!

Summer's not over yet though and I figured I'd post some pictures showing what I've been up to so far.

First, right after school got out, Mr. Dixon and I finally went on our honeymoon! Cuba was amazing! Such a beautiful country with a rich history! I even brought back some fun things to use in the classroom!

After coming back from Cuba, Ms. DeLeon and I spent some days on the farm to learn about agriculture and fun ways to teach our kids about nutrition and food - and about saving water - eeeek! We even got to drive 4 kinds of tractors!

Then, I started thinking about all of the things we'll learn this year so I organized all of my files and projects to make it easier to remember all of the fun things we can do while we learn all those fantastic things we'll be learning.

Wow! I've been busy!

Next week I'm going to a math conference to learn some fun new ways to teach number sense! I can't wait to meet Kim Sutton at the Los Angeles conference and I love a conference that has a supply list like this...

The week after that, I'll be setting up my classroom and things are going to look a little different this year - I cannot wait for this! Pics on that to come soon!