Classroom Tour and First Day Activities

I'm happy to report that my second day teaching K music was much better. There was no jumping off benches, rolling around on the floor, or banging on instruments. There still may have been a couple of boys plugging their ears and refusing to participate, but at least they were sitting/standing in their own space! I'm thinking baby steps...

 

Anyway, I finally got around to snapping pictures of my "completed" room (I have already rearranged the desks once) and I thought I'd give you a peek at a couple of our first day activities in 2nd grade.

 

When the students came in on the first day (last Thursday), they had an All About Me page waiting for them. I found this (via Pinterest) here. AMAZING amount of FREE printables on this site so be sure to check it out. Here's how some of mine turned out:

 

 

I always read David Goes to School on the first day to introduce our rules. I used this craftivity and writing freebie from Angie Neal. I always think it is funny to see how they turn out so different...

 

This Back to School Fun Packet from Smiling in Second Grade was waiting for them to start on when they come in Monday morning.

 

 

Now for the tour of my VERY small room...warning - lots of pics!

 

View from the door looking right.



View from the door looking straight ahead.

Wall of bookshelves to the left of the door.

My reading "nook." And yes, I sewed the pillowcases (don't look too close)!

 

 

Here's my desk area...first year without a teacher's desk. Still working on getting organized!

Eventually this will be where the kiddos do Listen to Reading...and also where my paras can work with students.

Mountain Math/Language sheets. I copied them front to back...we will do one sheet each day M-Th to finish the chart page (see below).

 

 

Calendar Area with those famous cupcakes...it is fun seeing them pop up on Pinterest!

Here's my board...all ready using our freebie Morning Routine posters. Check our TPT store. I tried to link, but TPT must be having  a problem right now.

Here's another look of that writing bulletin board from A Cupcake for the Teacher. The giant pencil is from The Teacher Wife. I also sectioned off an area of my whiteboard for math charts.

This wall of white board has been devoted to writing and reading. I have the names of our class written here for easy access - thanks Tammy at Forever in First for the idea. I've got my reading and writing goals posters - pinterest inspired. The baggie next to them has pencils and books ready with student numbers to add to the posters. I also have my Daily 5 anchor charts on this board...you can see the Read to Self one. The others just have the titles waiting until we introduce them.

Another peek at my reading focus wall. Technically this pic should have been by the calendar, but Blogger is having a fit...

Mailboxes, lunch check-in, and homework club...



Job chart!

Kansas Jayhawks! My son made that for me. I wonder how many days until basketball season... The poster was left by the former teacher and I just liked it. :-)

Have a great week! I'm exhausted already!

 

New Appreciation for Kindergarten Teachers!!!

If you would have asked me how the first day of school was today at 1:29 p.m. I would have said, "It was my best first day ever!"

 

Then came 1:30...

 

...and Kindergarten music class.

*Remember I'm teaching 2nd grade and K-2 music this year.

 

I wondered why I didn't have any back-to-school "nightmares" this year. Obviously, it was because I would be living one for 20 minutes today. Ha!

 

You know those dreams where the kids are out of control and won't listen to you...

 

Yep! That was me today in Kindergarten music.

 

All I can say is Kindergarten teachers are amazing!!! I mean, I knew that already, but I didn't really know that (with first-hand experience if you know what I mean).

 

In fact, I'm pretty sure this picture should say "I teach K...What's your super power?"

 

 

I have a new plan for tomorrow and it includes "If You're Happy and You Know It" and "Couch Potato Pokey" which I'm hoping praying will capture the attention of those little 5-year-olds.

 

Nightmare aside, my new bunch of 2nd graders (and even the firsties in music) were great! It was a fun day in my new school...and best of all, when I was so exhausted I just needed to get out of there, I was home in about one minute! ;-)

 

Oh, and if you have advice for dealing with Kinders, I'd love to hear from you!

 

Classroom Ready

It always seems like there is so much to get done at the beginning of the year to prepare for the new little ones.  It also seems like it will never get done and be ready in time (at least that is how I feel every year).  BUT, in the long run it does get done and ready for the little ones on the day that they arrive.  Here are some pictures of some of the things that I have in my room this year. 

Writer's Eye

Daily Five

Daily Five Clip Chart

Job Chart

Behavior Clip Chart

Calendar and to the right is my Behavior Catalog and Mystery Person Bag

Ways to Write

We have had two days in school now and spent the last couple days having fun getting to know each other.  We read David Goes to School and they loved it!  They asked me to read it again to them several times LOL!!  :-)

Have you started back to school yet?  Hope you have a great weekend.  Kristi

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL ACTIVITIES LINKY AND WEIGH IN!

We are joining Teaching Joys for:

On the first day of school, I read the book "David Goes to School" by David Shannon. 

I use this to go over rules that the kids and I think would be good to have in the classroom and we discuss why these rules would be needed in the room.  The kids absolutely love David and this book!

This year, I found this to go along with the book--a cute little art project to go along with it! Found it at Fall Into First.

 

Crystal's Weigh-In:

Not happening! Ha ha! At the last minute, the church youth group needed another female counselor to go to Table Rock Lake with them. I spent Monday - Thursday at the mercy of what was planned to feed the youth group. So I did not get to work out and there was plenty of temptation foods.

We had a great time though! It was fun to see the youth group hang out and enjoy one another. We stayed in an amazing resort - The Cliffs at Long Creek - and I got to stay in the master suite. Beautiful views, fun activities, and not enough sleep!

Saturday we are headed back that way to visit friends in Springfield, so Kristi will keep you all entertained while I'm away. Hee hee. :-)

Kristi's Weigh-In: 

Well, I haven't been on vacation, so I didn't have all the tempting food etc.  So, when I stepped on the scale this morning-I was very excited because I reached my goal!  YEAH!  I finally lost my total 13 pounds for this summer. 

BUT, I shouldn't get too excited because these are the actual pounds that I gained during school.  Seems like I can lose some weight in the summer, but when school starts, I pack it on-must be the stress or something :-).  So now my big goal is to keep it off and try not to gain it all back this school year. 

I will apologize ahead of time that you will have to be entertained by me instead of Crystal.....because like I said before, she is definitely the writer between the two of us.  :-)