Highs & Lows

  Week two is in the books and with it comes a nice and much needed 3 days weekend. Thankful for holidays today - because this week everything seemed to catch up to me.  I've decided to keep up with the linkys and link up with A First For Everything for her highs and lows party.  Here we go!

My kiddos are starting to get into routine again and I couldn't be more excited to get past procedures and all those not so fun items that are needed at the beginning of the year. This week we started our first Jill Eggelton book during shared reading - Ratty Tatty Cat.  

It's one of my favorite because the rhythm in the book is so great for kids to catch onto.  I follow her day by day schedule pretty well for now as we build routine but eventually I'll need to focus more on the standards and how those can be incorporated with her book.  On Monday we read the book and focused on digging deeper into the text with comprehension questions. Tuesday we found WOW words and added them to our wall. Wednesday we looked at punctuation and how to change your voice when you see those marks. They did this cute little activity where they got to pick a punctuation mark to use and then they got to practice writing a sentence and talking with a partner.  At first, my kids struggled so we had to do a lot of modeling but after a few times where I modeled and then we did some guided practice, they got really good at it!  It was cute seeing them come up with a sentence to use and watch them practice reading it with a friend.

Thursday, we looked at a word family - AT and found them in our book and added words to the word wall.  I had the kids do an interactive activity where they were able to brainstorm words and put them in the -AT family "house".  They thought it was so neat and were really into it - even calling the words "brothers and sisters".  Love their little firstie brains.  Friday was the last day - so we read the book all together and then they got to illustrate a picture and pretend they were the illustrator of the book.  Lots of them focused on the part int he book where ratty tatty cat gets stuck in a cage - they can be so creative with their speech bubbles.  We hung their work on our "Art Wall" and picked our favorite lines from the book to add to it as well.  Loved doing something more interactive for them this week. Next week we focus on Setting's in book - I'm excited to see how they will do with that!

My low of the week was getting literally NO time in my classroom to plan this week.  It was ridiculous how many meetings and things we had to be at.  Monday we had professional development on Lucy Calkins writing since our district is committing to her Common Core books this year, Tuesday I had a math training after school, Wednesday we had a staff meeting, and by Thursday I was completely fried.  I know that we need meetings as teachers but how in the world are we suppose to get anything done? Our little chunks of planning time in the day are not usually enough so I end up taking a lot of it home.  Hopefully these next few weeks won't be as bad and I can find a rhythm of how to get everything done.  I know I'm not the only teacher that struggles with this! :) Husband had a fantasy draft on Tuesday night, so I went back to school - snuck the puppy in so she wouldn't have to be alone at home again - and worked until 9:00ish that night.  Wednesday I was there late as well to get everything done so I don't have to go back this weekend.  Life of a teacher!

What are you highs and lows from the week?  Link up!

Until next time.

Classroom Reveal & First Week Fun

There is no tired like a first week of school teacher tired.  Can I get an amen?  On Friday night we hung out with friends - which is usually what we do on Friday's, and we began watching a movie and I knew I wouldn't even make it half way through.  Sure enough, I passed out on the couch until the end of the movie and then slept 11 hours that night.  Incredible how exhausted your body becomes after one week of school.  Oofta.

 I decided I should finally do my classroom reveal and give you a peek into the first week of school in our 103 classroom! We had a great first week together and I adore this group of kids already.  They are so kind and caring and really want to learn.  Although they are all very chatty, we are working on the chattiness and pretty soon it'll be like they were never chatty in the first place!  I have 23 little nuggets this year compared to my 27 last year. Our week was filled with lots of community building games and activities as we got to know each other as a "family".  I'm a huge believer in responsive classroom and building community so I make sure at the beginning of the year to focus on building those relationships and a safe place to learn.  We start every morning with a morning meeting and then we've been closing each day with a closing circle.  I'm hoping to continue closing circle for another week and then getting it in when I can - our schedule is so packed!

 We did activities like active listening activities this week, we made jitter juice, did some fabulous coloring and started building our stamina up with Daily 5 and Writing Workshop.  Here's my brag moment - at the end of the week my kiddos were writing 15 minutes independently already. Can you believe that!?  They LOVE to write. I was able to sneak in 3 writing conferences each day to get ready for my writing groups I want to start in 2 weeks.  Our Read-To-Self time is up to 10 minutes which I'm impressed with as well! Next week we get into work on writing and we'll start talking about generating ideas in writing workshop time.  Go 103 - we are seriously the place to be right now. ;)

In my "professional development" Pinterest time this summer, I found a great activity that had to do with using our words and how they affect others.  The sweeties squirted out a whole tube of toothpaste, and then they were instructed to work together as a team to get it all back into the tube.  They had spoons and could use their fingers to try and get it back.  You would have thought I was crazy the way they looked at me.  It went from 'this is so much fun Mrs.Vanderbush!" to "how in the world is this going to work?"After we had cleaned up, we met back at the carpet and talked about how the toothpaste was how our words worked - once we said them to someone, we couldn't take them back.  My kids mouths literally dropped.  They were shocked.  We read the book "How Full is Your Bucket?" to give them a better idea of how to use non-toothpaste words and we've been referring to them all week.  It was a great activity and one I'll use next year too. I was so proud of how well it worked and how they took too it.
With all our learning going on, we of course needed to give our bodies some brain-break time.  We use GoNoodle in our room and my kids already love it. We chose a character and love to do different brain breaks to get us ready for learning. Here they are practicing some "yoga" before we get ready for math time. They're poses are so funny. We had a really great week - I'm so excited to see what next week brings.

Moving onto our classroom reveal - keep in mind it was after school when I took these pictures so it's a little messy at times.  Forgive me! I was exhausted and had to just sit for a bit before I cleaned up. :)

Here's our focus wall and carpet area. The focus wall holds our "I Can" goals for the week and our vocabulary and word wall words.  It's all ready for next week. :) With our math curriculum we start each day with calendar doing days of the week, graphing weather, and practicing writing the date.

 Here's our classroom library - the lamps are usually lit throughout the day. This has become a place my kids already love. I pick two people for "special spots" during Daily 5 and they get to sit on the pillows in the area. It's been a "cross-my-fingers" type of place for my kids already.

 This is my teacher prep station - it has everything I need for the day. It also holds all my PD books for easy grab when I'm planning.

Here's my teacher area. I love having my small group table right by my teacher stuff so that I have everything within arms reach. The shelf with the coral buckets hold our guided reading materials and then I carry around little teacher "caddies" for conferencing & small group time. It's messy - sorry! :)

 Our whiteboard - I don't really use it that much since we have a SMARTboard in our room, but I do use it to post their jobs and our morning routines for the day.  I also write the date on it for them. Below the whiteboard is our Math vocabulary.

 These are the kiddos lockers and our classroom word wall.  We put up their names this week and a few sight words from Kindergarten.  It's something we use all the time during the day.  The pockets under their locker names hold their lunch card if they have a "cold lunch" for the day.

 This is my "game" zone.  The things on the shelf are for word work during daily 5. The bins on top hold the kids writing folders - as you can see they are already stuffed with writing. Happy teacher over here! And the tall drawer holds math games and activities.  The little caddy on the right side holds my carpet area materials (markers, koosh ball, erasers, etc.) for our large group time.

This is our writing zone - there are different paper choices in the drawers and their writing toolkits filled with markers, pencils, crayons, erasers, etc. are below it. When we get our iPads going in the classroom, they'll be stored in the dish rack and their own headphones are right next to it. The black cart on the left is full on Daily 5 work on writing choices in they want to take a break from their writing folders.

There you have it - our classroom and our first week.  I'm off to finish some laundry, look ahead to next week planning activities, reading teacher blogs and relaxing. Enjoy your weekend! 

Until next time.

Heres To.

Tonight is the last night of summer. Tonight I've been praying over my list of students constantly as I prepare for another school year. It's been a while since I've posted on the blog and I've been running through my head exactly what I wanted to say or write about.  After our trip to Colorado, the weeks went by so fast.  Last week was our teacher week - packed with meetings and more meetings - and I was constantly asking myself how in the world I was suppose to get anything done with all these meetings we had to go too  I ended up going in on my day off Friday just to lesson plan.  Pure craziness I tell you.  As I was planning - and secretly scrolling through Instagram for new ideas - I came across this picture.

This was exactly what I kept reminding myself of as I planned for the week ahead.  How community building is SO important - and lots of teachers only take the first few days to really build that with each other.  Mostly because we are under so much pressure to get started with assessing, and content. Last year, I really took a similar line like this to heart and let me tell you - my kiddos truly were incredible.  Our routines went off (for the most part) flawlessly throughout the year, and they cared for each other so much more than I could have ever dreamed.  We were a school family. They took that to heart - they cared for each other's hearts in ways I couldn't even believe sometime.  I promise I will make that commitment this year.  To have fun with my kids again and enjoy their personalities.  We'll take time to play games and be challenged.  We'll take time to learn more about each other and build an environment built on trust and courage.  We'll accomplish so much more when these first 3 weeks (maybe even more) are spent truly on our routines and community.  Because of this simple reminder on Instagram my first week looks stinking awesome with my nuggets.  Jitter Juice, toothpaste "word" lesson, get to know you games, and play dough.  What a fun time it will be.  Picture galore and tons of smiles.

Although tomorrow mornings alarm will come to soon, my coffee won't be in my cup fast enough, and my butterflies will be enormous, my heart is full of love for the kiddos I haven't yet "fully" met. My heart is full because Jesus has given me such a passion - my heart is full because this is going to be a great year.

Heres to 2014-2015.

Five for Friday!

I'm linking up for the second time with DoodleBugs Teaching for her Five for Friday linky party!

 I'm super excited about these linky parties and I like going through and seeing what everyone is doing in their lives. So here we go - let the randomness begin!

 My husband Ryan and I celebrate our second wedding anniversary on Monday!  August 04, 2012 was the best day of my life - literally. I got to marry the man of my dreams, and we got married in a dream location.  We got married in Aspen, Colorado up at Maroon Bells - if you ever have a chance to get there, seriously do it.  It's SO beautiful. You'll never want to leave.

We actually left for Colorado today in order to enjoy a weekend in the mountains! We're planning on making this a tradition - and my husband loves it because not only do we go to Colorado for a few days, but it usually falls around the time that Bronco's training camp is as well.  We landed in Colorado early this morning and are spending a few days in Denver with some of our closest friends along with our cutie-pie Goddaughter - seriously, isn't she adorable?!

 When we get back from Colorado, I have three days before I have to be back at work.  I know those three days will be spent doing little things that I forgot or busy work I want to finish before the school year chaos begins.  I'm also planning on testing my kiddies on their DRA level throughout those days so that I can get a head start on evaluating and we can dig into guided reading right away.  Yesterday morning, I spent the morning finishing up a few things and my classroom is almost done and so close I can feel the relief!  Here's a sneak peek before the classroom reveal later on in the week next week! :)

I am in love with my library space this year - and my chevron theme pops out everywhere you look. Love it.

I am waiting for this lovely book to come in the mail!  My super great friend and co-worker ordered the 3rd-5th grade one earlier in the month and when she brought it to one of our work sessions, I fell in love. Morning meeting is something I adore doing with my kiddos and it is so critical at the beginning of the year for community building and relationships.  

 When I started going through hers, it's split up so that there's 20 greetings, 20 activities, and 20 messages that can be used in the meeting AND the best part, is that the author tied it to certain skills that you may be teaching - perfect way to integrate subjects into the morning meeting to get more practice.

This might seem super minimal but I received my FIRST comment on my blog the other day.  Someone commented about liking my writers toolkit bins and that she might possibly start using something like that as well.  I think my husband thought I fell or something because I let out the girliest squeal when I got the email that someone commented on a blog post.  Keep the comments coming my friends - it makes my day! :)

There's my Five for Friday - have a wonderful weekend!  I'm off to enjoy the beautiful mountains of Colorado and soak up some time with my handsome husband. 

Until next time.