Back to School

Back to School season is here!  I have spent a lot of time getting my classroom ready for all of my little firsties this year.  Here is a quick tour around the room.

The Library/Carpet area is always one of my favorite parts of my classroom.  I love books and reading and hope to instill that love in all of my students.  There are PLENTY of comfy places to read in this area.  This is also where our computers are stored and where we meet for some group activities.  The kiddos often like to spend their free time in this area either reading or playing a quiet game with friends.

Here are a couple of the bulletin boards at the back of the classroom.  The first board will feature student made art work and projects throughout the year.  We will make some Chrysanthemum inspired art the first week of school.  The zebra print board will be the home of our math/science/social studies vocabulary words.  These will be changed out with each new topic and chapter.  On top is a clothespin line that will display pictures drawn by the class.

The word wall is ready to go for another year.  We start out with the names of everyone in the class and will add new high frequency words as we learn them in reading.  The words will be read aloud as a group as part of our morning routine every day.

I am excited to be able to use the reading Focus Wall this year.  I had it last year as well but these bulletin boards were taken down to do some construction work.  This board was only able to be used for about 2 months.  I purchased this Focus Wall here.

Here is the calendar area.  Each week there is a calendar person who will do everything in this area as well as lead the class in reading the word wall.  Skills that will be done here include: writing today's date, yesterday/today/tomorrow, putting the pieces on the calendar.  We will be counting the number of days in school several ways.  We have a paw print path that will go around the room- each day a new paw print will go up (will show pictures later), straws showing the place value, and magnetic money- the amount of money will match the number of day we are on.

Here is my messy desk area...

I am so excited to start using Brag Tags this year!  I got the idea from Lucky Little Learners and purchased all of the sets I thought I would use from her site on Teachers Pay Teachers.  Positive praise and reinforcement is a major goal of mine this year.  I hope to have the kiddos on their best behavior in hopes to receive a brag tag most of the time.  She has great tips for using them, storage, implementing, and rules.  I have mine stored in a 64 drawer hardware and craft cabinet.  Some of the drawers only have 1 kind of brag tag in them, so they have to picture of the actual tag.  The other drawers have 2 brag tags (there is a front and back section of each drawer) so those have been labeled with a label maker so I know what is in the drawer.

There are a few different ways to store/display the brag tags once they are given to students.  You could laminate and punch holes in all of the tags prior to giving out to students.  Then they can either be put on necklaces for students to wear or display on hooks on the wall.  I also liked the idea of using binder rings and hang on a hook at their desks.  BUT I did not want to have to laminate all of the tags.  So mine are not laminated and the students are going to glue into books they have stored in their desks.  These books are also from Lucky Little Learners.  My plan for the books is to send home once they are filled and start a new book.  Student will glue the brag tag on any page and will write the date under so they know when it was received.

I am going to really work hard on sight word reading this year- another teacher goal.  I found these Sight Words & Fluency Phrase books at Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits.  Students work on 10 Fry sight words at a time as well as using those words in easy to read phrases.  As the list is mastered it is marked off on the front of the booklet.  There are 500 words and phrases total in the package.

This was a look at the front of the classroom earlier in the week.   

But then my new white board arrived and I got to get rid of my Smart Board! I did love the Smart Board but am in love with the fact that I can use a plain ol' white board for the same purpose even more!!  Thank you Mimio projector :)  At the front of the room I have: classroom rules posters, Touch Point posters, punctuation reminders, daily schedule, standards pocket chart, 1-120 chart, behavior trackers (gumball machine and popcorn bucket), and our First Grade Rocks rocking chair.  

We had an Open House for the entire school a week before school started this year for the first time ever.  It was a great success for the First Grade class!  Students could get a look at their new classroom, find their desks, and left with a cute encouragement for the upcoming school year.  I know they are all going to GLOW this year!!

Parents can really make a difference when it comes to their children and school.  I wanted the parents to know I am excited to work with them and that they are very much appreciated by me.  And yes, they are wildly refreshing!  These cute tags were found at The Teaching Zoo.

Getting ready for a new school year can be a little crazy.  Here I was getting student computers ready by adding printers, putting our class Symbaloo link on the bookmarks bar, and making sure everything was working.  It is easier for me to do all of this 'beginning of the school year' computer work, especially with 4 computers running at the same time ;)

I am so excited and ready for this new school year to start on Tuesday!  It is going to be a great year and we are all going to have fun and learn so much!

~Ms. Anglin