It's Been a Long Time!

Last year I started the year thinking I would share class happening on this blog.  Didn't happen!  Here I go again...
School starts up again in about a month and I had my first back to school dream.  You know the one where the kids are running wild and no matter what you try you can't seem to round them up and get control.  I will be starting my 34th year of teaching and I am still having those dreams!
On a more positive note,  I found THE CUTEST bags at the Dollar Spot in Target!  Here they are -

          

Aren't they too cute??  I haven't decided what to use them for yet.  Should I use them for take home book bags or birthday book bags?  Well, I have a month to decide.

Here we go!

Whew!  I finally have my room ready, curriculum in place and plans complete for the first week.  Every year I think it will be quicker and easier.  Even after 33 years of this, it's still an overwhelming task.
Here is the before picture -

Here it is finished -

I revamped my classroom library so the kiddos will have no excuse for putting books away improperly.  Good luck, huh?

 My leveled library -

 My genre tubs -

So tomorrow I will start my 33rd year of teaching with 20 new first graders.  I can't wait!

Ready or not...here they come!

Work,work, work!

We had our third book study yesterday.  I am loving talking and learning with my teammates! We discussed Chapters 6 &  7  then got to work on planning out our first reading/writing units.  Teammate Sarah wrote a fabulous post about our meeting. 
After meeting I headed to my classroom.  Wow what a lot of work I have to do!  So far I've gotten my desks and bookcases rearranged. Oh yeah, I'm officially teaching first again!!  I am soooo excited!  Anyways, here is my classroom so far....

 It's a good thing I have plenty of time to get all of this organized!

Classroom Celebrations

This summer our K-2 teams are doing a book study of Reading/Writing Connections in the K-2 Classroom: Find the Clarity and Then Blur the Lines by Leah Mermelstein. What an INCREDIBLE book! We have had so many thought-provoking conversations.

One thing I really like is that she feels it is important to include end of unit celebrations. Some are quite simple (sharing with a partner) some more eloborate (inviting parents). This got me thinking about different ways of celebrating. So I started searching for ideas...
Here are some ideas I've found so far:

Writing:
1. Share "published" writing piece with a partner and have an apple juice (that came directly from Calkins) I've done this with a "toast to great writers" with Martinelli's Sparkling Cider
2. Share writing with kindergartners, receive a certificate
3. "Sharing Circle" (sit in circle and passed their published piece around and around and around) , get a new writing pencil
4. Invite parents to a Writing Open House. Students can share published work and their writing process. I invite other teachers and administrators too.

Reading:
1. Shoeless workshop - to celebrate they read around the room without shoes
2.Bring a stuffed buddy and a favorite snack
3. Blankets/flashlights - during workshop (40/45 minutes) they find a special spot around the room with their blankets and flashlights - close the blinds turn off all the lights (so it is dark) and read "after bedtime".
4. Having a "campfire" reading celebration...the students bring in flashlights and use the flashlight to read in the dark...then maybe a snack of s'mores.