First Week of School!

Hi yall! It's been a BUSY week over here in Louisiana. Not to mention HOT - upwards to 100. Can't wait til September. But first of August means back to school :)

I just wanted to share with you how my first week back went! I made cookies for everyone!

 

{HERE} is my fantastic recipe. 

Teachers reported on Tuesday where we got to sit in on all that really fun and exciting review of policies and handbooks and all that jazz. But my principal is so awesome that she makes those mandatory PowerPoint presentations into fun games.

We did a Quiz-Quiz-Trade and a Tarsia puzzle. Have you used this before? It's amazing!

District Policy Awareness

Our fourth grade teachers use it with the kids to review facts and help to study. One side of the triangles has the answer and the another side has the questions. You read the questions and try to find the answers. And then the puzzles come together as diamonds, triangles, hexagons, etc. Pretty cool!

That night was back to school Open House/Meet the Teacher night.

Trace hands, stick on label.

 

We had a fabulous night! I met 19 of my amazing families and we gave out a lot of information.
We always set up the desks every Open House with things families will find extremely helpful over the first couple of weeks of school.

The next day, all 6,000+ EBR Teachers came together for One District, One Mission and to meet our new Superintendent.

 Each child had a personal letter from me and my associate.

 

They can take it home and color the pics! 

You can grab an editable copy for yourself {HERE}. 

The Back to School Flipbook containing all pertinent information about our classroom looked GREAT right on top of the stack of papers!

This booklet is FREE in my TpT Store. Click the pic :)

Next, I placed the media release form for use of pictures on my blog and social media accounts. 

This letter is free {HERE}. 

Then we have our Show and Tell Schedule. I firmly believe in the power of Show and Tell at any age. It is so very important that children learn to speak and listen properly at any age. In my classroom, each student is given 1 minute to show and tell something they bring from home or just a little story.

We talk about the importance of eye contact, using a speaker's voice, showing so everyone can see, etc. and also the behavior of an audience member such as listening while others speak and looking at the speaker. We've got to hit those Speaking and Listening standards!! 

You can read more about my show and tell {HERE}. 

Next up is our Mayfair Lab First Grade Tour Guide.  

We are partnered with the Lab School at LSU and the superintendent over there came up with this idea as a road map for incoming parents. We list out everything we teach for the year. And our CRLGs. 

 The full guide can be accessed by clicking {HERE}.

 Also had the Helping Hands on the Board and the Parent Wishes Jar. 

This idea was from Funky First Grade Fun along with the freebie forms there. Go check it out and read all about it!

So the first day!!!!!!!!! It was such fun! All my little firsties were ready to learn!

Of course we did Brain Breaks! Love Go Noodle!

And from my SUPER Back to School Unit, we wrote out our wishes for what we want to learn in First Grade on our Super Hero Capes! 

How to Read Chapter Books, Count to 200, the Senses, Field Trips

Science Experiments, Science, Field Trips

Count to 200, Science Experiments

Count to 300, Add to 100, Read books, Time

How to Count, Field Trips

We always read Chrysanthemum and talk about how sometimes our words can hurt others so we should also take care of what we say. Every time one of Chrysanthemum's classmates makes fun of her name, we crumple the heart. And every time her parents make her feel better, we try to smooth it out. But we know that once we say something mean and hurtful, it always leaves a little wrinkle.

 The small heart in the middle says "Before you Speak, Think and be Smart, It's hard to fix a Wrinkled Heart."

Then on bandaids, we write our names as promises to think and be smart. 

 All too soon it was time to go home and yes, this was me. 

Here are some first day pics of me and Carly Summer: 

 I am so excited about this school year! I will share lots more soon!

Pinterest Pick 3 {Linky Party}

Hey friends!! I am linking up this month with PAWSitively Teaching and Inspired Owl's Corner for a fun Pinterest Linky! This is such a cute idea! Here are my pick 3s for July: 

Believe it or not, I have exactly one month before I have to report to the first day of school for teachers. Crazy! This summer FLEW by. But I did manage to find some great ideas for the coming school year!

Click HERE to see original pin

Look how smart! Each child gets a paper bag and gets to put items inside that tell about them. This would be an easy way to introduce each child to the class and get to know a little about everybody. The teacher can do the same. I could give out the bags at Meet the Teacher night and the kiddos can bring them back on the first day.

This next pin I know I've seen multiple versions of in various places. I think it's a great idea! 

Click HERE to see original pin

At meet the teacher night, give each parent a slip of paper to write a wish for their child for the year. I can take the jar home and read the wishes and learn a little bit more about each child and family. 

I love the relationships I form with my students each year, and it's so fun to learn all about them. This little jar would go a long way towards nurturing the relationship between home and school. 

LOOK AT THIS ADORABLE TOTE BAG!!!

Click HERE to see original pin

I just cannot believe how stinkin' cute this tote bag is. I need it. Now. So after this post I'm going to Jo-Ann's to purchase yarn and get crocheting. I also need the apple cozy there because, well, cuteness. 

Well that's it for now, though I could post a thousand pins. So many good ideas. I can't wait to see what everybody else pins!

An InLinkz Link-up

Yearly Planning!!

Happy Easter to all! I hope everyone is having a lovely spring and Easter so far. Since we don't have any family close by, we are staying home and resting up this Easter Sunday. It's also Spring Break! But of couse as a teacher's job is never done, I am spending my holidays planning and creating!

We are partnered with the LSU lab school and we meet all the time to make sure that our curriculum is in line with their curriculum. It is never too early to start plannng for the next year, so we are preparing to meet again right after spring break. Must have our plan in place so we can discuss what we're doing and when!!

This is a rough draft of what we do each year. Granted, sometimes things get pushed back or skipped or we have to extend units, etc. But for the most part this is what we do in ELA and Science/Social Studies. Our math is handled completly different. That's my next tackle. 

If you are interested in your own editable copy of our plan, you can find it {HERE}. Just delete my text and fill in with your nformation. (btw the hyperlinked text is connected to the item in my TpT store)

Happy Teaching!

First Day of School Signs! FREEBIE!!! Make it personalized with a Publisher tutorial here!

I recently made this sign for Carly's first day of school! She is a big eighth grader this year. Sniff. Time flies!!!!

I also made signs for my niece and nephew. I uploaded it to Facebook and had so many compliments and questions about how I made the signs. I've already made personalized signs for many of my friends and family.

Here is your chance to get your very own personalized sign for the first day of school!

Just click on the link below and download. Now I made the file in Publisher, so you will have to use Publisher to personalize it. I'm working on importing the file to a PowerPoint also but that will have to wait a few days.

Here's how it works:
Open the file.

Click on a Text box, then click on the Format tab. Click on Edit Text.

A text box pops up and you can change the words and font if you wish. 

To resize the text, click and drag the handles around the edge of the text box.

If you want to change the picture of the owl, click on the Insert Tab. Click on the "Online Pictures" icon. A search box pops up for you to search. You can look through Publisher's files or do an Internet Search. You can also insert your own photos by clicking on the "Pictures" icon in the Insert tab.

You will also have to download the fonts first before personalizing your sign.

These are the fonts:
Hello Heartache
Life's a Beach
KG No Regrets Sketch
A Little Sunshine
Janda Safe and Sound

Do a Google search and install.

And that's it! My sister uploaded her signs to Walgreens and had an 8 x 10 printed for around $4 bucks I believe. I printed the file as a poster on my home printer. Yep, a lot of ink and a lot bigger than I had intended, but hey, it worked!!

To print a poster do this:
Go to print the file and click on Printer Properties.

You get this pop up menu. Click on Page Layout tab at the top. 

Check the Multi Page box and then click on Poster Printing.

You can opt to print on 4 pages or two pages. See where it says 2x2? Use the up or down arrows to make bigger or smaller. I used 2x2 and then taped the pages together. 

{HERE} is the link for the signs. Click on it, then right click on the file and click DOWNLOAD. You can also download the file below. 

Thanks for reading!