books & more!

Hi everyone! So I know this is super crazy, but I'm already having nightmares dreams about the first day of school! Seriously, I have had two in the past week where I'm in my classroom and kids start coming in and I have NOTHING prepared!  Scariest dream ever!!!

On a happier note, I finally got my teaching certification in the mail!  And my Conscious Discipline book! Oh, happy day!! :)

This book is really good for classroom management!  It's a whole system by Becky Bailey that is about focusing on classroom community and teaching behavior based on relationships, not so much about rules and consequences. I just started reading so I will let you know more about how I plan to implement it in my classroom when I finish!

Walmart has these really great area rugs on sale right now!  Lots of cute colors, so I had to snag this gray chevron rug for my library area!

I also went to haft price books today for the first time!  Talk about some good books for SUPER cheap!  Most of the books I bought were 25 cents, and they give teacher discount!  I also splurged for a few I really wanted, and ended up getting 24 books for $28!

The past couple of days I have been working on my Common core binder! It helps that I was able to attend planning for next year with my grade group! During that time I got curriculum maps for each subject area, a list of Montessori materials that can be used to teach those concepts, and some sample lesson plans! All of that is in there, plus any resources I have from college classes, placements, and student teaching that relate to what I will be teaching!

I'm looking forward to a productive week!

Summer Preparations

I visited my classroom this week!  I student taught at Kennedy so I am familiar with the school and staff which is nice! My mom and I went in this week to look at my room and take some pictures.  It's not much to look at now, because it hasn't been cleaned out yet, so all of the old teacher's things are in there. But it gave me a good idea of size so I can start planning how I will lay everything out and decorate! I LOVE the purple wall!!

Also, I've collected some pretty good stuff so far this summer!  Dollar tree has some really awesome classroom stuff for super cheap!  I got a lot of organizational buckets and containers, posters, charts, stickers, games and supplies!  I also went to a yard sale this morning of a retiring teacher! I got lots of good children's books, some resource books, worksheets, and a calendar set!  I also got two class sets of blank books so that students can create and publish their own books!  I can't wait to put everything to use!

My to-do list for next week:
Start thinking about bulletin boards, finish my Daily 5 book, think about my parent communication system, and make my classroom jobs chart!

What is everyone else doing to prepare for the school year?

Welcome back letters!

As soon as I got hired I knew one of the first things I needed to do was make my welcome back info that will be mailed to my students this summer.  I had one of the teachers on my team send me her's and I looked at letters and info I found on other teacher's blogs to create mine! I decided to send a "meet the teacher" letter, the school supply list, and a short questionnaire for parents to fill out and bring on our back to school night!  I think the questionnaire will be good for me to be able to look over and get to know more about my students before the first day! I will be making more info sheets about what we will be learning in first grade, our schedule, expectations, etc. to send home with students on back to school night!

I would love to see what everyone else is getting together for their little ones!

The Journey Begins!

I am so excited to finally be able to call myself a teacher!  Today I officially got my call from my school district with my offer to be a first grade teacher! I feel so blessed and excited that next year I will have  20-25 little people walking into my classroom with excited eyes and hearts that are ready to learn! I will be totally responsible for a year of their lives, and I'm not going to lie, it scares me a little bit! However, I am so lucky to have student taught at the school I'll be working in and the teachers there are awesome! I have made some great friends that will be there to help me along the way!

As a first year teacher I feel so lost with where to start to prepare for next year! I have made some lists and ordered some books and I'm just hoping to figure it out along the way! My favorite purchase so far is my Erin Condren teacher planner!! It is amazing! Totally made for teachers, it includes monthly calendars, student birthdays, tons of note pages, lesson planning by the week pages, checklists, and more! And it's super cute!

I've also bought the Daily Five book to read this summer.  I hope it will help me set up my reading block!  I've also ordered a Conscious Discipline book.  I have heard so  much about this classroom management system and I am excited to use some of the techniques with my future first graders! The rest of my to-do list for the summer includes Smartboard training, researching Montessori materials, and figuring out what I'm going to do with my classroom!  I will post pics as soon as I see my classroom!

Any teachers out there, if you have any advice for a first year teacher, feel free to let me know! I am open to any advice or suggestions!! :)