Back to School Bash...the brainstorming begins

Alright!  I'll stop placing guilt upon myself and get on here and blog for a minute!  That long awaited I Teach 1st post will have to wait.

Today I've also been drooling over Reagan's Back to School Open House ideas. I started texting my grade-level team-teachers before I realized they are probably trying to enjoy their summer OFF! Oops!  I have a very difficult time turning off the teacher-brain.  Having my classroom decorated and in order, long-range planning ready to go, and a good idea of the big events I will be working on this year is just so, so, so tempting for me.  Of course, today was a sick-day, and even though I got a few little jobs done around the house and played with my kids, I really needed to also have a creative outlet and study time to help direct my focus off the sore throat and nausea. I probably picked up the cold from my sweet little niece I had to snuggle with up in sunny St. George, Utah this week.  It was worth it, but my fingers are always crossed that these things don't last long.

Anyhow, back to Tunstall Tidbits...did I mention that I went to her Guided Math Guru session during the I Teach 1st conference last week, and talked with her afterward, AND took a picture with this great teacher who I admire?!  More later, of course...I recreated a couple of her BTS ideas to be a good fit for my class (and hopefully our grade level). See my station cards and parent labels.  And, get this, I am getting ready to post my first TpT store products.  I was going to post these, but like Ericka Bohrer says, that is so NOT COOL to copy other's ideas and post them as your own. I hope to use creativity and post 5-10 products this year, half of them being paid products.  You gotta start somewhere, I guess!  I'll keep you posted!  For now, here is a pic of my station cards.  These will be in different areas of the classroom for parents and students to walk around, view and follow instructions for things I want them to do at Back to School night:

Also, I watched a video tutorial of a sweet cleaning gal who gave the following 4 ways to remove white board marker (you know those low-odor type we are always writing with that smudge so much!):

1. Water/vinegar mix (3:1 mixture)

2. Nail polish remover 

3. Baby oil

4. WD-40

My hubby bought me a whiteboard, but it was not really dry-erase...long story, but I did manage to remove all smudges and marker from the porous surface.  Happy to have these solutions.

Now I'm gonna go chill with my babies and Big Hero 6!

Hello!  Welcome to my teaching blog.  I have wanted to start up for over a year now, when I got back into 1st grade...more on my history later.  Anyway, my goal of this blog is to catch all my excitement, fear and love for teaching, as well as share my ideas, inspirations and learn from all the other professionals in my field.  I LOVE that teachers SHARE!  So, please share with me too, and we can rock 1st grade (or whatever sub-par grade you're teaching LOL) together!  Can you tell I love first!?

CLASSROOM sneak peeks!

Can you tell I've been busy working on some fabulous organization and colorful decor for my classroom this summer?  I'm determined to be organized.  My favorite classroom is Reagan Tunstall's from last year.  I love her bright colors and chalkboard/black.  I used the chalkboard theme last year as well, but I am adding A LOT!  Bits and pieces of scattered ideas I have and inexpensive finds, and a few teacher files.  I'll share them all here as I go.  I just sent about a million things to be printed by my amazing copy friend, Linda.  Hubby should be picking them up for me today and bringing them down to our Las Vegas home.  My fingers are itching to see all the colorful pages.  A teacher-buddy and I will be getting together next week to do our laminating and cutting.  YAY!

So, I've seen A LOT of teacher toolbox ideas out there, and I can't wait to have all of my supplies in one place...and not cluttering up my desk drawers (am I the only one who does that; it's such a catch-all!).  The original idea came from Rebecca Rojas' Create. Teach. Share. 

Ooh la la!  Look at the rainbow of colors! 

Tissue paper poms are still in! Learn how to make them with this great tutorial by Leanne Dowsett . Yes, I'll definitely be posting before and after pics in August, As teachers, I believe we've got to celebrate our own successes, just as we do with our students.

 

OMG!  How stupid-cute! (as my bestie would say).  Try to picture it full of crepe-paper flowers for my teacher desk, with Mrs. Scott written on it's awesome handwriting lines!  I may have picked up a couple pencil jars too.  I've decided the Target Dollar Spot LOVES me.  No really...I think I've spent all my teacher $ for the year there already.  Just organizing receipts.  They'll be ready to go, come August 17th! That's our first day back.  When is yours?

Last day of school

I sorta copied this idea, which is what all good teachers do (Beg, Borrow and Steal), for the last day of school. We had so much fun and got a lot accomplished. I set a timer and worked around our recess time for the different activities. I had math and writing and coloring activities that were all common core concept practice. Some were summer partner games with and without manipulatives - including Beach word-making, Shell-doubles math with dice-, independent and collaborative 1st grade memory suitcase creating, whole class share Bingo, and addition beach coloring.  I will post a link to the worksheets our first grade team got from teacherspayteachers site.  The suitcase Memories were a hit!

Standards addressed: Mathematics; 1.OA.A.1, 1.OA.B.3, 1.OA.C.6, 1.NBT.A.1, Language; RF.1.2, RF.1.3, RF.1.4,  W.1.2, W.1.8, SL.1.1, SL.1.3, SL.1.5, SL.1.6, L.1.1, L.1.2, L.1.6.

 If I could change anything about it, I would have included my awards ceremony as an activity inside the balloon. It was hard to squeeze in, and we did not get through all the balloon activities. Yes, the day was a "half-day." 8:30-12:10. The important ones were popped however, and I was pleased with how much we were able to accomplish the last day. My students did awesome! This activity really helped them be excited and stay focused as they looked forward to each new activity and no activity lasted long enough for them to get bored. 

I used several methods to select which child got to poke a balloon, including number sticks, random day, closest birthday, guess my number, and Who will--- this summer (first hand raised). I made those up as I went along. No big deal. Here is the whiteboard morning message I used. Happy last day of school!