What Will YOU Do Differently?

So. I'm about to finish my first year teaching in my very own classroom. There's lots of things that went well, and lots of things that I'm sure I'll never try again. As I wrap up a wonderful first year teaching, I'm already thinking about how I can make next year even better. I'm linking up with Kim at Finding JOY in 6th Grade to see what we're definitely going to try next year. She made a pretty awesome clipart badge to use for the link-up, but the purple and pink flip-flops weren't quite my style... I hope she won't be offended! Graphics by Ashley Hughes.

I love what I did with my language arts board. Really, I do. It has a lovely spot for this week's story, and the phonics sound for the week, and the spelling words, and the EQ's, and everything... I just forget to update it, and therefore the students aren't using it. Ever. So that's one thing I need to do. 

I'm also struggling with how to display all the information for math. I kind of want it to be a bulletin board that grows throughout the year as we learn new things, so that they can reference it throughout the year... We'll see where it goes, but I know I need to fix it.

 My aide is amazing. And patient. I'm the 4th teacher to be in this classroom in the past 5 years, so I'm sure she's just about ready to rip her hair out half the time, but you'd never know it. She's very good about mentioning things that have been done in the past, in a kind and not pushy way. I love that. When I can't come up with anything creative, I ask her, and she's always willing to bounce ideas. And she makes me laugh. That's important in an aide. I've been struggling with exactly what tasks to give her. She's currently meeting with all of my reading groups each day so that they meet with both of us, and have time to do 2 different center rotations. I'd love to have a set group of things for her to do, mostly so that she's comfortable, and also so I don't have to "plan" for her.

 I need a desk. When our building was renovated a few years ago, they put in this row of cabinets practically in the middle of the room with a "desk" built in. It's a glorified countertop, and there's not enough room for me to sit at it when there's kids in the room. I found a small section at the back of my room the perfect size for a teacher desk. I found a teacher desk in the empty room down the hall. (Yes, I went hunting, don't judge me). I asked. It's mine. I can't wait.

 A friend of mine once told me that she tries to plan out the following week by Tuesday of the week before. I tried it a few times, and it really helped keep me sane. I slacked off most of a few times and it didn't keep me sane. I want to have my copies run, and have my plan book filled by Tuesday, so I'm not scrambling anymore.

I need to find a home for my things, which will hopefully be solved when I have a *real* desk. I have a home for most of the student materials, but not all of them. Sometimes they don't know where to put things, and when they ask, I make it up. I want to end this scenario. I hope that putting in a teacher desk will therefore open up a large amount of counter space to use for student materials.

Do YOU have any big plans for next year??

Mother Knows Best...

My darling, wonderful, supportive and caring mother just sent me a Starbucks card in the mail to get me through the last week of school. She's the best.

When she reads this, I hope she knows how much I love and appreciate her.

Good luck with those last few days, everyone!

Summer Bucket List

Wow! All ya'll teachers out there weren't lying when you said the end of the year was crazy! This is the first time I'll be wrapping up the year in my very own classroom and therefore get to deal with everything that is the end of the year in an elementary classroom. Oh yeah, and for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to start grad school a few weeks ago. There's always that, too. Ugh! It also makes me very jealous to be reading that so many of you are already done?! Am I the only one in the world that still has 2 more weeks left?! June 7... 8 1/2 days... I can do this.

Since I have officially lost all of some of my motivation and creativity, I thought it would be the perfect idea to instead jump on the summe bucket list bandwagon and forget about all I still have to cram into the next 2 weeks!

I'm linking up with some awesome bloggers for this linky party... Check out their blogs if you don't already follow! A Cupcake for the Teacher... Miss Kindergarten... A Modern Teacher...

#1.

I need to purge my cabinets. Very badly. I took over for a wonderful teacher who graciously left me everything. Unfortunately, she graciously left me everything. As a first year teacher, I had NO idea what I would need, so I kept it all. Now I have no room in my cabinets, so I think it's time for a good purge. My goal... If I didn't use it, I'm tossing it. This is a very scary thought because I've sort of become a little first grade pack-rat.

#2.

I've been exploring The Daily 5 as opposed to traditional centers... I want to actually read the book this summer and see if it's something that I can work into my classroom next year. The biggest issue I'm running into is that of space in my room. Our rooms are TINY, but I still want to find a "home" for all the components of the Daily 5... I see some major room redecorations in my future!

#3.

Run. Run run run. I'm so out of shape it's not even funny. I do this thing where I sign up for a race, practice real hard, run the race, then stop running. It's not a good scenario. 

#4.

I want to play the piano more. I've been playing for ages, but recently haven't been playing much. I play my violin in a local symphony, but rarely get a chance to tickle the ivories. 

#5.

By golly, I want to finish a book.  I've been reading The Art of Racing in the Rain for a very long time. I'm loving it, but I just can't seem to find time to read a book!  We're cruising from Venice this summer, and I plan to do lots and lots of reading on that freakishly long airplane ride!

*Sidenote*  I've never flown across the ocean and I'm terrified.

Do you have any fun summer plans??

Spring Fever

It's official. My kids have spring fever. It's official. I have it, too. I hate to admit it, but today I had one of those "is the year almost over?!" days. I hope I'm not the only one that feels that way from time to time. I love my job, I love my students, but today was rough. It could be that I was gone Friday and Monday on a family camping trip. It could be that my grad classes are killing me. Who knows. I've got some plans in the works to beat this, though... Stay tuned!

I've had these pictures on my camera for a few weeks now, and just haven't had time to post them... This is a craft I like to do every year around this time. It's not *tough* but it does take some listening skills and lots of patience. I was SO impressed as to how well my little firsts followed directions for this one!

To make these sunflowers, you'll need to do a little prep work. Until someone starts making bright yellow coffee filters, I'll have to keep making my own. I've got it down to a science, though. I use a whole box of yellow food coloring, and I dilute it in a cheap bowl that I found in the dollar section of the grocery store. If you don't want your fingers yellow for a few days, I'd recommend wearing gloves for this part. I don't because I don't really care all that much! You'll need enough coffee filters for each of your students to have 4 yellow ones. Let them soak for a short bit, squeeze them out, and plop them on a cooling rack to dry. I put newspaper down so my wife wouldn't kill me.

You'll need a few other things, too. Each student needs an oaktag circle to glue the sunflower onto. I found that a tuna can is the PERFECT size. You'll also need to trace a circle on 1 plain coffee filter for every student. You can have them do this if you're feeling brave, but I just like to have it all ready to roll.  Color in the white circle with a brown crayon, and cut it out.  Take 4 yellow filters, fold them together into quarters, and tract the leaf pattern onto the folded pile. Cut on the lines, and you should have 4 flower-like shapes. They do NOT need to be perfect! Stagger them, and glue them one at a time, onto the oaktag circle.  Save the scraps, because you'll need to glue some of them into the middle for texture.  When you're ready, glue the brown circle on top!

Voila! There you have it. I like to hang the sunflowers in the window because they look really cool with the sun coming through, but there isn't enough room in my new classroom. My last room had 6 giant windows that were perfect for displaying projects! I usually put the names of the students onto the leaf, so they know which one is theirs... Fun fun!

Enjoy!

Teacher Appreciation!

As a little thank you to all the caring and dedicated teachers out there, TpT is offering a pretty awesome sale for the next 2 days!  My cart is already loaded with tons of things I'm going to snag tomorrow!  Don't miss out on this awesome deal!!

Everything in my store will be 20% off on Tuesday, May 7th and Wednesday, May 8th! Enter the code TAD13 at checkout, you will receive an extra 10% off, for a total of 28% off.  Don't ask how 20+10=28, because I still haven't figured it out.

May Currently

I must admit. It was really nice switching those numbers on the calendar to our last full month... It's hard to believe that May is really, actually, finally here.

Anywho, here's my May Currently, thanks to Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade...

LISTENING - I hit shuffle on iTunes, and Green Day came on, and I'm really loving this little throw back! Haven't listened to them in quite some time, and I'll probably be on a kick for a bit.

LOVING - I found these awesome metal, deck-mounting tiki torches at Lowe's for $5. FIVE DOLLARS. Seriously? I'm pretty sure those giant wooden ones were actually more expensive. Point is, they're awesome, and I've been sitting on the deck every night even if I'm in sweatpants to stay warm. Summer is almost here and I'm more than ready.

THINKING - I spent today and Tuesday our district office with a small group of teachers going through all the Reading Street stories and writing new questions that are aligned to the Common Core. I know, you're jealous. It's ok. When I got back yesterday, the substitute's note read "Your class was fantastic!  I can't wait to see them again on Thursday!" Am I the only one who doesn't like getting messages like this from substitutes? Don't get me wrong. I'm glad they were good. BUT. Come on. I know my kids better than that. I know whats-her-name didn't stop talking and whats-his-name was whining.

WANTING - My online masters program starts Monday. I still have no idea what website to go to, let alone how to log on. I'm starting to get more than a little nervous.

NEEDING - I died about 150 coffee filters yellow just now for a super awesome craft tomorrow, and they're currently spread out all over the kitchen island drying... It'd be super fantastic if they were dry in the morning.

SUMMER BUCKET LIST - I kind of sort of really want to get a tattoo... Nothing too big, nothing visible, but I've been thinking about it for quite some time, and something tells me I should just do it. I hate needles though, so I'm not so sure how it will go, if it goes at all.  We'll see!

Stay tuned for pictures of our May project :-)

Instagram Teacher Snapshots

Hello! I hope that wherever you are, it's as beautiful as it is in central PA! I've been a little MIA in blog-land lately... The symphony that I play in had their gala over the weekend and we have had many late-night rehearsals. I tend to come home and crash. I've also been working hard on grad school applications, and am nervous/excited to start my masters in curriculum and instruction on MONDAY! YIKES!

Anywho, I've been toying with setting up an instragram account for my little blog, and found the perfect reason. One of the blogs I follow, Clutter-free Classroom, set up a May photo a day for teachers! I'm excited to see how things pan out!  If you instragram, look for my username @mrfirstgrade.  You can also link to the page HERE.

Day 1 - Calendar. I love our weather graph. I erased it and started fresh for the second half of the year. Having this bad boy during calendar time made graphing a breeze when it came up in math! I also love the days of school counter with the coffee straws. Made regrouping a whole lot easier when it came up. My firsts knew from the get-go that only 9 people could live in the ones apartment, and as soon as somebody else showed up we had to "bundle them up and ship them next door!" It's funny because that little phrase really stuck with them! Every time we regroup, somebody will go "bundle them up!" Cracks me up.