It's a New School Year!

      Well the first 3 weeks of school have certainly flown by in a hurry!  I am starting my second year teaching first grade kiddos at APS and I am feeling more confident about my teaching strategies than I was a year ago.  However, I am still learning new things everyday... especially with the new Common Core Curriculum, our new reading series-- Journeys, using data notebooks with the kidlets, and even just getting the hang of using an iPad for my mClass/Dibels assessments.  It's a lot to take in, but I am just trying to take it one step at a time.  

     I have a new full time (YAY!) assistant this year.  I am going to miss Mrs. Jackson (she is next door though :)), but my new TA is super awesome.  Mrs. Crews has already given me lots and lots of great ideas... she has helped add some really cute things to my classroom already.  We both love Pinterest, so lots of our crafty ideas have been inspired by things we have seen from there.  Here are a few new pictures of my classroom:  

First Day of School!  Polka dotted to match my classroom :) 

My desk... it's always a bit messy! 

My TA's desk.  Too cute, right? 

Front of the classroom.. not too much has changed here.  I still love my zebra print rug!

Calendar area-- I really beefed up the math portion of calendar.  The kids seem to be understanding hard concepts better since I model it everyday.  

Tissue paper flower decorations on my cabinets... Mrs. Crew made these for me.  I saw the idea on Pinterest and I was sold.  She did a great job! 

This is where my students can keep their "Tiger Stripes."  Students earn Tiger Stripes for making good choices, doing homework, being respectful, etc. They can spend their Tiger Stripes at our Prize Box on Friday if they have at least 30. I bought the black popcorn containers from Oriental Trading for like $6 and they work perfectly for storage.

Our new behavior chart... another Pinterest idea :)  I love that the kiddos can "clip up" for being awesome & that they have the option to make better choices after making a bad one before the day is over.  Everyone makes mistakes... this teaches them that it's OK, but you have to keep trying so that it doesn't happen again.

I create centers based on the 5 Domain of Literacy.  

I put another Compliment Chain up for the kiddos.  We already have 8 links on the chain! (this is an old picture)  We are 1/2 way to a class treat! 

APS is now a "Lighthouse" School, which means we will be really focusing on implementing the 7 Healthy Habits by Sean Covey into our instruction.  This is the 7 Habits Tree that outlines the Habits.  For more info go to theleaderinme.org

      My new class of "smart cookies" has been really fun to get to know so far.  I am teaching an ELL cluster this year, so hopefully by the end of the year I will have learned a few Spanish and maybe a couple Chinese words from my students!  I am pretty amazed at how awesome my class is at math.  The new Common Core has really upped the math skills for first grade, but my kiddos have done an outstanding job so far.  They are drawing tally marks, using tens and ones, and making fact families like pros!  They actually cheer when I put the Problem of the Day on the SmartBoard!  Too cool :)  

      We have done some cute things over the past couple of weeks.  We read First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg and made "Jitter Juice" on the first day of school to help get rid of the butterflies.  "Jitter Juice" is just a concoction of Sprite Zero and Hawaiian Punch, but the kids were totally into it and thought it actually worked.  We read another one of my favorite books on Day 2--- The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn.  After the kids wrote about what they wanted to learn in school and created a Chester Raccoon craft, I had them close their eyes and hold out their hand so that I could give them a "kiss."  Some of my boys turned bright red!  I gave them all a hershey kiss, which they loved!    

My kiddos finishing eating the hershey kisses :)

The Kissing Hand writing activity and Chester Raccoon craft 

We created a "Recipe for a Great School Year" as a shared writing activity.  The kids also made Cookie Glyphs that are a part of this display... I didn't get a picture though! 

Every class at APS has a mission statement.  We wrote ours as a class and then I had the kiddos make thumbprints on the paper, which I turned into chocolate chip cookies, and then sign their names using my pretty fine point sharpies.  They loooove using my colorful pens.  

Well that is all I am going to write for now.  That is why I need to update regularly, and not wait 3 weeks!