TpT Back to School Sale!




 
Button by Meredith Anderson

 

I'm so excited!  The Teachers Pay Teachers Back to School Sale is almost here!  My entire store will be on sale at 28% off!  Click here to check it out: Forever First Grade TpT Store.  Don't forget to use the promo code: BTS13!  I can't wait to check out everyone's sales myself!

 

Teacher Week '13 - Taming the Wild! Classroom Management

 

Hi, all!  Happy Thursday!  Classroom Management is one of my favorite parts of teaching.  I love making my class feel like a happy family!  One of the biggest ways that I get my classroom running smoothly, calmly, and on-task early in the year is by establishing clear routines and using sign language.  I like to address behaviors (or even better, head them off before they occur) quietly - without drawing attention or interrupting the other students.  I'm one of those teachers who will start talking really quietly instead of really loudly so that the kids quiet down to hear what I'm saying.  I am like the queen of nonverbal cues lol.  (Lots of positives, too, like winks or thumbs up or mussing a kid's hair... nicely, of course!).

Sign language is not a part of my curriculum, but I throw it in for a number of reasons. I took a sign language class in college and was fascinated. Then I did a school placement at a regular elementary school in a deaf inclusion class. A teacher of the deaf came in a few times a week to work with the entire class, which was really neat. I learned so much and the kids were like sponges.

Above my SMARTboard, you can sort of make out my old sign language alphabet.
Sorry the pic is not close up or very clear, I'm away and this is a pic I had on my computer!

In my own classroom, I use a lot of sign language simply because it cuts down on noise and distraction. Our quiet signal is a sign language "r" (for respect) - anyone in the class can give it and everyone has to be quiet and return the sign. The idea is that the classroom belongs to all of us and if someone is feeling distracted by noise, we all need to respect that.  The kids are great about it.

 

I also use the "t" for toilet (you make the sign and shake it back and forth, which is the actual sign for needing to use the restroom) so that my kids can ask to go without even using words, if I see them holding up the sign, I just nod at them and point to the door.

I use sign language not only for management, but also for another way of practicing sight words and spelling words, and even, when my kids know enough to "read" my fingers, I use it to play silent games during our (sometimes very long) lockdown drills, it keeps the kids quiet, focused, and lessens the anxiety.  Anyway, I really wanted to update my sign language alphabet, so I just created this new set.  The office might just kill me for bringing in more things to laminate, but I really like them!  I posted them in my TpT store with the decorative bows at the bottom and then someone asked for a set without the bows, so I have posted that set as well.

    

    

Click on either cover page to find them in my TpT store.

 



 What are your favorite ways to tame the wild things? :)

 

Teacher Week '13 - Organizing for Instruction

 

It's Day 3 of the Teacher Week Blog Hop, and the focus is on organization!

 

Don't we all dream of a fully organized space?  But perfection is not what we strive for with the little ones (or the big ones either), so we set up our classrooms to look like they belong in school supply catalogues and then the children come and settle wonderfully in and it all becomes less sterile, less organized, more realistic, and more loved.

 

So rather than perfection, what any real teacher strives for is functionality!  I'm excited for today's hop, sure that I will get some real "why didn't I think of that!?!" ideas.  Here are a few things that work well for me in my classroom:

These are my student mailboxes (the white organizer on the shelf).
Why am I showing you this?  Stick with me...

I have 24 mailbox slots. Since I typically have up to 21 or 22 students, I generally have a few mailbox slots free.  I always make a few extra copies of any send-home form that I may need to resend (like field trip forms) in there so I am not scrambling to find them if I need to send a second copy home.  The bottom slot always houses extra reading logs that are part of the children's nightly homework. If you lose a reading log, grab a new one, they are right there in the mailboxes. 

If you look at the larger pic again, you can see these milk crates next to my mailboxes. They are excellent for storing smaller construction paper in hanging folders! 

 

Next up, a few things by my classroom door:

 

My door frame is metal, so I put a laminated bus cutout with each bus number on the door frame (the ones at the top are for parent pickups and after care) and list the children who take that bus with an Expo marker. This way, subs know exactly who goes where at bus time without any fumbling.

As soon as you walk in my door there are large wicker baskets for Take-home folders, finished work, and notes for me. They are different sizes so the kids learn which is which right away.

 Also right next to the door, a removable hook with name tags for my students, each with his/her lunch number on the back. We wear these the first few days of school and take them to the cafeteria to help us remember our lunch numbers (we have a lunch account system so the kids just punch their number into a little machine that looks like a calculator.  Parents can send in checks or pay online to replenish lunch accounts). These name tags also come in handy for substitutes or anyone who comes in to work with our class.

My school was not built with ideal closet space for the kids' coats and backpacks by any stretch of the imagination, so we have to get creative. (Plus the space under the hooks is shelving space! NOT ideal to have stuff stored under hanging coats and backpacks!). Now I have the kids hang their coats and put their backpacks into the large bins on the floor.  It has neatened the mess considerably.

Next to my classroom library on this metal cabinet (not pretty, I know... one of these days I will do something better to it lol) I hang magnetized pics of the kids in pairs so they can always look to see who their reading and writing buddies are for our workshops.  This is especially helpful in the beginning of the year when they don't know each others' names or forget who their buddies are, for new students, and for times when I change partnerships.

 This one is silly but saves my sanity. :)  Always keep a basket with a dull pencil can and a sharp pencil can inside so the kids can trade a dull in for a sharp without interrupting everything with the loud pencil sharpener 800 times/day. Often I will sharpen pencils, but it is also part of the Nest Keeper's job (my theme is Wise Owls, so each table has a Nest Keeper, which is essentially a materials person).

Thanks for checking in!  I can't wait to get ideas from all of you!  If you would like to link up and share your organizational ideas, click on the button at the top of the post. :)

 

No Diggity

I do like the way ya work it... but as much fun as the Teacher Week linky is, I won't be sharing my classroom digs today. :(  Boo!  But I have good reasons, I promise... First, I'm still a few weeks away from school starting, so I have a little time.  Second, I'm on vacation out of state and can't go take pics. Third, Scholastic Instructor came in last year to take pics and video for a feature on classroom setup. I'm not sure how much of what they shot they will actually use, but I can tell you that it's pretty likely they will do a better job showcasing than I could. :)  They will also be posting video on the Instructor website. So I will let you know when all that goes down.  I'm a little nervous!

 

I am going to share a little about the Vermont digs where we are vacationing, though. We come here every summer to get away from the heat and intensity of New Jersey (although I love NJ, don't get me wrong, it has a totally undeserved bad rep!).  Vermont is cool, not humid, and the atmosphere and people are very laid back. We love it! We wish we had won the HGTV Blog Cabin that they built here (we drove past it yesterday).  Alas, we didn't, and we still have to pay for vacations lol.

 

Anyway, here is the view from the balcony of our current digs:

 

Mountains. Nothing but green mountains and blue skies. Ahhhh...

We stay at a family resort that has daily camps for our girls, so they get to have a blast, and Handsome Hubs and I get some "us" time! Yesterday we went to the Ben & Jerry's factory. Our lucky girls get lots of Ben & Jerry's ice cream in Vermont.  It's kind of a staple...

 





So happy and relaxed before we both head back to school!
Handsome Hubs is a high school TV Productions/Film teacher. 

Ben & Jerry's factory has a flavor graveyard!



There are actual stone headstones for each discontinued flavor with years and a poem!



Ohhh yes.  Currently sitting out on the balcony, enjoying that view, reading Neil Gaiman's
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, drinking Green Mountain Pumpkin Spice.
It's seasonal, folks... that means fall is coming!

I am enjoying jumping around and looking at everyone else's classroom digs! It's very inspiring! :)  Thank you all for sharing!

p.s. I did get online access to my roster today.  There will probably be a few changes because our rosters are always tentative right up until school starts, mainly because we have some large apartment complexes in our sending area and new leases always begin at the start of the month, so comings and goings are common throughout the year. But I can see their school pictures if they were in our district in kindergarten and they are SO. DARN. CUTE!!!!!
 

Teacher Week '13 - All About Me :)

It's Teacher Week on the interwebs! ;)  Hehe. I'm actually on my family vacation this week so we'll see how much blogging gets done... right now, everyone else is asleep!  I just did a post for the Liebster award here on Friday, so there are a lot of random facts about me already out there, but here is a quick bio. :)

* I'm a city kid ~ I grew up right outside Philadelphia.


My daughter and me in a Philly train station on her class trip.
 

* I now live in a more suburban/rural area in central NJ.

* I have been married to the most wonderful, loving, handsome hubby since December 1998 (going on 15 years!). Our wedding day is 2 days after Christmas and it snowed for our wedding, so lovely!  We have two beautiful daughters.  Big S (who I call Tootsie Roll on this blog) is going into middle school this year (!!!) and Little s (who I call Curly Jones) is going into my grade - first!  Not at my school, though... or even my district... or Handsome Hubby's... yep, we're a 3 school district family!

 * I also have the sweetest dog who is also going on 15 years old, a Chow Chow named Pippin.

 

 

* Pippin is named after the musical, which Handsome Hubs and I just saw on Broadway but have loved for a long time. We are lucky enough to live about an hour and a half from NYC.

We love Broadway!
 

 

* My family is very theatrical. Hubby and I met in college ed classes and theater. My kids do theater, too. They just finished summer children's theater - The Little Mermaid. :)

 

 

* We're also only an hour from the Jersey shore!

 

 

* I love... all things owly (my classroom!), music and theater, writing fiction, chocolate, quiet, playing Munchkin with my family, Handsome Hubby's Italian cooking, coffee with lots of creamer, the gym, buying books, nature, the colors pink and gray, gel pens, when people spell my name right without asking!

 

 

* I dislike... being cold, pickles, most vegetables (sadly), clutter, rudeness, my dog slowing down because she is old. And this guy:





This stag beetle on my front door goes in my dislike pile. His buddy who pinched my foot is at the top of that pile!

 * I am... a lucky girl, a first grade teacher for 17 years, a dance mom, a theater mom, a softball mom, a reader, a writer, introverted, silly, a hybrid car driver, caffeinated, a lover of things that match, on vacation in the lovely mountains of Vermont!

I look forward to reading about the rest of you! Link up with the button above! Happy Monday! :) 
 

Birthday, Cupcakes, and Some FREEBIE Love!

Hey guys! Tomorrow is my birthday (the big 3-8 lol) but since we will be on the 7 hour drive to Vermont (I can't wait!), we are celebrating today. Yahoo! ;)

 

First, I have to show you a couple of the amazing gifts that Handsome Hubs and my girls gave me this morning:

 

Look at this adorable owl pillow for my classroom! Oh my goodness!  Check this out... the very first thing you see when you walk into my classroom is my big blue teacher chair (it used to be part of a living room set in our first house. My kiddies look SO cute when they sit there to read their writing to the class or to share something, their feet hang straight off the front. Hehe!). Isn't this pillow perfect for that chair? I promise I will show you lots more of my classroom soon... This pic is from last year and I haven't gone in to set up yet this summer!

 

 

But wait! There's more! They got me this amazing owl dress from ModCloth, one of my insanely favorite online clothing shops. (If it looks a little weird, it is gathered at the sides and I haven't ironed it yet.) AND they got me the sweater behind it since my classroom is like the Arctic all year long (it gets both very hot and very cold in NJ but my classroom is pretty consistently freezing). I have a lot of cute dresses that I give up on wearing to school because it's too cold in my room. So my hubby was totally on top of it, and ModCloth suggested the sweater color as a complimentary shade. I can't even tell you how grateful I am, these were really sweet, thoughtful, and perfect birthday gifts!

 

 

I could show you more gifties (yes, there are more!), but I have a few other things to show you instead! A wonderful fellow first grade teacher friend in my building came up with the cutest classroom theme of "Sweeties" and has decorated her room with cupcakes and candy décor. It is the cutest darn thing! So birthdays and cupcakes and sweeties got me on a roll this week! First I created this, which I am going to give to her for her class (it is also available in my TpT store) - a SMARTboard attendance file:

 

Click to see it in TpT

 

I like how it turned out so much that I think I will use it on student birthdays to switch things up a little bit from my regular owly one. Fun!  But that's not all... I wanted to give a little freebie gift on my birthday, so here are some First Day (or anytime!) Sweet Treat Tags. The file includes tags for Pre-K, Kindergarten, and grades 1 through 5. Click one of the pics to grab them FREE! :)

 

Pre-K to 5th grade included!

I will be in the car most of tomorrow and I'm not sure how often I'll get online while we're away this coming week, but you never know.  Have a great week!  To those of you who have already marched back into the trenches, have a wonderful school year!



 

Feeling the Love

Hi all!  Happy Friday!  What were you up to today?  I had a to-do list a mile long, including putting out all the donation bags for the vets truck, dropping off book donations for my daughter's K teacher who is moving up to 3rd, and dropping off 8 bags of kiddie books/toys/shoes/clothes to a friend that my girls have outgrown.  It feels so good to purge sometimes!



Bring on the chevroooooonnnnn!

 So I did end up revising the number poster packs I posted yesterday (thanks, Sharon, for your input! You were thinking what I was thinking.). Now they all have the plain fontrather than the font with handwriting lines. I think it looks cleaner. Hope you like them, too.  While I was fiddling around with those, I really kind of fell in love with the chevron set, so I made the alphabet poster sets to match (regular and D'Nealian, which my school uses). Tada!

 

   

D'Nealian version

Anyway, while all of that was going on, I got the sweetest comment from fellow first grade teacher Jenny at The Mrs. B. Blog who has gifted me the Liebster Award. Now, Jenny did the legwork in figuring out that Liebster means "dearest" (awww!), and the award is for smaller blogs who have less than 200 followers (hmm... welp... check!  lol).

 

Now, kids, like all blog awards, this one has a few rules. They are:

 

1. Link back to the person who nominated you.
2. Answer the questions from your nominator.
3. Share 11 random facts about yourself.
4. Nominate 5 more blogs with less than 200 followers.
5. Pose questions for your nominees.

 

Whew! This is gonna be a long post, folks. I'll try to break it up with a few pictures. ;) Ok, I'm gonna tackle the first two together. Here are my answers to Jenny's questions (her blog is lovely.  Go visit.  I'll wait!). There are a bunch, here goes:

 

1. Who was your favorite teacher?

I have two. One was Mrs. Lang, my Gifted teacher in second grade, because she had a typewriter on a table and one day when I said I would like to learn how to type, she said, "Let's do it!" And during our independent project time, she let me practice. Of course, this was in the early 80's before everyone had computers (even schools), so typing was like a super cool big deal. At least to me. My other favorite teacher was Mrs. Ritts, my fifth grade teacher, who called me a writer. She read my writing to my sister's class three years later.  That made a huge impression on how I saw myself.

 

2. Why did you start blogging?

I have actually had 3 blogs before - one for family updates, which I stopped writing when I hit the free picture hosting limit (lol), one with funny teacher stories, which I stopped writing because even though it was really just cute and positive and  no one was ever identified, I was worried about telling school stories online, and one for aspiring writers, which I used for a long time but stopped about 2 years ago. I have moved away from those but after 17 years teaching first grade I am still learning and feeling creative, so a teacher blog seems natural!

 

3. Do you have any pets?

Yes, a Chow Chow dog named Pippin (after the musical) who will be 15 in October.  Handsome Hubs and I had her before we had children and now she is old, not eating much, and slowing down. Every day with her is a gift.



My sweet Pippin <3

 

4. What is your favorite cleaning product?

Not really a school cleaning product, but my Bissel SpotBot Pet (it's a portable carpet cleaner for smaller spots) is a MUST at home for cleaning up after 2 kids and a dog!

 

5. Where is your favorite vacation spot?

Vermont!!!! Give me mountains any day. I grew up a city kid and all I wanted was to live in an area with deer, and now I do; I live in a lovely, open air, farmy, wildlify part of NJ.  But there is something about the mountains of VT that is just perfection. We are headed there this coming week!  Fun fact: The picture of me on my blog was taken in VT. :)

 

6. What is your favorite holiday to celebrate at school?

Hmm. That's hard to say because we don't celebrate Halloween at my school (we have a Fall Fest) and we don't do Christmas carols and things like that, but I am one of the two leaders of a first grade peace concert (we usually have about 170 first graders) around the winter holidays. My school population is mainly children who are first generation Americans, so we acknowledge a lot of national and worldwide holidays and I still learn about holidays that are new to me all the time.

 

7. Which subject is your favorite to teach and why?
Writing, since it is such a passion and hobby of mine, and Reading for the same reason.  Student growth in those areas is SO huge and rewarding in first grade!

 

8. If you weren't a teacher, what would you be doing?

Hopefully, I'd be a novelist! :)

 

9. What is your favorite kind of cookie?

Anything chocolatey!

 

10. What is your favorite school supply?

Oh, toughie!  I love stickers and gel pens/markers for praising kiddie work. I have a really cool scrapbooking bag with great pockets as my teacher bag (It's an AMMS On-the-Go Tote Ally Cool 2 bag).  Seriously, friends... the pockets in this bag are perfect... It has these two  strong, tall inside pockets that I guess are supposed to be for scrapbook papers but are perfect for my marked/unmarked papers. Plus it has little pockets inside and penholder loops. And see those little pockets on the front? There are 3 on the back. They are big, you can stand markers up in them and they fit all the way down in.  I wish I knew where to link you to this bag online but I can't find it anywhere!  I got it at Target a few years ago.



 

 

11. How far do you commute to school?

30 minutes down long, windy back roads.  I drive past a quarry that is surrounded by wildlife and Rockingham, George Washington's home in NJ.  It's beautiful and historic and quiet.  I love my drive, it's my "me" time!

I took this pic on my drive home. :)



 

Whew... ok... now I have to share 11 random facts, right?  You might need to go get some coffee to make it through this post!  Or, wait, I might... be right back!

 

Ok, back with some coffee in the BEST mug:

 

No, it's coffee, but I'm not gonna argue with Lionel.

Where was I? 11 random facts?  Alrighty:

 

1. This one is random but cool!  Scholastic Instructor came and did a photo and video shoot in my classroom (and some teacher friends of mine) for a feature on classroom setup. It should be in their Back to School issue. I'm not sure if that comes out in Aug or Sept since they publish 8 issues/yr. I will definitely let you know when it does! (I'm kinda nervous about it!).

 

2. I have never been out of the country BUT will likely make a day trip to Canada next week while we are in Vermont.  That'd be cool!

 

3. I am currently having a philosophical difference of opinion with the tiny ants in my kitchen regarding their right to be there.

 

4. I have a daughter whose name is a place and a daughter whose name is a color. But on this blog, they go by Tootsie Roll and Curly Jones. :)

Me with Tootsie Roll

Me with Curly Jones, who plans to be a super hero when she grows up!

 

5. This December, Handsome Hubs and I will be celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary! :)

 

6. I have only read some of the Harry Potter books. (I know, to some this is blasphemy!)

 

7. My classroom theme was Busy Bees for about 11 years (before that, I didn't have a theme, we were "Room 106 Friends") and last year I changed it to Wise Owls.  I literally called Handsome Hubs from the teacher store because I was having an identity crisis buying all new stuff lol.

 

8. I have scoliosis (my spine is shaped like an "s"). It doesn't affect me much now, but in high school I had to wear a back brace like Deenie. And glasses. And braces. It was a highly graceful period of my life... ;)

 

9. After many years of owning an SUV, I downsized to a hybrid car in January. I LOVE IT and I get over 40mpg! I save soooo much on gas! I am a total hybrid car fan now.

 

10. Every spring baby birds hatch in my yard. Last spring, it was robin babies that my kids named Catastrophe (and I forget the rest). This spring, it was bluejays named Chartreuse and Teeny Tiny.

 

 

11. My birthday is in 2 days! :D  

 

So here are the 5 blogs I nominate for the Liebster Award. Visit their teachery goodness!

 

Sarah at A Sunny Day in First Grade

Khelia and Jess at Two Friends in First

Amanda at Teacher at the Wheel

Maria at First Grade Carousel

Meg at Kicking it in First

 

 

These ladies and their blogs are adorable so please check them out!  Here are my questions for them, and then please get yourself a treat for reading this far!

 

 

1. Do you have a classroom theme? (If so, what is it?)

2. Is your school urban? Suburban? Rural?

3. Name the one food or drink that is on or in your desk at all times.

4. When is/was your first day back?

5. What makes you most nervous about Day 1?

6. What calms you down on Day 1?

7. What will you miss about last year's class?

8. What is something new you want to try this year?

9. How many of your grade level are there in your school?

10. How long is your drive to school?

11. What is on your radio on the drive to school?

 

Ok, I'm wiped out! Lol. :)  Hope everyone has a great weekend!  I'm packing for the mountains!!!