Four Days Left of School!

There are four days left of school and I'm so excited! I can't WAIT to be able to read books, work out whenever I like, take time to PLAN lessons and find materials for them, and travel! I really enjoyed teaching through themes this year, so this summer I plan on making folders that have all the lessons, materials, and pre-made examples in them. LAST summer I had done this for all the novels I had hoped to teach to the Fourth Graders, but that all changed 4 days before school started, right? I suppose if I ever teach Fourth Grade again I can use them!

On another note, I LOVE teaching a small group! During the day I catch myself smiling from ear to ear while observing the students working so quietly, every single student engaged and lost in their work. Just imagine how much more students can learn and reach their potential in classrooms with smaller numbers of students. But, we just continue to get more and more students in the classroom. Oh well! More love to be spread! Have a wonderful day!

Professional Development

I LOVE going to professional development and can't wait for the summer so I can go to some workshops and learn so much stuff! So far I've signed up for a Reader's Workshop and Differentiated Reading Instruction. At our local teacher supply store, Jacque's, they're offering a whole bunch of development opportunities in July for a cheap price! Does anyone know of any other workshops that are worth it that's offered in Texas?

Classroom Clean-up!

I FINALLY bought Debbie Diller's Spaces & Places and have been moved to TAKE DOWN MY CRAZINESS on my walls! A parent from another class walked in and said, "Woa! This classroom is busy!" (and she wasn't commenting about the kids per say) So I started taking stuff down. At the beginning of the year when I was informed I would no longer be teaching 4th grade, I had less than 24 hours to move and set up a whole new classroom so I LITERALLY THREW things up and stuffed things in different nooks and crannies. SO, it's safe to say that I needed to give my classroom a serious cleaning and take the time to PLAN it out for effective student learning. All year I've wanted a wordwall that didn't look cluttered and was interactive. So, I moved it to an old chalkboard in the classroom, bought all new sight words, painfully cut every single word, and put magnet tape on the back! And now.....

IT's AWESOME! The kids were SO excited to be able to take the words down and use them during journal time!

Next book: The Daily 5 by The Sisters...which I've already started implementing during FYP!

I Got an IPAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got an IPAD for my CLASROOOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell I'm excited about it!!!!!!!!! OHHHHH dear! I've been praying to be able to use one for a year! And I LOVE it! We're doing a dinosaur unit for FYP and the kids have been playing dinosaur themed games! Also, I taught them how to record themselves reading because YES! Ipad 2 has a camera!!!!!!! And the kids understand everything to do and how to use it! Oh so much fun! They can watch themselves read and realize that they need to read with more expression or a little bit louder or even which words they miss every time! They love it! Here are some pics.

It's Been Way Too Long!

Whew! I've almost made it to the end of my first year in First Grade!!!!! Looking back, the year FLEW by! Although the next week seems to be coming very slowly! I haven't been posting because my class and I have been working our tails off getting our fluency up and preparing for Second Grade! Bryan ISD has an extended year for those students who did not pass some subjects. So, I have six students staying an extra to weeks and it's been GLORIOUS!!!! I'm SO SAD when the school bell rings and they have to leave! And believe me, these are some of the students that made me run out of the room with a scared look on my face! Their demeanor is different, they're willing to SIT and Listen, and it's amazing! Much more posts to come with pictures of more activities we've been doing for the past 2 months!