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.