Day 3

Well, everyone is exhausted.

We actually had a sort of nap time... poor little babies.


I'm going to be adding pictures of the things we did the past few days. Some of it is for you all looking for new ideas, but honestly, some of it is for me. I totally forgot what I did with the kids last year! I'd like to not totally re-invent the wheel every year!

Note to self... print out handwriting practice pages of their names... we need some serious help in that department!

Okay, so I think I basically went over what we did the first day of school... man, that is tiring! BUT, NEW TEACHERS- it only gets easier. Trust me. From a semi-new teacher in a Title 1 school, it gets waaaaaaaay easier. You might find yourself saying "What am I doing? Am I in the right profession? Is this really what I want to do for the rest of my life?" DO NOT feel bad about that! It's totally normal! You'll be fine! You just have to let the bad stuff roll off, and roll with the punches, rock and roll... a lot of rolling... maybe rolling on the floor would help... it seems to be enjoyable to kindergarten children. Might try that at home later...


Teaching is a HUGE responsibility (and I would venture to add that it may be even HUGE-er for teaching really young children).  You are not just lecturing and teaching, you are actually RAISING these children, and in some cases, you might be the ONLY one raising a child in your classroom - you never know! You are teaching them how to treat others, humanity, sharing, common sense, how to dress themselves, how to treat children that are "different", as well as how to read, write, hold a pencil, color, count, add, subtract, and so on and so forth.

HUGE responsibility.

You are also supposed to be in charge of watching and hearing EVERYTHING that happens in your classroom. Who said what to who, who touched who, who made a face at who, who didn't share the bears, etc. You are looking out for each child's emotions and feelings.  You are consoling the child that misses his/her mother and cries all day, you are holding the hand of a child whom is having his/her very first day at school, you are loving and giving special attention to a child that receives none at home... you are keeping up with their schedules - when they are picked up from school, when they walk home, when they go to daycare - as well as their protector keeping an eye on who may pick them up from school, you make sure they eat their breakfast and lunch and that they have a friend to play with on the playground. Sometimes, you get the job of teaching a child how to blow their own nose. You're the nurse and doctor. You're supposed to recognize when they aren't feeling well and to remind them to always wash/sanitize their hands after cough, sneezes, potty, and other icky things.

Huge responsibility. Huge reward.

You get to be most loved by so many sweet little faces. You get to have your picture taken with all your sweet little ones giving you a hug. You get to see them grow and mature.  You get to see what you've accomplished together. You don't always get to see that in every profession.



I'm getting off my soapbox now. I love my job. And I will take it to my grave that teaching is the hardest profession. (I know most other people would say their profession is the hardest, so we can all agree that our jobs are the hardest... if it makes us feel better. :) )

I'll post pictures of what we did in our first week of school later!

Day 1: Year 2

My first day of kindergarten....


Oh what a day!

When I was blog-surfing looking for new ideas for the first week of school, I saw a really funny little thing a teacher had written. She said someone asked her what she does for the first days of school and she said she didn't really remember. It went something like this "The days are such a blur and I don't really remember. It's like childbirth... if you remembered it, you'd never do it again."

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! So true!


Well, here's how my second first day of teaching kindergarten went:

I'm exhausted, hungry, head-throbbing and COVERED in snot... but I'm alive!

(Literally... the covered in snot part is honest... coughed, sneezed, breathed, and cried on)

I have a class full of CUTE little kinderbabies - TWO of which can already read... I mean no just "cat...an...my...I" but I mean "I can write my name... and Welcome to Kindergarten". One could read every page of David Goes to School. WOW. Can't wait to start DMA testing these little nuggets!


I am SO glad I made so many plans for the first two days of school. The amount of stuff I had planned could probably last me 4 days. But I always feel so inefficient and unsuccessful when I don't get to check off everything on my lesson plans. Mind you, my first days of school plans aren't real lesson plans, they are three pages of paragraphs to walk myself through tons of activities. I still feel unaccomplished, nonetheless.

The first couple hours are the CRAZIEST. That's when you've got 15-22 little, brand-new, never-been-to-school-for-a-full-day-before (or ever) babies and their parents standing around waiting for you to tell them what to do! AH! The kindergartners this year were a little different than my kinders last year (if I am remembering correctly). This year, no matter what directions I gave them, they would much rather follow me around talking in their cute (but loud) little voices. It was so strange. I would take one to their seat, tell them what to do, and I'd be on my way to do the same thing to another student, and that SAME KID was right behind me saying "Teacher! Teacher!"

I was like "I just put you in a chair! How are you already right behind me following me around and how long have you been there?!"

I decided to help the families help me out, I'd make a powerpoint slide show to tell them what to do "put the supplies away in appropriate bins around the room, sign-off on how the child will get home, help them pick out a locker, write their name on their paper, etc."

Didn't help. It was like the stillest flash-mob ever in my classroom! Yikes!

After we got the families, supplies, "where-do-I-sit"s, "I-miss-my-mom"s, "is-it-time-to-eat-yet"s, and "are-we-going-outside"s sorted out, we got to begin our day.

I even wrote lesson plans and can hardly remember what we did!

We read lots of books, practiced cleaning up our crayons and pencils many times, practiced following directions with my "Ms. Temple Says" game (like Simon Says, duh!), made a "No, David" chart, showed how we wrote our names on the first day of school on a chart to do over again at different times of the year, I introduced "Suzy the Super Student" (I made that up off the top of my head when introducing the How to Be A Good Listener poster --- she needed a name!!), we explored manipulatives, practiced sharing crayons by coloring in a blank crayon worksheet, read and colored my "My First Day of Kindergarten" book, read and played the "Who Took the Cookies From the Cookie Jar" book and name game, and that's basically it!

I guess I'll do the adorable Pete the Cat: Rockin' in My School Shoes book and tour of the school scavenger hunt tomorrow... I didn't get a lunch break to set it up during! As well as a bunch of other stuff.

I now have a lot of the little, time-consuming things to do like creating math journals for all of my kinders and firsties, revise/edit the info packet for the parent meeting next week, figure out what's wrong with our schedules and what's up with our duties... etc. FUN things like that.



Time to take the pup for a walk, SHOWER (yuck!), eat dinner, and probably pass out a lot earlier than expected.

I'm so glad to have a job that no matter how crazy or stressful or upsetting things get, it can still make you laugh EVERY day. The kids make me laugh, the situations make me laugh, my coworkers make me laugh... Like Pete the cat says... "It's all good!"

Classroom Pictures

I have re-vamped some things in my room for this year! I didn't do a total make-over because, well, it would have stressed me out and cost a lot of money I don't have!

It will still be changing all throughout the school year, but here's what it looks like now.

This is my classroom doorway!

This is the door...

This is the front of my classroom... the 1st grade Number Corner is all set up (minus the calendar cards) and the manipulatives are in a convenient spot, number lines are in the front for all to see.

Here is the front corner... Kindergarten's Number Corner is set up here (I teach K and 1 math/science/social studies), my rocking chair, easel, and duct tape on the floor until our principal orders some rugs for us!! YAY!

Here is the general set up of the rest of my classroom... this was taken before I had done much to my room. I'm sure that back sideways table is driving some of you OCD teachers crazy! haha It had to be sideways for the table drawers... oh well.

My teammate had her class schedule set up with those clocks that our school has a BAJILLION of, and I thought it was a brilliant idea! Why go buy clocks when you have a ton of these at your disposal?! The students can understand and match the hands on the hands on the clock much better than they can read the time (10:35, etc.).

Here's my brand new owl bulletin board! This will be used to hang kindergarten's work, and first grade's will be hung out in the hallway. I LOATHE putting up bulletin boards (it's SO hard!) but I LOVE how great they look when they're done! I was a Chi Omega in college, so naturally, I LOVE owls! Hooty hoo!

Here's a close up of my funny little owls on the bulletin board.

Okay, these drawers are new this year. I have one at the end of each table in hopes of making things easier. haha The top drawer will be for the behavior folders of the kids who sit at that table (so, 5 Kinder folders in morning class, 5 1st grade folders in afternoon). The middle drawer is for kindergarten Math journals and bottom for 1st grade math journals. I got so tired of having to pass all those things out EVERY day, and picking them up EVERY day and them being in the way on their tables whenever we were done with them. Now, they are in the drawers for just the children at that table. Hope that makes sense.

These are also new this year... Workspace Mats! Sometimes children are not very spatially aware and get in each others' space. I laminated those large pieces of construction paper and taped them down with clear packing tape. I know, that orange table is probably driving you crazy. Me, too, but I work with what I've got (a tiny classroom and lots of kids).

I just made this silly little "How To Be A Good Listener" poster to hang in my room for discussion the first days of school and stay there the rest of the year for reference.

I just found, printed, and hung these adorable table numbers from "Rowdy in Room 300" on TpT. Get it HERE

Here's how I'm going to show my centers rotations this year. I'm not done with the charts yet, but it's going to have those tiny Post-its with a student's name on it. 2-5 on each color sentence strip. Then, there will be a clothes pin with a center written on it that will change each day.

There will be more to come once school gets going and I get to work on it more.

I try not to stress out about "OMG I HAVE TO HAVE EVERYTHING DONE BY THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!! AHHHHHH!" Not true at all. It needs to be organized, clean, and children-ready by the first day of school, but the whole first month doesn't need to be planned, not all folders need to be completed, name tags on lockers, centers completed... that is stuff you do the first weeks of school. In my school, your roster is not the same the week before school starts as it is a week into school. There will be kids on your roster that never show up. There will be kids that show up a week or a month into school and stay til the end of the year. I won't create folders, name tags, locker tags, or anything for them until they show up to school. It is a waste of time, energy, and materials. I wasted a lot of those things last year in my first year of teaching and decided not to do that again this year.

My motto for teaching year #2:

Have fun, don't stress, don't change too much, and take care of myself.

I stressed a lot about EVERYTHING last year. I didn't take care of myself the way I should. The things I did in my classroom last year worked (for the most part), so I am not going to break my back trying to fix what is just fine...like the saying "don't fix what ain't broke". There are a few things that I will remember didn't work, or I didn't like last year that I will ABSOLUTELY change this year, starting with the obvious room changes already.


I cannot WAIT to get to know all my brand-new kinderbabies and see all of my old kinderbabies in my firsties class! I think it will be so cool to have a class of children I had last year, as well as a class of all new faces!

I met THIRTEEN of them at Thursday night's Sneak-a-Peek! THIRTEEN!!! At my school, that many families NEVER come! Our school average per teacher is usually 5-10. I am SO THRILLED to have some really great kids with really great families! I am going to LOVE them all! I was so slap-happy Thursday night, I was probably smiling like an idiot! Oh well! I can't help loving cute little children with cute little families!

I'll let ya know how my first day goes tomorrow! Wish me luck!

First Day of K certificate

Here's a fun little "First Day of K" certificate! Parents love it and kids get to write their name on it (some with assistance) and color it themselves!

Get it for FREE in my TPT store! CLICK!

Alright, alright! I made one for my First Grade teacher friends, too!

Get the First Grade one HERE

Beginning of the year STUFF

Alright, so now that I'm finally all moved in to my new place, I can FINALLY start thinking about school. Even though I'd much rather just sit around my new place and spend all my money (which I've nearly already done) decorating the place and getting more things I'm realizing I DON'T have-- I've been working on school stuff.


Here's what I learned last year [well, I learned a ton last year, but here's a smidgen of what I learned, okay?]:

You want to give the parents as much info as possible! Give them something to refer to! This will create less communication gaps and excuses. They can't pretend they didn't know anything because, well, you sent home a TON of information. Also, it will help YOU get more organized.

Think of EVERYTHING you want parents to know about how the school year is going to run. Even if you think it's mundane or common-sense, put it in writing anyway. I have been SO surprised by how little some parents know about school!

I will be giving y'all a link to MY beginning of the year packet that I will be making TONS of copies of to pass out at the beginning of the year and to keep some for later (you never know if parents might lose theirs, you may get new students [oh yeah! new student packets! Save that thought for a later post! MENTAL NOTE!], who knows!).

Obviously, you will not want to pass out packets with incorrect information on it, so be sure to really read through it and change it for what applies to you!

No, I cannot send it to you in Microsoft Word form... clip art copyright infringements would not be good. If you need to change things, re-type it, or before you copy (I do this all the time) either white out words you need to change and write over it, OR type it out and tape it over the incorrect parts. Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom!

Here goes! It will all be in a crazy order, but you can put it together in a way that makes sense to you! I'm just going in the order the files are on my desktop!

This is my "Important Information" pages. Just random information about our daily schedule, behavior plan, supplies, etc.

Get it HERE.

This is the cover for my welcome/information packet!

Get it HERE.

This is my "Meet Ms. Temple" page. It's nice to let the families get to know you since you will be knowing so much about their children (and them).

Get it HERE.

This is my information packet for Meet the Teacher night.

Get it HERE.


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Alright, so here's how I set up my general information packet I'll send home the first day of school.

1. Welcome to Ms. Temple's class cover page
2. Meet Miss Temple get-to-know-me page
3. Simple page with my three class rules: Follow the teacher's directions, Keep your hands, feet, and objects to yourself, Be nice to everyone
4. An expectations page
5. My "Important Information" pages
6. Our district's school calendar for the year
7. Our school's quick facts page
8. My "Helping Hands" Volunteer page (LINK TO it in my TPT store)
9. Information on how to be an approved volunteer in our district
10. An informational sheet about transportation
11. Change of transportation sheet



In addition, I will send home a packet that needs to be returned.

It starts with a cover page saying "Return these papers to Ms. Temple as soon as possible so she can get to know her new students!"

Then, it has my Student Information sheet.

Get it HERE.


And a questionnaire of things I want to know about their child.



WHEW! I'm exhausted! I hope y'all find this helpful!

Let me know what you think!

Back To It!!!

I am officially all settled into my new place and I am in LOVE!!! Now that I'm all settled, I can get back into getting ready for this school year! I'll share some photos of my new place! (FYI, I did a lot of DIY projects and am quite proud of myself)

First was the living room... I LOVE the fireplace and mantle. It makes it feel so much more home-y. I scored that big rug from Homegoods for $49! And that floral chair in the corner was from the little old lady that used to live in my sister's house. Isn't it adorable??

Next was my bedroom... major work in progress... but I love where it's going! I love my purple Anthro take-off from Target comforter and my antique gray dresser and nightstand! That huge gray rug was $20 from IKEA and it's soft. WHAT?!

Next was my great grandmother's old dining table (we found it in a back room, my dad have never seen it before... soooo guess how old that thing must be?!) and I found those chairs at a garage sale for $70! Score! I painted all 5 of those pieces in the July heat and man, am I proud of my hard work!!!

Last was a photo of my sweet little punkin, Charlie. He is used to living at home with my parents (we adopted him about a year and a half ago) with two big dogs and a large backyard that I can just let him run free in. It's taking a bit of getting used to being just us, no backyard to run free in, and no other dogs to entertain him. He LOVES the patio, though!!

Halloween Roll and Cover, Math Centers, and Flip Chips!

Yes, I know it's not even close to Halloween. I'm not that crazy. (yet.) :)

Anyway, I found this on my desktop just now. I had created it about a month ago but never posted it anywhere! Silly me!

It's a roll and cover game, very easy and simple for kinderbabies to do on their own! Plus, they LOVE Halloween stuff!

You can get it in my TpT store HERE!


Happy Tuesday! Who knows! I may even have another FREE thing for ya today!


OH!

I'm trying to come up with some math stations for both Kinder and First... sort of like BUILD stations... BUILD might be a bit too much for Kinder...

I want to add in more "play time" for kinder because... well, they are still babies and need to just PLAY sometimes. So for kinder I need some sort of "play time" rotation and a math centers rotation...

For kinder math centers, I've been playing around with:

1. Playing with Patterns
2. Counting Kids
3. Knowing Numbers
4. Coloring Counts
5. Cut, Glue, and Grow

Each station would have activities that go along with it.

Playing with Patterns - pattern blocks and mats, unifix cubes, coins, etc. I could go on for days.

Counting Kids - any number of counting activities, sorting and counting, etc.

Knowing Numbers - number matching games, flash cards, etc.

Coloring Counts - Coloring pages having to do with math and counting, eventually getting to counting then coloring to match

Cut, Glue, and Grow - more of a "craftivity" station


If you have ANY ideas for NEW stations (with catchy, rhyming names) or activities to put it any of those centers, PLEASE leave a comment! I would LOVE feedback!



Here's a game I'm sure you've all played in your classrooms, but may do it slightly differently or call it something else...

FLIP CHIPS!

You put those red/yellow counting chips in a cup, have kids flip the cup over and count how many red and how many yellow... ahhh yes, we do recognize that game.

I'm making recording sheets to go along with it. They will start with just circles for the kids to color, then add addition sentences to go along with it. It will start with just 5 chips, then go up to 10.

Here's the first example!

Happy Tuesday!

LABELS!

I knew I forgot something!

Everyone needs more help getting organized, so here's a little something to help!

Click here to get them!

They fit perfectly on the Avery 25395 Name Badges!

Enjoy!

Getting back in the swing... behavior clip chart

Well, I am starting to get back in the swing of things (in between packing up everything I own, cleaning, figuring out which electric, cable, and internet providers, oh my!) with school stuff.

I use the color behavior clip chart in my classroom and someone on TpT was asking someone to create one, so I did. She never messaged me back, so her loss is your gain!

Happy Back-to-School season!

Click here to get it!

Enjoy!

I've been bad...

I have been SO bad!

I thought I wouldn't be so busy this summer, but I have been SO busy!



With moving next week, and trips to see the boyfriend, short little vacation, re-setting up my classroom.... WHEW! So little time for much else!

To make up for that, here's a little freebie for ya! It's the cover for my "Meet the Teacher" night info packet! Gotta make it cutesy!

Enjoy!