Holiday "Eye"-deas!

     The 2nd quarter has arrived and I, for one, am LOVING it!  My kids & I are in a routine, the weather is getting cooler {less humid anyway!}, and the holidays are right around the corner!!  I am a huge fan of all things Halloween, Fall, and Christmas and I enjoy finding ways to incorporate these themes into our learning.   Luckily, there are some pretty AmAzInG teacher bloggers out there who post lots of fantastic ideas to use with your students!  I've been scouring and felt that this one idea in particular just had to be shared.  Check it out below…
     My favorite new *idea* I have started using in our classroom is the "Eye" Like What I See behavior incentive packet created by Katie Knight at Teacher To The Core.  It is precious and is perfect to introduce this month with the goofy, monster-like faces!  Basically, I put up a small "Eye" Like What I See poster on my front white board and, each time the students do something to blow me away/go above and beyond, they earn a smiley face.  10 smiley faces = class reward :)  In addition, I also purchased a small glass jar from Hobby Lobby, filled it with googly eyes, and added a small chalkboard label that says, "All eyes on YOU!".  At the end of each day, the table that has been the most well-behaved gets to keep the jar on their table for the next school day, earns a point for their Class Dojo monster, and their table gets to go first for all of the activities on the following school day.  This incentive program goes hand in hand with the current behavior management program that I use and doesn't take a lot of extra class time or materials to implement.  It has been a great motivator for my students to really work as a team and try their best each day.  It's funny how a little jar of googly eyes can work for 7 & 8-year olds :)  Here are a few pics of the materials that Katie includes in her packet…did I mention it's FrEe on TpT?!?  She rocks!!!

     I'm going to stick with this little program for the 2nd quarter and then change it up in the 3rd quarter when my students come back in January.  Gotta keep 'em on their toes!  Happy teaching!

Poof! It's October!

     I seriously can't believe it's already October!  I am officially in the eighth week of school and I can say that I do feel like my class is "in the groove" now!  Something about October is truly magical…the changing weather, the beautiful fall colors, and the fact that 25 little people finally have our daily routine down is such a great feeling!
     Unfortunately, I do not have a lot of pictures to post this time {I keep forgetting to take pictures of everything!}, but I can say that I am enjoying teaching 2nd grade.  Of course, with every new endeavor there are growing pains and I'm living and learning, but I am proud of my students' progress!  We have begun Daily 5 with Read to Self and the kids have already made it to 18 minutes, 12 seconds!!!  I am so impressed.  Next week, I will introduce Read to Someone and they are pumped about it.  When it's time for Daily 5, the students cheer…what a WoNdErFuL sound to hear!  Now that the students are able to do Read to Self independently, I have started pulling small groups.  I feel that my small groups are very focused, but I have not been using the CAFE forms yet.  With all that comes with a new grade, I just haven't had the time or energy to begin another NEW thing.  I am recording the data from the students' small group work, but just using my own format.
     Speaking of CAFE, I am LOVING the portable CAFE board that I made over the summer.  I use it each week when we are learning our reading strategies.  I choose a student to write down the strategy on a sentence strip and add it to the board, where we reference it daily during our reading time.  It is such a great visual way to keep track of all the strategies we're learning and using.  Definitely something I will keep and continue to use throughout my teaching!
     So, on to the LIST of things that I want plan to do in the next few weeks….

• incorporate more anchor charts into math lessons
• introduce the remainder of our workstations {the students are currently doing computer, library, listening, art & writing…I still need to intro science, math, and iPods!!!}
• begin using the CAFE forms and pensieve

     I am excited to say that we've started celebrating our "Celebrities of the Week" and the students are working hard to be chosen!  I only choose students who follow our class rules and fill buckets, so it is very honorable to be picked.  They are rockstars!!!

     Now that our classroom and all things 2nd grade are under control, I will be posting more often!  Thanks for your patience and I hope your school year is also off to a great start!

Ready or Not!!!

     I go back to school in exactly 1 week.  Yes, you heard me….ONE week!!!  This summer flew by so fast.  I have so enjoyed the slow & relaxed pace of summer vacation, but at the same time, I am ready to be back to a routine again.  NOT so excited about grading papers on a regular basis, but I *think* I have prepared myself for all things 2nd grade!  Our 2nd grade team met today and I am very excited to work with this group of women.  They are excited about teaching and are all inspiring educators.  I am a very blessed girl!!
     This year will be different for me not only because I'll be teaching a new grade level, but because my children will not be attending the same school with me anymore.  We made the decision to move them to a Catholic school at the end of last year and this will be the first time that they will not be just a hallway away from me :( Pete & I prayed and prayed about this decision and I truly do feel that we are doing what is best for our kids, but it is still going to be hard for me to not just be able to peep in and check on them whenever I want.  It will all work out and I know that God will give me the strength to handle being away from my children during the school day and be the best teacher I can be while I'm at my school.
     So, in preparation for back to school, I have been getting materials ready for my future 2nd graders! I have made their daily folders using a template from April at A Modern Teacher.  She has some amazing ideas and products for student organization!

     In addition, I FiNaLlY read The Cafe Book by the Sisters.  I have been doing the Daily 5 in my classroom for the past 2 years, but had never integrated the CAFE system.  After reading it, I am PUMPED about working more closely one-on-one and in small groups with my students.  It is written in such teacher-friendly language and I love how it is very explicit in how to implement it in your classroom.  The only unfortunate thing was that the sisters highly recommend having a bulletin board to display the reading strategies that are being taught and I had already set up my classroom, bulletin boards and all.  So, after brainstorming with another teacher friend/CAFE buddy, I decided to do a portable CAFE bulletin board.  I used a black project display board, some pennant border, and some {freebie!} CAFE signs from TpT (there are a ton of free CAFE signs & strategy cards with many different themes available).  This is the outcome:

     I am happy with it and I actually like the portability of the board because I don't always teach in the same area of my classroom.  I can't wait to put it into action with my 2nd graders!!

     I also uploaded a new product to my TpT store!  I wanted a fresh look for my weekly newsletters, so I created this newsletter template to match the color theme of my classroom this year.  What do you think?  I like that it is simple, includes the weekly homework (to cut down on copies), and has a modern teacher twist with the dotted apples and chevron!

     So, this will most likely be my last post of the summer…I'll be back next time as an official 2nd grade teacher!  I'm off to enjoy the rest of my *free* days :)

  

Favorite Pins Friday!!

     I love Pinterest.  It has become quite the obsession for me & many of my friends!!  I am linking up with Cara from The First Grade Parade to bring you my favorite pins from this past week.  {You can link up on her blog to share your fabulous finds, too!}  So, the way it works is simple…just post your favorite pins with a link back to the original poster (not back to Pinterest) and, while this is a teaching blog, the pins do not necessarily have to be teacher-related!  Because we know we do not always follow the lesson plan, right?!?  So, here goes…

I am loving this management idea from Teaching is a work of HEART!!.  Each student has a clothespin with his/her name or number and clips it on the library basket when he/she picks a book.  When it's time to return the book, the student looks for his/her clothespin so that he/she will return the book back into the proper basket.  Genius!!!

So, I'm on a serious budget these days.  Aren't we all?!?  I am definitely guilty of spending a little too much money in my classroom and it's nice to find a *free* way to reward your students for great behavior!  Thanks to Peace, Love, and First Grade, you can use these adorable freebie reward coupons to give to your students :)

"Is it time for lunch yet??"  I'm pretty sure every teacher {and parent for that matter!} has heard these words from their kids!  These clock displays with important times during the school day are perfect not only to let students know when daily activities will happen, but it also reinforces clock reading skills.  Thanks to Christi from Ms. Fultz's Corner!

And on to some non-teacher related pins…

I'm a Louisiana girl through and through and I'm in LOVE with this tee from Bourbon & Boots.  You might see me in this very soon!

Shoe addicts everywhere NEED this little poster :) Thanks Style-Delights: Humor In Life!

So now that both of my kids are into sports and getting LOTS of t-shirts from the different events, I thought this was a perfect way to make use of their tees once they have outgrown them {especially since I do NOT sew!!!}  Love this idea from Fabulous Home Blog!

Happy pinning y'all and happy Friday (although it's summer for us teachers and EVERY day is Friday :)  

classroom makeover part 2

     I am not gonna lie, I have been up at school a LOT over the past month.  I admit it….I was a little paranoid when it came to moving EVERYTHING out of my old classroom into my new classroom.  I am not a "wait until the last minute" type of person (BIG surprise).  Just when I thought I had gotten all of my things out of my 1st grade classroom, I would go back to do a final "sweep" and I would fill up another entire dolly with more *stuff*.  OMG, I discovered that I have way too much stuff that I had not been using and didn't envision using any time soon, so I put a lot of it out into the hallway to find a new home, which apparently it has since it is no longer there!  I hope that other teachers will find a way to incorporate those things with their students :)
     Anyway, I feel like I am finally at a point where I could take pics of my classroom because I'm about 90% done with it!  I know it seems crazy, but I like taking the beginning of the summer to get my classroom ready for next year and then having the second half of my summer relaxing and not doing anything too much school-related.  I just really don't like being rushed to get everything done in the last 2 weeks of summer!  I am lucky that my school is open during the summer so that I can have the opportunity to work in there when it is convenient for me.
     I decided to do a rockstar theme, but not go too into the theme so that I could reuse a lot of my bulletin boards for next year if I wanted to.  This way I will not have to change everything just because I'm not doing the same theme from year to year.  So, I have a few "theme-y" things up, but for the most part, I just chose patterns and designs that I liked!  Here are the pics of my new 2nd grade classroom!!!

     

     I am really excited about the way everything came together in my room!  Now I just have to get my door and hallway decorations done, along with my calendar bulletin board and I will be ready for kids!  

classroom makeover part 1

     I recently found out that I'm going to be moving from 1st grade to 2nd grade in August and I couldn't be more thrilled!  One of the best {and worst} things about this is that I'm going to a new classroom.  On the upside, I am getting a fresh start in a new room and a chance to make it my own.  On the downside, I have to move all of my junk!!!!!  Luckily, my kids are doing a drama & music camp at our church this week, so I'm getting some time to work in both of my rooms and get some things accomplished.  One of the first things I was bummed about was that I wasn't going to be able to bring my file cabinets that I made over last summer with me.  I had Mod Podged scrapbook paper on the drawers to add a colorful pop to them!  Here is a glimpse of last summer's project:

     I really liked the way they looked, but the Mod Podge was very time-consuming and I just wanted a different look for my new classroom.  SO, off to Pinterest I went and found some *cute* file cabinet makeover ideas.  (Can you not just find anything & everything on Pinterest?!)  Anyway, I still have a looooong way to go on my 2nd grade classroom {...evident in the background of these pics!!!}, but I have tackled one task, which was to redo the file cabinets.  Here is the big reveal, lol!

     I am really happy with the way they turned out :) Crazy how much a little bit of high gloss latex paint and some wall decals will spruce up something boring into something much more….POSH!  All for about $30, too!  I'll be back with more before and after pics soon!

Table for...

     I recently had a friend ask me how I felt about switching from desks to tables this school year and my response was quick--"I love them!"  Of course, there are pros and cons to just about anything, but for me, tables made life in the classroom simpler.  For one thing, they were a major space saver and helped to keep the classroom cleaner because it is easier to sweep under tables than individual desks.  Also, I am a big believer in teamwork and tables are just so conducive to team building activities.  Lastly, there was a lot less junk in the student's areas because there was no desk for the kids to pile papers and miscellaneous items.  One of the cons to having tables is that you do have to find a place to keep all of the student materials that would normally be kept in their desks!  Luckily for me I have lots of storage options in my classroom that made this doable.  The other major drawback to tables is that, if you have a student who needs his/her own individual space, you will have to find a spare desk for that child because (obviously) you can't disassemble the table.  Here are a few pics of how I made tables work in my classroom this past year:

Black shelf {Wal-Mart purchase!} for math workbooks that would normally be kept in student's desks. I also use this shelf for puzzle storage, morning meeting materials, construction paper, and our sharpened & broken pencils buckets.

Each table has a bucket where they store their glue bottles, washable markers, and dry erase markers.  Our class set of dry erase boards are stored on the bottom shelf and the class cubbies are on top.

I use an over-the-door shoe organizer with numbered plastic cups to keep the students' extra pencils and glue sticks.

This all-purpose organizer from Lakeshore stores our reading practice books.  I have numbered the boxes so that the students can easily and quickly find their workbook.  

     I am moving to 2nd grade next year and I'm using my tables again with my new students.  I am planning on making a few adjustments to how I managed my tables this year, but I'm looking forward to setting up my new classroom with these tables!

Save as...

     So, if there is one tip that I can give to anyone who is trying to get more organized, it would be to SAVE!!!!  That's right.  Save a copy of anything you think you might use again in the future, whether it be a hard copy or electronic.  It's kind of neat to look back at all of the filing systems I have used during my teaching career.  I started off with saving hard copies of everything…I would make an extra copy of whatever worksheet, lesson idea, craft, master copy, etc. it was that I was using and I created a file folder to go along with it {weekly reading story, math unit, science/social studies topic, seasonal lesson, etc.}.  When I was finished filling that particular file folder, it would be placed in my file cabinet, which coincidentally is now just about at its maximum capacity!  A little while into teaching, I was introduced to the lovely flash drive device and I filled one of those bad boys up faster than you would believe with all of my files that I created and lessons that I had saved.  I'm now up to 6 flash drives that I carry with me in my teacher bag so that I can access any of those items if/when I need them.  I honestly don't use either one of those filing systems all that often anymore, though, now that Google docs and TeachersPayTeachers has come along.  These two websites house your documents for you and you can access your files from any computer that has Internet access.  A truly paperless system.  I rely on these 2 sites on an almost daily basis in my classroom!  The really neat thing is that both of these sites allow you to download your files really quickly and display your documents on the Promethean board, which makes annotating for checking and giving directions that much easier and understandable for your students.  I especially love TpT and started my own little shop in January.  I decided that, since I created so many of my own documents to use with my students, that other teachers might like to use these, too!  I currently have 6 items in my shop, 2 of which are freebies!  If you would like to check it out, visit the link {here}.  When you save, there is less work for you to do for future lessons as you can use what you have already created {or tweak it & make it even better without having to start from scratch!}

Number Order

     I don't know about you, but I assign my students numbers at the beginning of the year.  This number order is alphabetical by their last name (as this is how my roster is listed), but if I gain additional students during the year, I do not renumber everyone, I simply assign them the next number in our list.  Using student numbers is essential for me because it helps me to make sure that I have everyone in my line when we are going somewhere, it helps me make sure I don't leave anyone out when I am making plans for the class, when I'm creating guided reading groups, etc.  I'm sure there are lots of other ways to use student numbers that I would love to find out about as well!
     Student numbers can also be useful teaching tools.  I often call students to turn in assignments, check their cubbies, come to the carpet, etc. by their numbers.  After the first few weeks of school, I start to ask my firsties if they can find a pattern in the numbers that I'm calling--turning a simple management task into a learning activity.  It makes teaching skip counting and even/odd numbers easier to teach because the students are familiar with these concepts from our daily routines!
     Using numbers instead of names is also budget savvy.  By using numbers to label cubbies and file folders, I can reuse them from year to year because I will always have a number 8, but I won't always have a "Suzie".  I have a stack of file folders that I keep for students' graded papers, tardies/doctor notes, and, of course, their cubbies--all of which are labeled with numbers.  I have been using them for several years now with great success and they're all in good condition.
    My number is up to 24 this year--wHeW!!!  While I have never had a number quite so large before, I truly am enjoying teaching these 24 little cuties.  They are a great group of 6 & 7-year olds!  What are some ways you use student numbers in your class?

What's your label?

     The 3rd quarter just began for our school district and, while I love seeing the growth and progress that my students have made since the beginning of the school year, I do not love doing report cards.  I think a big part of it is just that I have more students this year {24 to be exact!} and this OCD girl takes forever to finish those lovely little summaries for each of my kids!  I am seriously neurotic making sure I checked everything off and filled in the correct boxes and number of absences & tardies, assigned the right grades to the right child, etc.   It is MADNESS!  Thankfully, I finished my report cards, had them turned in for checking & approval on time, and got a compliment that they were neat & thorough.  Woo-hoo!
     One of the things that has made report cards much easier for me is using labels to type comments.  We still do handwritten/paper report cards and writing through 5 layers of paper for 24 students is not my idea of fun.  Using labels to type in comments for each of my students allows me not only to write more about each child in the tiny comment space that is provided, but it also saves me some major hand cramps.  Seriously.  I use address labels {30 per sheet} and simply type in my quarterly comments for each student and then print out 2 copies of the labels {one for the master copy of the report card and one for the parent copy that is sent home}. It looks more professional as well.
     Another way I started using labels this year is for making notes about students during lessons.  I keep a clipboard on my desk and attach 3 pages of shipping labels {10 per page}.  I write each child's name on a label so that it is ready whenever I need it.  During our lessons, I will grab my clipboard and just make a few notes about certain student's progress/strengths/weaknesses with the subject material and follow it with today's date for record keeping.  I definitely do not get enough time to do this with every student every day, but I try to make notes at least twice a week.  It's a great visual so that I can see which students I have a lot of information about and which ones I need to get to know better.  When the student's label is full, I simply stick it on the back side of one of the guided reading papers for that child and put it in his/her file.  Now I have some great documentation for parent conferences, referral meetings, and my personal teaching information!
     How are you using labels in your classroom?

Hello, my name is...

     Since this is my first OFFICIAL teacher blogging post, I thought it was fitting that I introduce myself!  My name is Katy Bordes and, among many other things, I am a first grade teacher.  I have been teaching first for the past 5 years and, although I was terrified nervous to begin teaching this grade level after previously teaching 2nd and 3rd grades, I have found that 1st grade is my absolute favorite so far!!!  I have a passion for reading and all things ELA & since that is such a huge part of what first grade is all about, it is a great fit for me.  Not to mention that I'm a busybody "mover and a shaker" myself, so this age level is perfect for my taste!
     I think it is important for a teacher to be organized, but especially teachers of young children.  While I'm always looking for ways to improve, I feel I have a strength in organization and being creative.  I have tried many different systems and have found a lot of success with pieces and parts of all of them, so I decided to start this blog to share organizational and crafty tips with other professionals out there as well as to gain insight from your ideas and comments!
     Today I'm sharing some pics of my classroom that I took at the beginning of this school year....obviously I went with a carnival theme!  I LOVE this theme!  So versatile :)

This is my teacher/small group work area.  It is similar to how I've set it up for the past few years, but I added the Monday - Friday magazine boxes this year for keeping my copies organized.  It has been a lifesaver!  I found this organizational idea from the Clutter-Free Classroom blog.  She is chock FULL of amazing ideas for organizing your classroom!  You can find a link to her awesome blog here:

Clutter-Free Classroom

This is my first year using all tables instead of desks.  I bought these tables from Lakeshore Learning through a Donor's Choose grant that I was awarded last year.  They are nothing short of amazing for organizing and managing my firsties....absolutely in.love with them!!!  (FYI~the little white pieces of Velcro are for their name plates that I hadn't attached yet due to anxiously awaiting my class roster!)

This is my library and cubby area.  If you do not have mailboxes or a cubby system in place yet, I would strongly advise you to start using them!  They keep all your students' papers organized and teach the students to be responsible for their own materials!  My cabinets have a double use...one for storage and I also use them to display my word wall.  They are in a perfect visual spot for my students, thus cabinets = word wall!

Going along with my carnival theme, I used some plastic balloon party decorations that I found at Hobby Lobby to label my tables.  I simply created and printed out Table 1, Table 2, etc. on white cardstock, attached it to the end of the balloon ribbon, and voila! my tables are labeled!!!

I hope you've enjoyed my short little classroom tour and stop by again soon for the next classroom organization update!