Tell Me Something Good

I am linking up to Rowdy in First Grade's Tell Me Something Good because let's be honest, we all need to hear something good.

Something at work: Yesterday I was in a low mood and had that feeling we all get. You know it.. Why aren't they listening? Is it me? Today however... was a HUGE improvement! They chatted less and got more done faster. Double bonus: The activities I created in my super hero unit have been helping me tip-toe into the school year while having fun.

Something at home: I am hanging out with my whole family this weekend. Saturday we are going to a theme park and Sunday we are taking my gram to a Yankees game, her favorite baseball team.

So I am only two days in but I feel slightly accomplished.

I L-O-V-E my theme of superheroes and am so happy I decided early last year to go with it. The kids seem to enjoy it, too.

I have completed a lot of the activities from my Superhero Unit and the kids have been doing such a great job with the activities I created. BONUS- I have managed to get through most of the things I planned. That is a first for me! Could it be that I am getting a hand on this teaching thing after 7 years? Nah. Couldn't be!

Roll a Superhero activity

Hope all your school years are going smoothly, as well!

MIA and Superhero Unit

I have been MIA for the whole year and I apologize!

I had the most awesome class ever and was enjoying every minute of it. They were fun, empathic, and hard-working. We were able to get to so much and more because of their amazing behaviors. I was so proud of everything we learned together.

That being said, I will make more of an effort to post next year. I pinky swear promise!

This upcoming school year I am planning on doing a Superhero theme. I looked on TPT for some ideas and when I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, I decided I'd make my own. After some planning I was set to work. It is my first attempt so be nice but I am uber-proud of myself. It is available on teachers pay teachers under my name.
Superhero Unit

I think I am in love

First sorry for no pictures. My camera is dead so no pictures yet but I have some and they will come.

Seriously though I think I love my class this year. The last two years I have been shall we say challenged by the majority of my students. This year I am the only ELL teacher in my school, so more than half of my students are considered ELL. That means that genuinely they are quiet and polite. I am so lucky! I only began school this past Thursday so I have only been with my loves for two days. That means they could still be in the honeymoon period. Also I had 29 students last year and this year I only have 20!!! I have never had this small of a class. So excited!!

In the short week we have had I feel like I got some important stuff done. Thursday we had an assembly at 10 which really made the morning difficult to get anything done since the students stopped arriving by 9. (The assembly was for service dogs since we have a 4th grader with diabetes who has a service dog this year. Quite important assembly to teach the students not to interfere with the service dog.) I am eternally grateful to the blog world for all their A-M-A-Z-I-N-G ideas. I am doing a space theme this year so I purchased Abby's Astronaut Packet. My students made the most adorable astronauts and then wrote 3 sentences why they were stars. I was super impressed with their writing, too. Most remembered capitals and periods and some began their sentences with "I am a star because..." instead of "Because I am nice." We also made her Spaceship glyphs during math. Really showed me who can trace, cut, glue. This glyph even reviews tally marks and graphing.

Additionally we read "The Monster Who Came To School" to discuss rules. Afterwards we came up with our rules and they did a wonderful job trying to make the rules positive instead of saying "No hitting" they said "Keep hands to yourself." Next we made clouds with our hopes and dreams for the year. I got this wonderful idea forever go and I can't remember who I got it from. I apologize because it is my favorite. I would say the students favorite is singing "Tootie Ta". If you don't know it, look it up on youtube. It is hysterical! We do a song/dance break at least once a day and they crack up whenever we break. We always discuss beforehand that after our break they have to get right back to work when we are done.

I am excited for the year and hope that this honeymoon period lasts a lifetime :)

One VERY small step

Today was the first day for teachers. Today was the day to begin the year with a smile. Begin the day with excitement for the new year. I walked into my classroom, hoping that at least my furniture was out, ready to begin the cleaning process. When I saw that the room was the same as I left it, not started, the tears began flowing. It was quite pathetic, but completely unavoidable. As of Tuesday there were about 6 of us whose rooms had not been started. Today there was one; me! I tried my best to smile in fear that tears would appear if I didn't and I helped everyone else whose rooms were JUST finished. The reason I write this is not to complain, because that is not me. I am writing to say how much I L-O-V-E the people I work with. They were there with hugs, smiles, and support. So many people offering their free time and labor day weekends to help me when my room becomes ready. I can't even begin to say how nice it is to feel supported.

And my small step that you are wondering... That came at 3:30 today when the most apologetic custodians (Who are not to blame) began moving things out my room to begin the cleaning process and vowed to stay until it was finished tonight. (There was minor construction done in our school that ended later than planned which pushed the cleaning back WAY late)

PS- For all those Dunkin Donuts fans, I had the world's longest order this morning. I swear! Think food shopping receipt. But hey we needed our coffee :)

Good news or Bad news?

I am one of those people who prefer bad news first so that the good news follows the bad news.

I went in my school yesterday, keeping my fingers crossed that my classroom was being started (cleaning), but BAD NEWS, it was not. I swear it looks worse now than it did in June.

Please notice the tissue- yuck!

Can we say GROSS! Notice my new whiteboard next to my smartboard though :)

Here is what my shelves look like when they are not organized.. Oh so much to do :(

I am going through the helpless feelings that come when one's classroom (our home away from home) looks like a hurricane ran through it (ironic for us on the east coast since we are in the middle of a hurricane right now). Teachers in services begin next Thursday. By this point in summer my room would be done and the last minute decorative details would be left.

GOOD NEWS!!

Today I was awaiting the arrival of Irene and bumming over the fact that my laptop's battery was donzo. Good news was when I walked outside and found the new battery had arrived 3 days early!! I was so excited. When I went on my computer I found that THE Cara Carroll had posted on my blog! To say I was excited is an understatement. Cara- You are truly a celebrity in my eyes. So thank you for your sweet response :)

Three for Three

Here are my three favorites. Much like the rest of us, everything is my favorite, but here goes.

1. My favorite font- I seem to change this one every season. I would say this is why my computer's memory is full. It is full of fonts! Right now I am in between spellstone and soft compound. Both have been downloaded on some free site. I LOVE them right now.

2. My favorite blog- Like most of you I also have a million favorite blogs. I really love all the education blogs out there. Especially Cara at The First Grade Parade and Abby at The Inspired Apple! They inspire me everyday to be better and more creative. They are my teaching idols!