It's Time for Kindergarten

Moving to kindergarten has been in the works for 4 months. I knew back in March that I would not only be moving from second grade to kindergarten, but also moving schools. I was moving from the first school I had ever worked at. It was a scary and sad decision at first, but I am so glad that I made it. I have many reasons for making this change, but the biggest reason is that fact that I have always wanted to teach kindergarten. I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I, myself, was in kindergarten. My love for school was planted like a seed and has been blossoming ever since. Now I get to teach the grade that made me fall in love with learning.

Waiting to move for 4 months was hard!! I had to pack up my old room that had been my home for 6 years and say goodbye. There were many tears on those last days of school. Summer had come, but I was busy. Many summer committee meetings to occupy my time. Then yesterday I heard I could go into my classroom! Seriously?! I was so excited. I think I only slept 5 hours last night. Luckily, I am only a 3 minute car drive away from my new school.

When I walked in all of the furniture was in the middle of the room, as it usually is during the summer. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to move it since they will be cleaning the floors in 2 weeks. THEN I can fully set up my room *fingers crossed*. I got the okay to set up my walls and work in my room though. Only downside was that the previous teacher still hadn’t packed. Here are the before pictures.

Despite only being able to do a few things, I actually got quite a bit accomplished. I started by cleaning out all of the cabinets and wiping them down with Clorox wipes. I was able to clear out all of the cabinets on one wall and move some of my stuff into a locking cabinet.

I was even able to set up a few walls. The one pictured below is a nice little corner right next to the door. This is where I will display some of my students’ work as well as their picture frames. I love this corner because this took up so much space in my old classroom and this room it’s nicely hidden in a corner, but since it’s right by the door it’s also very visible.

I was also able to clear a corner of my room. I have a CORNER!! I have ALWAYS wanted a corner!! I put up the border, but didn’t take a picture of that yet. This is where I plan on having my calendar and morning meeting. Not sure if I’m going to be getting a classroom carpet, but this is the perfect place for it. I also heard that we are getting Smart boards, so that is another reason why I didn’t do much decorating yet.

The last place that I worked on was the bathroom. I have always had a bathroom in my room so it’s nice that I don’t have to experience it for the first time with kinders. It’s also nice to have a little “bathroom knowledge” and a few Do’s and Don’t’s. I’ve shared a bathroom with the teacher next door and our 50+ 2nd graders. Now it will just be my bathroom which is also exciting. I made these posters back in 2010 and they don’t really fit in my classroom anymore, but they went perfectly in the bathroom! Hopefully Viola Swamp isn’t too scary for the bathroom :-/

I am pretty impressed for 5 hours of work. 1 of those hours was moving things into my room and the rest was everything I shared with you. I still have quite a lot to move out of my house and into my classroom. Unfortunately it will be close to 3 weeks until I can get back in there. Hopefully, that will give me a chance to enjoy the rest of my summer. It has been flying by so quickly!! I will definitely be sharing more photos as this process goes on.

Start of a New Chapter

It has been a long time since I last posted on this here blog. This year has been an amazing year. I love my students and I couldn't have asked for a better year. Something else that happened this year was getting my Early Childhood endorsement. That means that I can now add preschool and kindergarten to my teaching opportunities. Well, I decided to use my new endorsement and try out a grade that I've been interested in teaching since I was a little girl and that is... KINDERGARTEN!!! I have two more months as a 2nd grade teacher and I am going to savor all of those wonderful moments. That doesn't mean I can't start preparing for kindergarten though!! What are your suggestions, tips, tricks, blogs, videos, curriculum, products, etc. that you recommend?

Five for Friday {09.13.13}

This week started with a lot of craziness, but was a lot of fun. 

1. Monday was a rainy day, and by rainy I mean it was pouring BUCKETS. Here is Arizona, we don't get much rain, but when we do it POURS. The poor kids had no clue what was coming. Only a few had jackets and even fewer had umbrellas. Let's just say that by the end of lunch, they were soaked from head to toe. Luckily, they went home dry and the sun was shining by the time the bell rang. My kids were so amazing even through out the rain, I was extremely proud of them.

2. That brings me to number 2. My class finally filled up their compliment (gumball jar). 

We earned our last compliment on Monday and by Tuesday it was time to celebrate. I wasn't too sure how I wanted to celebrate. Eventually I would like to create different incentive charts and the reward will match the chart. (ex. gumball chart= bubblegum themed reward) That takes advanced planning and I obviously didn't plan for that. :-) Since I didn't have a reward planned, I "borrowed" an idea from my teaching BFF. I had recently purchased THIS file and wasn't sure when to bring it out. Her class also filled up their compliment jar and she used it as part of their celebration. The kids LOVED it!!! Definitely bringing this craft back next year.

3. We have been learning about American symbols this week. So far we have learned about the American flag, the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore and the bald eagle. The students find it all fascinating and have been so excited to learn all about their country.

4. I cannot believe I just completed my 6th week of teaching. I love my class so much this year and they make me laugh every day. If I could have a class like this every year, I would take them again in a heart beat. I couldn't ask for a better group of kids.

5. Even though I LOVE my job and I can't believe that I get paid to educate kids all day, it's still very exciting to know that fall break is in 4 weeks. That means conferences are coming up soon. It also means vacation time!!! My husband and I usually plan a little vacation during fall break and this year we are going to... DISNEYLAND!!!! I have always wanted to go to Disneyland in the fall to see all of the Halloween decorations. It has been one of my dreams ever since I was a little kid. It's also been my dream to stay in a Disneyland Resort and since it will be a shorter vacation than we usually take, it will be nice to stay in a beautiful hotel on the Disney property!!

I hope everyone else has been having a great school year. By now everyone has meet their class and I wish you and your students a great school year!!!

It's a Craft Party!!!

I love crafting and I love teaching. I love the fact that I am able to bring both together into the classroom. I always try to bring crafting into my classroom to add a little extra interest into the content we are learning. This year I decided to create more display areas to showcase my students' work. The first is with these DIY Display Clips.

Video Tutorial

A second display option is by displaying work on the whiteboard. I am able to share amazing pieces of work with other students, just by hanging up these adorable little glitter magnets.

Video Tutorial

Finally, I wanted a nice way to make their work stand out so i created custom borders to go along with my decor.

 Video Tutorial

Here is the final product...

My students love being able to share their work with everyone that visits our classroom. It creates a personal touch to that the students can be proud of. I hope you enjoyed my most recent classroom crafts. Definitely check back often to see what new things I have to share with you. If you want to get some more great ideas for getting crafty in the classroom, make sure to link up over at A Modern Teacher, A Cupcake for the Teacher, or Miss Kindergarten. Not only is it a lot of fun, but Jo-Ann is sponsoring a giveaway. If you know me, I am at Jo-Ann almost EVERY weekend picking up some more crafting supplies. Make sure to link up and I can't wait to see what you have to share!!!

Me on the Map

We learned about the seven continents. Here is the video that we used to learn the names of the continents.



After we learned about the continents we read the book Me on the Map.

Afterwards, we created this activity...

 We started out by identifying the planet that we live on. Then we talked about our continent, country, state, and city. They enjoyed seeing how big our planet really is and where they live.

Week in Review {08.12.13-08.16.13}

Another week has come and gone. Last week was the second week of school. We started by taking our district benchmark tests for reading and math. All of the students worked very hard and they were excited to see all of the fun and exciting things we will be learning in second grade. 

I love using manipulatives to allow the students to be hands-on during math time. Last week we worked with pattern blocks. We talked about the names and attributes of the shapes (how many sides, colors, etc.) Then the students got to discover the pattern blocks on their own.

Here the students are working together to create designs.

Here are some of the designs that they came up with on their own. I was very happy with how creative the students got. One student even gave his pattern block person a mustache.

 

On Friday we talked about repeating patterns. Students then worked together again to create as many repeating patterns as they could think of.

I need to get in the routine of taking pictures again. I love my class this year and I can't wait to share all the amazing things we do.

First Week

I successfully completed the first week of school. I have 28 second graders. This is the largest class I have ever had in my whole six years of teaching. It's definitely more management at the beginning then normal, but I know it will be worth it. I have a pretty good class and I am looking forward to a new exciting year. 

Week in Review

Nouns

This week we have been working on nouns. The class has been pretty successful with knowing what a noun is and being able to sort them into a person, place, or thing. The first activity that we did was a noun search. After teaching and reviewing nouns on Monday and Tuesday, by Wednesday we were then able to work with a partner and find different nouns around the room. The students had to then decide whether the noun they found was a person, place, or thing and then put it in the correct column. On Thursday they got to complete a noun sort. The students had a lot of fun. At first they we using the picture sides of the cards to sort and then got brave and started challenging themselves with the word side.

Chrysanthemum

Every month we will be reading books by different authors. This month we are reading books by Kevin Henkes. All week we have been reading Chrysanthemum. It's a perfect book for the first week of school because it teaches the students that everyone is different and that is what makes you special.After reading Chrysanthemum a few times the students were able to make their own Chrysanthemums to display in the classroom.

I am linking up over at...